Originally Posted by
califourtwenty
Thanks for all of your help. One last question. Someone told me that the 700c front tire is not the proper wheel for this bike even if it fits. what type of wheel should i be looking for to match the rear wheel?
The 1974 Continental came equipped with 27" x 1 1/4" tires. 27" tires have a 630 millimeter Bead Seat Diameter, or BSD. 700c tires have a 622 millimeter BSD, so the diameter of a 27" rim is 8 millimeters greater than the diameter of a 700c rim. It's not a huge difference, but that 4 mm shorter radius means that if you mount 700c wheels on the '74 Continental frame, the caliper arms on the brakes may not have sufficient reach for the pads to contact the braking surface of the rims properly.
The correct OE rim for the 1974 Continental is Schwinn p/n 80 225, shown on the catalog page below (illustration 3).
