Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - a 'wheel' question

I just bought an old second-hand road bike with the hopes of making it into a fixed gear.
Regarding the rear wheel:: It presently has UKAI 27" x 1 1/8" wheels. The mechanic at the bike shop said it would be cheaper to order a ready-built wheel with fixed hub., which only comes in 700 cc of course., He said that the difference in size between the two is about 8 mm.?, Will that size difference be very noticable, between the front and back wheel?????,
Its a pretty cool old geared road bike as it is, I wouldn't mind keeping it as is., if I had to.
Someday I'd really like to get a surly cross check though. Thats what I intend to do someday.

you definately can buy pre-built 27" fixed gear wheels.

Harris Cyclery? Ring a bell?
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/fixed.html#wheels
27 inch Fixed-Gear Wheels


Decent-quality machine built fixed-gear rear wheels:
These use the Suzue basic (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/fixed-hubs.html#suzuebasic) flip/flop fixed/free hub, DT stainless straight-gauge spokes and Weinmann rim.

27 inch Weinmann 215 Rim, 36 Spokes $99.95 #CT801427T

Harris Cyclery? Ring a bell?
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/fixed.html#wheels
27 inch Fixed-Gear Wheels


Decent-quality machine built fixed-gear rear wheels:
These use the Suzue basic (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/fixed-hubs.html#suzuebasic) flip/flop fixed/free hub, DT stainless straight-gauge spokes and Weinmann rim.

27 inch Weinmann 215 Rim, 36 Spokes $99.95 #CT801427T




Oh yea!!
27" is bigger than 700cc ??? What does 700cc mean? Mostly I ride off-road, so I am not familiar with road bike wheels. How does a 700cc compare to a 29" mountain bike wheel?

If you were going to buy a wheel, i would probably see if I could go ahead and buy a set of 700c wheels. Your tire choices are definitely a lot better when you go to 700. 27's are a thing of the past and I can't justify buying one to myself. Of course if you choose to go this route and you want to run brakes you should make sure that the brakes you have will reach the 700's.

The first singlespeed wheel I ever had built was a 27. It was a couple of years ago, and I didn't really know any better, now I wish I had just bought a 700 wheel, because of the greater amount of tire possiblities. The only thing you really need to worry about is if you are running brakes on the rear wheel. If your bike originally came with 27" wheels your calipers might not reach past the rubber, unless you have long reach calipers.

If you are running fixie though, really the most you will ever need is a good front brake.... Thats it...

my 2 cents.

A few months back, I bought a 27" wheel from big-wheel.com for really cheap. A Weinmann rim with basic Suzue track hub. In the time since, it's been a well behaved piece of equipment. They still have 27" and 700c fixed hub wheels, not as cheap, but still pretty economical.

I know this sounds ghetto,

But why not buy a 700c fixie wheel (or build one), use that as the rear on your 27" frame. Keep the 27" front wheel already on the bike, which will be compatible with the existing rim brake. Remove the rear brake - you won't need one with a fixie set-up. Buy a large rear tire (~30mm) and thin front tire (~23-25mm) and nobody will notice that your bike has one foot bigger than the other. Whatever, there are worse bike deformities in regular circulation out there (or at least out here in Philly). In the meantime, save up for the Cross Check frame and transplant the rear wheel when ready.

Peace
BK

to answer your question on how noticable 8 mm is: we're really talking 4 mm difference in ride height. Take a look at 4 mm on a ruler. neglible. And as Buddha pointed out; tire height really makes rim-size moot.

Your cheapest option: I'll all but guarantee that your 27inch rear has a freewheel hub. Just screw on a track-cog, and youre good to go for 18 bucks. No new wheel necesseary. And you get to keep the bike original. And tire selection isnt as bad as people say....conti and panaracer, and i belive mich have a few good options available.

I have a set of 700 and 27 rims for my bike, and I keep buying 27inch tires; so the selection can't be that bad. I really reserve the 700 for wider trail tires, which ARE hard to come by in 27.

to answer your question on how noticable 8 mm is: we're really talking 4 mm difference in ride height. Take a look at 4 mm on a ruler. neglible. And as Buddha pointed out; tire height really makes rim-size moot.

Your cheapest option: I'll all but guarantee that your 27inch rear has a freewheel hub. Just screw on a track-cog, and youre good to go for 18 bucks. No new wheel necesseary. And you get to keep the bike original. And tire selection isnt as bad as people say....conti and panaracer, and i belive mich have a few good options available.

I have a set of 700 and 27 rims for my bike, and I keep buying 27inch tires; so the selection can't be that bad. I really reserve the 700 for wider trail tires, which ARE hard to come by in 27.


I am really liking this idea., a lot. (screwing on a track cog).
I really want to keep using the original wheels.
They are so classy!!,, gold anodized, baby!!!!!!!

I am really liking this idea., a lot. (screwing on a track cog).
I really want to keep using the original wheels.
They are so classy!!,, gold anodized, baby!!!!!!!

yeah, well, even if you can't use the existing hub, you could have the shop lace a new appropriate hub into the existing rim, with new spokes, of course. you can definitely keep the original rims, and you can probably keep the entire original wheelset. dont let "cheeep" and "eeeesy" stand in the way of developing your rig the way you want it!

something to keep in mind, though, is the orginal spacing of the dropouts. depending on the bikes vintage, it might be 120mm, 126mm (i'll bet that's whatcha got), or 130mm. if you've got 126mm, and you buy the new prebuilt wheel, you'll need some spacers. just another thing to keep in mind; by no means a dealbreaker.

-rob

"dont let "cheeep" and "eeeesy" stand in the way of developing your rig the way you want it!"

Then again, dont let other people pressure you into something you dont want to do. sometimes cheap and easy is the best way to go. If she wants to keep the original wheel, I (personally) dont see how paying for a different hub (not to mention a wheelbuild) will help her achieve that goal.

Use whats you gots, IMO.

More than likely you can just screw on a cog, that's what I'd do, cos it's cheapest, easiest, and you can keep the bike old timey-lookin' :)

And Schane, 700c rims are the same size as 29" rims (622mm), only narrower.

"dont let "cheeep" and "eeeesy" stand in the way of developing your rig the way you want it!"

Then again, dont let other people pressure you into something you dont want to do. sometimes cheap and easy is the best way to go. If she wants to keep the original wheel, I (personally) dont see how paying for a different hub (not to mention a wheelbuild) will help her achieve that goal.

Use whats you gots, IMO.


i agree wholeheartedly, but dealing with elderly wheelsets can throw you some curveballs. my friend had an old peugeot, and he wanted to fix it, but the hub had this wieeeeeeeeeerd thing going on, i cant even begin to explain it except that it was wierd and french and involved a wierd way of putting the pinecone on, with a wave-shaped diddle-thing. the local shops in sj and philly were stumped; even the guys at via said he oughter get a new hub, or a prebuilt wheel.

but yeah, chances are, the thing is threaded, and s/he can just throw a cog on there on the very cheeeeap and eeeeasy. i was just saying that, if the rider desires the original rims, and a different hub is required to do so, i'd go for it.

-rob