The way I understand it, 27-in wheels started with the american 'bike boom' era in the mid 70's. American consumers were confused by the metric designation 700c and the japanese bike manufacturers, veying to fill the american demand, created the next closest size in American Standard of 27 inch for the adult bikes. This faired well all through the 80's and was even spec'd on some of the high end japanese bikes of the time. Europe on the other hand, was very reluctant to go to 27-in because most of their sales were domestic, and saw no need to change or add 27 inch tooling to the tried and true 700c measure, which they loved and embraced for over 50 years.
European road racers for years and years rode on european bikes with their standard 700c metric designation and were'nt about to change. Because of this 'bullheadedness' of sticking to their guns, and the continuous wins in european racing, it eventually sealed the fate for the 27 inchers, and by the early 90's they were phased out.
but then again, I could be wrong.
