Hi, first post, thanks for having me here!
Quick question about wheel size and speed/racing. I'd like hard data, not opinion. Opinions on wheel size and speed are often wrong. For instance, hard data shows that a 26 inch wheel on a MTB is FASTER than a 27.5...even though 27.5 is bigger. That said...I'm talking road racing. My son is racing on a 24 inch wheel road bike. Nice hubs, light rims. He's doing really well racing against vs kids on 700c bikes. I'm curious how much faster (if any) speed could we expect to be on the 700c vs his current 24 inch. I've found data that says 26 wheeled (650c) bikes aren't faster than 700c and that there have been records set on 26 inch (650c) bikes that 700c bikes can't beat. People just assume a large diameter wheel will be faster. Some suggested 700c isn't any faster, but rather would require a bit less work over the course of a race? Is there hard data on this?