Originally Posted by foolish heart
I apologize for my ignorance. I'm not sure I'm getting this straight. I have an old custom-made chrome-moly frame which uses 27x1 tires on 27 (I presume) rims. I have a 105 brake set. Should it be easy for me to switch to 700c should the need arise, and keep using my Shimano 105 brakes?
Switching from 27 inch to 700c rims requires adjusting the brake pads about 4mm. Most (but not all) brake calipers make such an adjustment quick and easy.
Why did 700c "win" over 27 inch? I suspect just luck. Sew-up tires for racing bikes just happened to be the same size as 700c clinchers. So, a guy could use 700c clinchers during the week for training and 700c sew-ups on Saturday for racing and not have to readjust his brakes.
And, road bikes are all about "racing" (for 1% of riders) or having a bike that resembles a real "racing bike" (for 99% of riders). So, if racing bikes used 700c, it was a sure thing that even the cheapest road bike would eventually have to have 700c rims.