What are people who own bicycles with 27 inch wheels going to do?

Question

I own 2 bicycles that have 27 inch wheel sets, what am I going to do when I need a new rim, or a new tires? Both bikes have nice lugged chrome-moly steel frames, and top of the line components for their time," the 1970's". Why did the bicycle industry change to 700cm wheels? 27inch wheels work just fine.

Answer 1

Dia-compe and Shimano are producing the correct length of brake calipers now, you may have to special order thru your bike shop.

Or, Rivendell carries them and provide very helpful support:
www.rivbike.com

And Harris Cyclery is also a good source, they may have to order them but are very helpful via email;
www.harriscyclery.com

Answer 2

The change to metric largely took hold when the British lost their strong players in the bike industry. Other European contries quickly came in the establish a new standard for road wheel sizing. 27" wheels are only a little larger than 700c. You should be able to find parts to fit. The only things that may be odd are brake calipers. You will be able to find rims and tires although not the selection there once was.

Answer 3

Me and my dad are restoring two identical 70's era racing frames with 27x1 1/8 wheels, and can't find new brake calipers for them. Aside from that, a lot of the newer parts will work. We got rims from bikepartsusa.com. You may want to check them out. They have both bolt on and quick release pre assembled wheels, or you can order the rims, hubs, and spokes to do it yourself. You can still get tires to fit from here as well, or at nashbar.com. We just ordered two sets of Vittoria pro tires from Nashbar that were 27"

Here's the section for the 27" wheels. They may be 27x1 1/4, but they will work.

http://www.bikepartsusa.com/view.asp?f_c=Wheel&f_c2=27+inch

Answer 4

There are still 27" tires available and even rims and complete wheels, just not a huge selection. If you had to, 700c will also work in them and still look like they're original because they are almost the same, slightly smaller.

Answer 5

The wheels have very little to do with it. The size of a bike is based on the size of the frame. The crank and saddle height are also important to get a proper fitting all three need to be sized correctly. Most bike shops have places that can measure you properly. If your goal is simply to have a bigger bike you might adjust the saddle first.