Are Smaller Wheels Slower?

Why do people in our industry think that bigger wheels = faster bikes? Every year I have petite customers who've been told that if they ride a bicycle with smaller wheels, ie proportional sized wheels, they will ride slower than their friends who ride with bigger wheels. They are usually told this by someone trying to sell them a bicycle with big wheels.

If bigger wheels are faster, one would expect to find bigger wheels, notwheels, on record setting bicycles that are ridden at speeds well over 150mph. Yet, these folks chosewheels. Maybe they didn't talk to

I'm not saying smaller wheels are faster, but that wheel size isn't determinant of speed.

Don't take if from me, take if from the really fast cyclists below.

Denise Mueller sets the Women's (and Men's) world record at 183.9 mph in 2018. In 2016, she set the woman's record at 147mph, but now she's showing the men how to do it! Fred Rompelberg sets the current men's record of 167 mph in 1995

In September 2016, Todd Reichert rode the Aerovelo bicycle with no motorpace to 89.6 mph. He was also not towed to any speed. You may not be able so see from the pictures, but this bicycle uses 650c wheels. The same size we use on our race bikes for petite riders. So other shops and magazines....Quit telling people that smaller wheels are slower.