Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Harris Cyclery 27 inch Fixed-Gear Wheels?

Has anyone bought these? Good experience? What's a good alternative if I have an old Scwinn and I've made it a single-speed, but want to go fixed?

chances are that you can fit 700c wheels on your bike if you want to. i think there's only about a 4mm difference. 700c is just the closest metric equivalent to 27 inches, or so i hear...

I have one on my old Schwinn which is my first fixed gear, I've had it since the beginning of August and have put 500 miles or so on it so far. No problems. For my first fix, I wanted it to be basic and somewhat cheap. If I had done more research I probably would have just gotten a 700c fixed wheelset from www.nycbikes.com for the same price as a starter set. It may also be a little pricey for what it is, in retrospect, but I'm also a pretty cheap guy so its hard to talk prices with me.

The wheel looks pretty nice, and has stayed true. Apparently the hub isn't "great" quality and probably won't hold up to a lot of skidding and skipping if you run brakeless. I am builing up another fix right now and am going to use the wheels on my current fix - I would like to go brakeless but won't do it with the Suzue Basic hub - I'm waiting until I can afford a decent fixed wheelset (700c) to take the front brake off.

If you want to use the same SS wheel, you could always put a fixed cog on with loctite and then thread on a BB lockring after it. ...or maybe you could just fill your freewheel mechanism with epoxy, that would make it a fixed gear too.

I have 700c wheels on all of my fixies, including an old Schwinn Le Tour.
As long as the front brake reaches you shouldn't have a problem. I'm sure
that the 27" wheels from Harris are good, but the avalability of tires could
become an issue later on.

Thanx for all the suggestions. I will rethink my idea of getting the 27 inch wheels.

Here's another question...If everyone is buying new 700 wheels at $200 a set with flip flop hubs for their beaters, why not just save up an extra $300 and buy a whole new bike like a KHS or a FUJI? I know it's fun to work on bikes, but sometimes, by the end of it, you could put in a whole $300 - $400 into your "beater."

One more question...who has built their own wheels? Was it your first set?

I think we build and buy nicer wheels because most of the stuff that comes on low end completes are just plain crap. You can build a pretty good set for that 200 and you won't have to worry about them like the cheapies. Building wheels is not that hard to do, you just need to take your time on them and don't smoke dope or drink when you are doing it.

Because the cheapo wheels on the conversion is going to be maybe around half the cost of the new ride. If you have an old 27" wheel frame, you may have an extra 700c front wheel lying about. Otherwise you can get something not terrible used for very little money. Throw in another $100 for the rear and you're on the road.

That makes an old road -> fix conversion about $150 or $200 (assuming it needs some minor work like new tape, some tires, etc). That's less than half the cost of a new track-for-street complete and may be of higher quality. (though you're probably cheating yourself if you're putting those cheap wheels on an otherwise HQ ride)

Illustration: the last bike I converted was an old Fuji S-12S for a friend on a limited budget. We threw on a new chain (free, I had one sitting around), different pedals (ditto), some new tape, bought a used front wheel for $10, he bought my old rear for $40 ($100 for new), some new brakepads and hood, and new bottom bracket. Shod the wheels with some old tires I had around. Total cost, less than $150, including shop rental and thread chasing on the BB shell. Sure, it's not as nice as a brand new Fuji Track, but it's not that much worse, either...apart from the wheels. He loves it and it was very affordable.

I"ve got 27" front and rear on my fixie. Basically cuz I was able to unthread the cluster of the rear wheel, redish it and thread on a cog and BB lockring. Done. Didn't have to really order any parts, or rebuild a wheel. On the other hand Ive come across a couple of sets of 700C wheels (front and rear) that I'm going to keep as spares. I also have a Mavic Open Pro 4CD rim that I'm eventually gonna build with Surly or Iro flip/flop hub...Key word being "eventually".

But really, why bother switching to 700C from 27" when I can get some 27" rubber from numerous sources at very good prices?

You can walk into any bike shop and have your pick for 700c. 27" limits your tire selection pretty seriously and it becomes more limited all the time. On top of that, if it's old enough, there's a good chance that it has steel rims which are terrible for braking.

Yeah, yeah, brakes are for babies. If you want brakes, steel rims suck.

Semi-on-topic: I noticed you are in Chicago... I recently went over to Working Bikes (if you dont know what that is, check it out - www.workingbikes.org) because I wanted a 27" front wheel with a high flange hub (aesthetic reasons, I had a high flange on the rear) and I got an all aluminum wheel with a functional tube and tire (already put 150+ miles on them, no problems, figure I'm ok) for $15. Sooo..... if you need cheap parts, thats the place to go. You just need to learn who to ask for a price quote!
Also the bike shop near me sells a cheap 27" tire for $10 (Kenda) and a nice one for 20 which I am using now, which has proven to be an excellent tire with fabic(?) sidewalls. So, yeah, there may not be a lot of options, but since this is an old frame (beater?) you may or may not care about having fancy blue tires.

True, there are fewer choices of 27" tires. But there are still plenty of decent 27" tires still being made and sold. You can find a decent selection among the wares of Nashbar. I just got a decent pair of Nashbar-branded (Cheng Shin) Kevlar belted tires.They fluctuate in price from about $7 to $12, depending on sales, etc. The non-Kevlar versions are cheaper.

they also have IRCs, Paselas, Continentals, Vittorias, all for about $15 or less. In sizes from 27x1", 27x1 1/8", and 27x1 1/4".

And if you're in a pinch, you're alomost guaranteed to find some 27" tires and tubes at places like Kmart.

You may have trouble finding knobbys or the wider 27x1 3/8" tires. Road tires in that size seem to have gone extinct. A LBS sells that size in kenda knobbys for about $10 apiece.

sheldonbrown.com also has a decent selection of pricier tires in that size. Point is, the tire selection thing really isn't much of a real problem. If you can get a reasonably inexpensive 27" wheel, don't let tire selection stop you.

Funny...I'm going to check out workingbikes tomorrow. As for the wheels, I think I'll stick with what I have for now until I have a job and the money to spend on a set of 700 wheels.

Funny...I'm going to check out workingbikes tomorrow. As for the wheels, I think I'll stick with what I have for now until I have a job and the money to spend on a set of 700 wheels.

Good call, that's exactly what I am doing. I'm using my current decent 27" wheels on the new fix I am putting together, until I can afford to go to a nice 700c set, and then I can afford to be brakeless (with a better rear hub).