newworldgene

So I've had this 1985 Trek 300 series sitting around for awhile. Its a fun bike to ride...currently stands as my "beater."
I've tried looking up catalogues to find information on the bike but I fail...epically. So here I resort to the all knowing bike forums.
I'm not exactly privy to wheel sizes. It currently has 27 inch wheels and 35mm tires. As it stands there is 0 room for fenders. Absolutely zero room. The wheel is really close to the bottom slanted tube. The fork looks like its wide enough to fit fenders though. My question is... will replacing the current wheels with 650A or 700C wheels make enough room for some hammered Honjo fenders? Many thanks for your help
G

bobbycorno

700c, most likely not. 650B, almost certainly yes. Why do 650A, when most of those tires are for old 3-speeds? 650B has much better availability of wide performance tires. The price would be about the same, either way.

Is your clearance problem on the front or rear? If it's the front tire that barely clears the frame, you may very well have a bent fork and/or frame. You should have someone knowledgeable look at it.

SP
Bend, OR

nlerner

Show us a pic of your current clearance w/ 27 x 35mm. I'll bet that 700 x 28mm tires would be close to allowing fenders.

Neal

noglider 

When you say bottom slanted tube, are you speaking of the seat tube or the down tube? If the front wheel is very close to the down tube, then your frame may be bent.

newworldgene

Hey, thanks for the advice. I will take pictures in the morning and post soon after. Now you have me a little worried... the tire is running close to the down tube. its not scrapping it... its just obvious a fender can't fit with the current wheels. What/where should i be looking for a bent frame? Thanks again
G

noglider 

If it's a racing bike, it's possible that it's designed so the tire is close to the down tube.

Look to see if the top tube and down tube are bent. Look to see if the fork is bent.

newworldgene

noglider you are awesome. thanks for the insight. I reviewed the bike over and over again...asked couple people around me and we all dont think its bent. Do you think replacing the current 27 tires with 650b do the trick?

dedhed

You're probably going to need new brakes too to reach the smaller rims.