Bicycle Mechanics - 27" tyre recommendations for straight-sided rims

Short of shelling out serious $$$ for vintage Campag. Record high-flange hubs, I have located a great set of wheels for the Capo: Normandy Luxe Competition high-flange hubs, DT stainless spokes, and 36-hole Weinmann rims. The rims are 27" and smooth sided (not "hook bead"), which is great for period-correctness but lousy for tyre selection and blowout prevention. Can anyone recommend a suitable set of touring tyres, either 27x1-1/8 (preferred) or 27x1-1/4, which can be inflated safely to, say, 80PSI on these rims? Most modern tyres, such as Continentals, require hook beads and specify minimum allowable pressures which preclude their use on smooth-sided rims.

I have wire bead Continental Sport 100 27X1 1/8 on the smooth sided rims on my Centurion Pro Tour rain bike & a co-worker just got a pair of Continental Sport 1000s for his 27" single speed. I proved 80 PSI is a good limit though, just ask my dog, when I get out the floor pump, she leaves the area! Don

I ran 100 psi with a set of 27x1 1/4 Armadillos on smooth rims for a while without problem. You just have to experiment to see what works with the tire you like.

Better still would be to replace the rims with a hook type.

Keep your dental insurance paid up.

Enjoy

Vittoria Courier 27x1 1/4 (grey tread) is a great tire for non hook rims. I've had them up to 100psi with absolutely no problems. Sadly, I'm not sure they still are available because a quick search came up dry.

I just traded emails with Sheldon, who doesn't think I'll have a problem with ANY decent 27 x 1-1/8" tyre at 70 or 80 PSI, or with MOST decent 27 x 1-1/4" tyres at the same pressure. (I think I see where he is going with this -- a narrower tyre might indeed be less likely to pull over the top of the rim flange than a wider one. The other factor is tyre quality: there are lots of low-end 27" offerings out there, but almost all of them tend to be 1-1/4" wide.)

I am leaning toward the Continental Top Touring 2000, which is rated at only 70 to 80 PSI, instead of 100 to 120. I think I'll be OK if I avoid Specialized Armadillos, on which I have prematurely broken down sidewalls by occasionally riding "underinflated" at 80 PSI.

I rode IRC Roadwinner II Duros for over a year without even so much as a flat. I recommend them whenever I get the chance. They're rated to 105psi at 1-1/8", have a kevlar belt for anti-puncture, and cost about half what the Contis do.

Ethan did you ride them on rims with no hooks?

Enjoy

Short of shelling out serious $$$ for vintage Campag. Record high-flange hubs, I have located a great set of wheels for the Capo: Normandy Luxe Competition high-flange hubs, DT stainless spokes, and 36-hole Weinmann rims. The rims are 27" and smooth sided (not "hook bead"), which is great for period-correctness but lousy for tyre selection and blowout prevention. Can anyone recommend a suitable set of touring tyres, either 27x1-1/8 (preferred) or 27x1-1/4, which can be inflated safely to, say, 80PSI on these rims? Most modern tyres, such as Continentals, require hook beads and specify minimum allowable pressures which preclude their use on smooth-sided rims.

Back in the day, the standard inflation for 27 x 1 1/4 tires was 70-75 psi. 1 1/8 a bit higher.

If you stick to that appropriate pressure range, pretty much anything will work.

If you want to get into the 90-100 psi range, you do need a hook-edge rim, but that much pressure is inappropritate for a tire that width anyway, on a normally loaded bike. It will ride too harshly and have degradet cornering traction.

See: http://sheldonbrown.com/tires.html#pressure

Sheldon "More Isn't Always Better" Brown
+----------------------------------------------------------+
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| Whose life is full of indices and surds? |
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Ethan did you ride them on rims with no hooks?

Hell no. Nobody rides that old stuff. =)