Vintage calipers on 700c frame?
 

I'm replacing my cracked late 70's Trek frame with a 90's Schwinn Traveler that I got for cheap on ebay. I know most of the parts will swap over. I know that I'll need a 700c wheelset, but I've been wanting a new wheelset anyway. The only thing I'm not sure of is the brake calipers. Will I need to buy more modern road calipers or will the 70's Dia Compe calipers from my Trek work if I adjust the brake pads up higher? Has anyone tried this? Most of the information out there is on making old calipers reach 700c, not the other way around.

are the brakes the type that use a recessed nut or external nut to mount to the frame?

other than that, it may or may not work due to reach, but it's hard to guess if that when you don't have the frame and wheels.

Put some External nut old Campag Brakes on my Recessed nut built, RB1,
just put a flatwasher under the nuts .. front and rear brake..
but wheel change size was same.


Radius of a 622/700c wheel is 4mm less than a 630/27".
measure the slot in the brake arm.

They are external nut, but I figured they would work with a washer on the back. I just wasn't sure about the reach.

This is a big maybe issue my luck on getting older brakes to work on newer frames and vice versa from working at the local bike coop is about about 50/50.

Your seem to think your 90's Schwinn Travelers has 27in wheels; are you sure? Most of 90's travelers I have seen had 700c, with the 80 Travelers having 27 in wheels. BTW, best way to use external nutted brakes on recess is to drill out some recessed nuts and then run the brake bolts through

you measure the reach on what you have, what is that?

I can't measure the reach right now. I'm out of town and just won the frame and wanted to order everything else I needed, but I guess I'll have to wait until I can measure the reach.
I'm just getting overly excited about building up a new bike to tour on in a couple months.

this has been my experience too.

Many older bikes, both 27" and 700c, used "long reach" (47 to 57 mm) brakes while newer ones typically used "short reach" (37 to 47 mm) brakes. My '83 Trek 400 used long reach calipers with the OEM 27" wheels but they adjusted far enough to let me fit 700c wheels. A late '80's Vintage Trek required short reach calipers with the OEM 700c wheels. I expect your Trek used long reach and the Schwinn will use either depending on how much tire clearance it was designed for.

Another hasty ebay gamer.. wait and then measure ..