Changing 700 c to 29 inch

[Iainj837]

I have posted on another site, but I will try on here.
I have a Giant Roam 2 2014 model
but would like to put 29 inch wheels instead of the 700 c that is currently on there.
Is it possible and how much would it cost ?

 

[Tim Hall]

700c and 29 inch are ostensibly the same thing, as both are 622 bead seat diameter. blame the bike industry for making a simple thing complicated. What makes it a 29er is using a big fat tyre on the same rim, giving an overall rim and tyre diameter of 29 inches, or thereabouts. You're looking two inch and a bit wide tyres to get this, so the thing to watch for is if there's sufficient space in the frame to fit a fat tyre in.

A spot of googling says "With a suspension fork plus plenty of frame clearance for off-road tires, you’ll be encouraged to take the path less travelled", so yes you can probaly fit such a tyre in and you won't need new wheels to do it. Stock tyres seem to be 40mm wide, so pretty big already.

 

[Ajax Bay]

would like to put 29 inch wheels instead of the 700 c that is currently on there

How wide are your tyres now (eg 37-622)? As @Tim Hall has said these are one and the same. The only reason to change the wheels would be if you wanted to fit much wider tyres (the max width will be dictated by your frame/fork clearances).

AASHTA: recommended width combinations

 

[I like Skol]

My hybrid came with 700c wheels made of cheese. I built a set of replacements using Shimano XT hubs, mavic 29r rims and DT Swiss DB S/S spokes then fitted the existing 700x35 tyres. Guess what, my wheels would be fine and dandy on a 29r MTB and take any abuse dished out to them but also work brilliantly on my abused hybrid commuter pretending to be a 700c wheelset.

The only issue that I can foresee without googling the spec of your bike is rear hub width. A road wheel set will normally be 130mm OLN width while typical MTB rear hubs are 135mm OLN.

 

[Crackle]

The only issue that I can foresee without googling the spec of your bike is rear hub width. A road wheel set will normally be 130mm OLN width while typical MTB rear hubs are 135mm OLN.

Ah yes, I knew there was a difference but I couldn't put my finger on it when I was looking at the bike yesterday. No problem if he just changes tyres though, just the rim width and clearance to consider.