Originally Posted by Bolo Grubb
and is it possible to upgrade a bike with these tires to more modern rims and tires?
it is a 1984 trek 720 touring bike.
You can probably upgrade to modern rims, but you'll need to rebuild the wheel. My '80's 620 has 700c wheels now. The brake reach on the stock cantis worked fine.
Honestly, if the wheels are in good shape there's no reason you can't stick with the 27" ones.