bfloyd

Hello all. First, a small introduction; my name is Bryan and I am returning to cycling after a 5 year break coming from mountain bike racing. I am now focusing my cycling to the road. I just recently aquired a 1987 Raleigh Technium, which seems to be nice, but noticed after I bought it that it has 27 in. wheels. Is this frame and fork possible to change to 700c wheels? It appears that it is much easier to find a selection of high quality 700c wheels and tires rather than 27 in. Can this be done? Is this that I would want to do or should I stick with the 27 in. wheels and look for a higher quality set of them? Thanks for the help.

Mike552

Hi Brian... welcome.

Hmm, 27in tires can still be found at many online places like nashbar and performancebike. I'm not sure how much your Technium is worth to you, but it is definetely possible to upgrade it to 700c. Not sure if it's worth it unless you're planning to go to a cassette system and more upgraded components, in which case it will cost you a chunk of cash, and you might just want to upgrade the whole bike. A technium is a nice starter bike, I'd say... but my advice is stick with the 27's if you can. Hope this helps.

operator

Besides the cassette/hub on the rear wheel you'll probably also need new brakes probably.

miyata610

I recently upgraded my 1984 Miyata 610 to 700c from 27".

It was simple, and I think it was pretty cheap and well worth it. Yes, you can still get 27" tires but the choice is very limited and anything other than a 1-1/4" is pretty well impossible to find.

I bought some wheels with Tiagra hubs with Sun rims, they cost me about $100 for the pair. I took the opportunity to upgrade to a 105 10 speed cassette and so I fitted a new Deore RD and some nice new Dura-Ace 10 speed downtube shifters, and a new 10 speed chain. There was no need to change my old crankset or FD. The cassette and chain are just consumables anyway, so given that I would be replacing those soon anyway that cost doesn't count.

The total cost was very reasonable and now I have a 30 speed setup that shifts oh so smoothly, I love it.

Btw, the brakes worked fine with the new 700c wheels, just a little adjustment, it's only 4mm difference.

(edit... my frame was spaced 126mm and the tiagra hub is 130mm, no problem fitting it in though.)

silversmith

I've also had good luck changing to 700c.

I'm keeping my commuter a 27 for now. I found a good supply of Vittoria Zaffiros in 1 1/4 inch. They really roll sweet compared to that Wally World junk. If I had to relyu on those I'd give up on 27's.

Don't neglect checking out Harris, too. They have some nice 27 inchers, even some narrower ones.

mrkott3r

Where???? and do they do online ordering?

Az B

I changed my commuter/tourer (also a Miyata 610) over to 700c last year. I cost less than $200, and that includes a new cassette and chain. I found some used Mavic/Open Pro wheels for $100 and with some minor adjustments, they slipped right in. The old setup was a 5 speed Suntour freewheel, so now I've got 9sp and the friction shifters and old Suntour derailluer work fine with the new gears. The brakes are cantis, so only a minor adjustment was needed to the brake pad alignment to get them set up correctly.

All in all, it was very easy, not too expensive and the bike rides much better now. I should've done this years ago.

Az

merlinextraligh

Take a look at your brake calipers, where the pads bolt into the caliper. If there is room to slide the pads down a bit (in the 1/4 inch range). you may well be able to change without changing brake calipers, if not you may need to buy longer reach brake calipers. You also need to understand about axle spacing. Being a 1987, I'm betting your bike has 6 speed 126mm spacing (the length of the axle, or space between the rear dropouts.) it also probably has a frewheel, instead of a cassette. Unless you find a wheel built for a frewheel, you'll need a new casssette, and unless you get a 6 speed hub, you'll need to coldset the frame to accept a wider axle (modern road wheels are 130mm spacing.) A shop can coldset a steel frame pretty easy. If it's aluminum, I'm not sure I'd want to get it coldset to a new axle spacing.

Artmo 

Miyata610 - was your bike set up to accommodate fenders? If so, doesn't changing to 700c make the bike look a bit peculiar with the wide space above each wheel. I am asking because I have a 1957 Maclean (UK) which I have, for a long time, been considering renovating/upgrading. It has fender spacing. I would also have to replace the brakes as the reach on the current ones is too short for 700cs.

bfloyd

Thanks for all the great replies everyone! This is going to be a very helpful forum for me. As far as some of the questions in regards to doing this trade; I am assuming that the rear cog is a cassette because of the very noticeable "click" or "ratcheting" sound (for search of better words), and the rear triangle is chromoly. It is a seven speed. I guess another of my concerns is if I will have enough fork crown clearance going from 27in. to 700c. Would I need to replace the fork too? I'll have to check my frame and fork spacing as I didn't even think about that. Some of the options I'm considering are these:

For a replacement 27 in.
https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename=

https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename=

and for 700 c
https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename=

https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename=

If anyone can comment on these wheels as which would be a more durable and longer lasting wheels, it would be greatly appreciated. The Ritchey Aero front wheel for $39. just seems like a great deal to me . . .

Lastly, what exactly are the benefits on changing to 700c wheels besides the moreso availability?

Sorry for all the questions. I guess my newbie to the road is really showing.

merlinextraligh

Just because it clicks doesn't make it a cassette. There will be plenty of clearance on the fork. The 700c wheel will be slightly smaller, hence the issue of brake reach. If it's a 7 speed rear hub, it's likely 1126 mm spacing.

merlinextraligh

126mm spacing. And the only real advantage to 700c is better selection of wheels and tires. Nothing intrisincally wrong with 27".

operator

Well the good thing about 27" tires is that walmart sells them for about $6 a piece. And since they're so heavy and nasty, they last a long time.

silversmith

A local mom & pop bike shop. They have about a dozen left (I bought 4 last week and I did a quick inventory of his remaining stock.)

They don't have a net presence.

I work with vintage bikes enough that I've learned it pays to check out every LBS you run by, especially the older ones.

bfloyd

Oh silly me . . . I thought the 700c were bigger . . . how embarrassing!!

Thanks for the clarifications.

Veloduo

Unless the brake calipers on the Raleigh have an extremely short reach (and my educated guess is they don't), you'll have little or no problem switching to 700c wheels. Things to consider: axle width (rear), freewheel/casssette compatibility with your crankset, chain alignment. These are all things any decent bike mechanic can help you to get straight. Good luck, and as others have said, WELCOME!

miyata610

My bike has provision for fenders, but It has never had any fitted. Since the difference in size is only 4mm I don't think it would be a problem.

I now use 28mm 700c tires which are significantly smaller than the currently available 1-1/4". My bike originally had 1-1/8" tires (now hard to find) which would have been about 28.5mm. You would probably want 32mm 700c tires if you want the 1-1/4" look.

miyata610

In the case of my Miyata 610 this wasn't an issue. Even though its 126mm, the stays flex enough to allow fitting a 130mm hub without the need to coldset.

miyata610

The more spokes a wheel has, the stronger it will be, mostly. It will also probably be heavier.

I do a little light touring so I wanted 36 spokes for my rear wheel, but I decided that 32 would be fine for the front.

I agree that the $39 wheel looks like a good buy. I noticed that the 27" wheels that you listed also come in 700c sizes.