noobinsf 

I'm honestly a little surprised that my search for this kind of thread came up blank, but I'm curious to see a thread focused on 27" wheels. Just aesthetics -- no discussion of the merits of a 700c conversion, since that's covered in another thread(s).

This comes about because I'd actually decided to convert an upcoming Motobecane Grand Record build to 700c, but a seller accidentally sent me 27" rims. For various reasons (that I discussed in a different thread), I am just going to move forward with the 27s that I have.

My family recently grew to include a pair of identical infants, so my time to tackle this hobby comes around only occasionally now. Let me ogle your gorgeous bikes in the meantime...

So, proudly display your C&V roadie with 27" wheels!

nlerner

I've got several in the fleet:

'69 Raleigh SuperCourse set up with Sturmey-Archer AM rear hub and 27 x 1 1/4" Panaracer Pasela tires:


'60 Ken Ryall with 27 x 1 1/8" Panaracer Pasela tires:


'74 Norman Fay touring bike with 27 x 1 1/4" Conti Ultra Sport tires:

otg 

Grand Jubile with Pacela's - 27x1 1/4

Trek 710 with Pacela's 27x1 1/8

noobinsf 

Beautiful!

Andy_K 

It's still a work in progress, but I am going to keep the 27" wheels on this 1982 Trek 614.



Ironically enough, I came to have these wheels because they were on a bike I bought that was originally designed for 700c wheels. I had to deflate the rear tire to remove it. So I'm putting 700c wheels on that bike, but these were nice enough that I wanted to build a bike to use them.

It seems to me that the biggest downside to 27" wheels is the selection of tires that are available. I'm a bit of a tire snob and in a very brief search I only found two that I considered to be acceptable. Of course, that's one more than I needed to find, so all is good.

The primary issue in conversion, I think, is brake reach. That's almost always solvable, but it can mean you can't use the brakes you want to use. The short reach brakes that were on the Pinarello these wheels came with were too short for 700c wheels, but I bought a pair of Miche brakes with 47-57 reach that work great. I bought mid reach (47-57) brakes for the Trek, but with the 27" wheels I've got the pads toward the short end of their range. I'm pretty sure I could switch over to 700c wheels without changing the brakes.

Bruce27

"used" pictures, but they are 27" so...what the heck.

Sir_Name 

Motobecane Grand Touring, though the wheels are now stripped and waiting for 700c rims and new rubber...



700c tires and free rims were the only pull toward 700c.

Roger M

jdave5917

1981 Nishiki International and

1982 Fuji Royale II

oddjob2

It would take pages and pages to do show them all.

smontanaro 

Motobecane Grand Touring Mixte

John E

My UO-8 with 27x1-1/4" tires on Araya alloy rims with Normandy Luxe Competition hubs, front and rear. I have since switched to a 700Cx28 wheel (Shimano low flange hub, Campag. Omega 36-hole rim) in the front to minimize toe-to-tire overlap. (My non-OEM fork has noticeably less rake than the stock offering.)

Nice thread -- many of these bikes with old school wide and tall tire and mudguard clearances arguably look better with 27" than with 700C.

SJX426 

this is a bit of a franken picture. It has the original tire on the front and a cheap one on the back. both have been replaced with Pasela's and the HB has be changed along with the saddle. What? You say I should take an updated picture? OK.
[IMG]Raliegh_DSfront on Flickr[/IMG]

badger_biker 

Here are my 3. All have 27x1 1/4 for touring comfort. 87 Voyageur, 90 ST400, and 84 1000. All have cartridge bearing hubs and I have no desire to change them from 27".

The Golden Boy 

My favorite riders all have 27" wheels. While there is a part of me that would like to "upgrade" to 700C, 3 of these bikes are mid 80s touring bikes with cantilever brakes. I've seen several bikes that have had the brake pads at totally acceptable angles, but I've also seen those pads at really goofy angles. For what it's worth, there's something happening here with the VSP- the fork crown is OUTRAGEOUSLY narrow- even compared to other 80s touring bikes- the VSP is 50mm between posts compared to the "narrow" 70mm of other canti'd tourers.

