Again, I'd like to have room for fenders. I'd like to have the ability to be able to ride 35s, 38s or 40s. Sure there's room for a 27 x 1 3/8" tire in there- but when a fender is in there- there's not room- I've got one bike that a 1 1/4" tire fits well with fenders.

As much as people tout the lack of availability of 27" tires- for the most part- people are going to gravitate towards the 28-35 wide tires- all achievable through 1 1/8" - 1 3/8" tires that are available. However, there's not anything that I know of beyond that 1 3/8" tire.

As far as quality of the ride- a few years ago I switched that bike from 700C to 27" and there was a remarkable improvement of the ride of the bike. I thought the difference was in the wheel size, however the overwhelming consensus (to the point of ridicule) here was that it had nothing to do with wheel size.

http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...-4mm-make.html

*shrug*

Something made a difference- it wasn't just the tires.