Touring - older 27" wheels vs. 700c

Is the fact that 27" tires with schrader valves are more readily available in small towns, ordinary drug stores, and the like much of a consideration for choosing what sort of wheels to tour with?

I'm curious to hear your thoughts.
Ken

I toured for several years on a HUFFY with 27" tires before I bought my first Klein with 700 wheels. Here, in the States, 27" are available everywhere. K-Mart, Wal-Mart and the local LBS. Any other country, you may have problems.

If you already have 700's, don't change them. Carry a foldable tire and a tube and you shouldn't have any troubles at all. It's been my experience that you're never far from a bikeshop, no matter where you are.

Miraco brings up a good point.

I often hear other cyclists advise against touring with 27" wheels because 27" tires are hard to come by.

That may be true if you are looking for a something special in a tire, but for touring, I agree that 27" tires are most widely available in the USA. The reason is that when you need a tire when you are touring, you are usually in some odd place far from a specialized bike shop.

I was touring with a friend once when his tire blew. We were able to buy an old 27" tire off of a guy who had an old 10-speed hanging in his garage.

Last year, I was touring with a friend who was riding and older 27" and had tire troubles when we were in a small town. Sure enough, the local hardware store had a replacement. If he had a 700 mm tires, we would have been out of luck.

If you are buying a new bike go with 700c since tire selection is much bigger.

Originally posted by cycletourist
If you are buying a new bike go with 700c since tire selection is much bigger.

Are 27" wheels even an option on a new road bike? Seems all I see are 700 mm in the shops.

I haven't seen them on a new bike, Mike, but I wish they were still in production. I use 27's and love em.

Good Riding!

Originally posted by tallcliff
I haven't seen them on a new bike, Mike, but I wish they were still in production. I use 27's and love em.

Good Riding!

You can get used but good 27" wheels for almost nothing these days. There is no reason to buy them new. I bought a perfect Peugeot road bike with 27" aluminum alloy rims at a thrift shop for $5.00. Virtually any part from the bike was worth more than that.

People are tossing out excellent buy older bikes by the ton now and exchanging them for new junk.

People doing unsupported tours on 700c wheels will often carry a lightweight folding spare (such as a Panaracer Pasela TG). And a spare tube, of course, as well as tire boots (or dollar bills which work pretty well) and patch kits.

This approach makes a lot more sense to me than does investing in an essentially obsolete tire system. After all, if a tire self-destructs beyond repair while you're in the middle of nowhere, what you want is to be able to fix it now. Try finding a folding 27" tire!

RichC

Over the past several years, I have converted my mostly-27" fleet to all-700C. (The 1959 Capo takes anything, the 1980 Peugeot accepts either 27x1-1/8 or 700Cx28, and the 1982 Bianchi requires 700Cx25 or smaller.) One LBS carries only mid-grade 1-1/8" Panaracers in 27", but an impressive array of 700Cx19 through 37 tyres of various brands, price levels, and applications. My local Target and Sports Authority carry 27 x 1-1/4" $6 China specials (no 700Cs at all, apparently), but I have been frustrated by their horrible traction, lumpy sidewalls, and poor longevity.

There' s no doubt it's easier to get 27" tubes and tires than 700C when you're on the road in the U.S. WalMart, K-Mart, RiteAid, drug stores, and many supermarkets have these things sitting on the shelves. 700C is starting to make its way into mass market sporting goods stores, but it would be harder to find them.

Like some of the other posters, though, I don't think this fact is an important advantage for the 27" wheel. You can always carry an extra tire for a 700C, and you should always have more than one extra tube.

The most important advantage of 27" wheels is how cheap they, and the bikes they're on, are. It's perfectly possible to find good road bikes of late seventies, early eighties vintage, barely ridden, in great shape. You can buy such bikes for ridiculously low prices. Those older bikes often come with long chain stays and braze-ons, and can make great tourers. Their wheels have 36 spokes, too. When you consider just the cost of a new 36 spoke 700C wheel you can see the sense in going with an older rig.

The original question seemed to ask about tubes (the valves) and not the tires.

I believe a 27" tube and a 700C tube are entriely interchangable.

It is true good 27" tires are had to find. I favor the Panaracer Pasela Tourguard (kevlar belt) in 27 x 1 1/4.

John Hawrylak
Woodstown NJ

Yes, the tubes are interchangable. I can use my 27" tubes on my girlfriend's 700 hybrid tire, which I think are 32's.

Good Riding!

Whilst the inner tubes are dual purpose, the valve holes are not. Most touring rims have small holes for presta valves. I have a hybrid-style clunky rim for commuting which takes schraeder, but I always use presta. I havent experienced any problems in 4 years.
Im not sure I would drill out my touring rims; Id rather carry 2 spares tubes.

Right, it's the Schraeder stems on the 27" tubes that cause the problem, not the circumference of the tube.

I have, in an emergency, stuck a 700C presta tube onto a 27" rim with a Schraeder valve hole. Did that ever look ugly. Somehow the tube survived several miles home.

I suppose it would be possible to use a washer around the presta tube valve to seat the valve through a Schraeder hole more securely. Tape to smooth the edges of the washer, what with the washer being next to the tube, would be called for. I've never tried this, but I don't see why this kind of arrangement shouldn't hold up for hundreds of miles.

Anyway, as I said I agree that the availability of 27" tubes and tires just isn't that significant an advantage for touring in the U.S. That spare tubes are available at WalMart and KMart and everywhere else is fine, but although WalMart is near ubiquitous they aren't _so_ many that you can afford not to carry two or more spare tubes with you anyway. Tires are the same story. You should bring a spare whether you're on 27" or 700C wheels.

On the other hand, there's enough 27" stuff in the U.S. that there's no reason to shy away from an older bike, either. Older bikes are both good and cheap, too, so you may find good reason to go this route.

"I suppose it would be possible to use a washer around the presta tube valve to seat the valve through a Schraeder hole more securely. Tape to smooth the edges of the washer, what with the washer being next to the tube, would be called for. I've never tried this, but I don't see why this kind of arrangement shouldn't hold up for hundreds of miles."

A rubber grommet 1/4 in. ID x 3/8 in. OD, used by electricians to pass wires through electrical boxes, works well.
Sorry I can't convert these numbers to metric, I'm having a senior moment :confused: