I posted this in the Classics section because the bike I found is old... and I've already mentioned it here... It is a Brittany FreeSpirit...

Anyways, the bike has fenders and a rack and all the bells and whistles for a cool little commuter/bad weather bike.

It currently has 650a wheels on it, and I was thinking of upgrading the wheel set to a more modern rim, but this is where I'm starting to consider things... Should I just build up a new set of 650a wheels (I've really only seen four rims for them... and that was off of Sheldon Brown's site)... But I wonder if I should go for a different wheel size that has more tires and rims available for it?

If I can squeeze 700c wheels on it, I will do that, which I posed the question in the vintage section hoping someone has done it so that I don't have to buy a wheel only to find it does not fit... The only problem is, I think if I am able to fit the 700c on it, I will lose the cool aspect of the fenders...

So, another option I thought of was going to a smaller wheel, like a 650c. It seems that there are a lot more tires and rims available in that size, and that more people use them on bikes than the 650a... I know that this would make the bike shorter, which I'm not completely wild about...

Anyways, thoughts? Opinions? If the 700c fits, should I just forget about my radical, sweet action fenders? Should I got ahead and build up the 650a and not worry about lack of choices for tires/rims? Should I go for the smaller 650c?

Thanks in advance.