Originally Posted by
TugaDude
Post photos asap. Something sounds a little strange. I doubt very much that you will require anything special in the way of calipers. The bike can probably be made to work with either 27" or 700c, but we can tell a lot more with photos. Of course it is possible that 27" will not work, and that sounds possible given what you say about the front fork. I don't see any advantage in 27" unless that is all you have available, so let's try to make the 700c work.
I've been working on some pics but I think I need to buy a digital camera, this polaroid and scanner thing just isn't working.
I'm starting to think that the 700C idea is too much trouble, they work up front but if I use the 20A rims I wanted to use, I need to file out the brake slot on the Dia Compe 750 CP about half way to the edge of the aluminum just to get the pads onto the rim, and that doesn't give me an ideal bite on the rim. With a 27" rim, it works. With a 1 1/8" tire on the 27" rim, there's 2 1/8" between the tire and brake bridge, I can improve that ever so slightly by moving the axle up a bit in the dropout but that may not be where it needs to be depending on the derailleur and all.
On every other bike I've owned, the brake bridge is only half as far away from the tire. This one is set way high for some unknown reason.
I don't doubt they somehow intended this to use 700C wheels but who knows what they intended for a rear brake. I think the easiest way out is to go 27", use an older side pull caliper, then use another fork, even if I have to take it from another bike. I really wanted to use a better headset too, and I need more threads to do so. Right now it's barely enough for an extra low stack height headset.