My 1985 Trek 720- These wheels were acquired through a trade here at BF- 40 spoke Phil Wood hubs laced to Super Champion Modele 58 rims with stainless spokes. These wheels are unbelievable- they're so smooth feeling- combined with the wheelbase and the ride of the 720- it's a full on Cadillac ride. I've never felt hubs that spun so smoothly. I'm running 27 x 1 1/4" Pasela Tourgard tires.



I tried getting a pic on my ride this evening- but the sun wasn't at the right angle.





There's my 1984 Schwinn Voyageur SP- this one has the stock Suntour sealed bearing hubs with a 40 spoke rear and 36 spoke front, laced to Wolber Modele 58 rims. I'm running 27 x 1 1/4" Panaracer Pasela Tourguard tires.




Here's my 1985 Trek 620. This has a set of 36 hole Avocet sealed bearing hubs laced to Super Champion Modele 58 rims with knurled sidewalls- apparently they're relatively rare rims. Right now, I'm running the rear as a 27 x 1 1/4" Panaracer Pasela Tourguard, but the front is a Loose Screws 27 x 1 3/8" Sand Canyon tire. I replaced the Sand Canyon on the back when I tried fitting the fenders- there's not a lot of room under those fenders.




And then there's the bike that defies description. The 1986 Trek 400 Elance. This bike came equipped with 700C wheels. My whole thing about this bike has been about upgrading it with top shelf components. I get kind of a perverse thrill from putting "top of the line" parts on a 2nd from entry level frame. And by "entry level," I mean a 531 double butted main triangle with Tange CrMo stays and fork. It's a pretty awesome bike all the way around. One of the first things I wanted to do with this bike was upgrade it to 6400 tri-color 600/Ultegra. When I got the brakes, I didn't understand the concept of "reach." These beautiful tri-color brakes wouldn't reach the 700c rims- but they would 27" rims. Anyway- the wheels... These are the Matrix Safari rims that came on my Trek 720. The front hub is a Maillard 700 professional hub- a beautiful and outrageously quality hub- the rear is a Maillard 600 sealed bearing hub- I didn't want to run the Helicomatic, so I had this wheel built from the stock 600 level hub. I'm running this bike with 27 x 1 1/8" Panaracer Pasela Tourguards- the 1 1/4" tires wouldn't fit under the fork crown.

noobinsf 

I'm really enjoying this thread. Thanks, everyone, for your contributions so far!

jefnvk

My cameraphone is awful, but my two:


The Schwinn is still on steel wheels. Those were fun riding with 5000 other people in a giant pack on that rainy day....
Tires are the blackwall Pasela 1 1/4". They run awesome on every surface I've had them on.


Continental Ultra Sport II 1 1/8", mostly because the Paselas on the Schwinn didn't fit into the frame and I bought what the LBS had to get it on the road over waiting for another box from Niagara. They run well and fast, so long as you've got a fairly smooth surface.

non-fixie 

Lazyass

I have about 500 miles on 27's now. Is it just me or do they roll a little faster than 700's? They're obviously a smoother ride, especially with 1 1/4's, but my average MPH has been up .5-1mph. I've almost broke my highest recorded average speed that was on a bike 8 pounds lighter. On a normal ride I'll average in the 17's solo including stops, on a strong day I'll break 18. Almost every ride on 27's have been over 18.

badger_biker 

I tend to get the impression I'm rolling faster on 27's and definitely smoother, but don't find any significant average speed increase. You probably have done this but if you are using a computer for you average speed and not Strava or GPS then double check your calibration regarding the wheel size. That could be throwing your speed off. Just a thought. Maybe you are just more comfortable on that bike and more energetic on it 😃

Lazyass

The calibration is correct and I know my mile markers. I've just been plain faster. Most of my roads are chipseal and a lot of rough sections so perhaps the bigger tire helps the bike glide over the road faster vs's 23-25c. Whatever it is I'm loving them.

Lascauxcaveman 

I've got three old bikes that went from 27" to 700c, but [strike]four[/strike] five more that stayed with the legacy size rims:

1971 Grandis:


1986 Nuovo Sport (Still wearing it's original set of tires!):



1984 peugeot Vagabond:


~ 1980 Apollo Prestige in faux-legnano livery riding on those old skinny Rigida blue label rims:


Almost forgot my wife's 1972 Peugeot UE-18;


_______
And then there's my 1985 Trek 600, which was originally a 700c bike but I swapped in a pair of 27" just to be contrary:


Should that be a another thread? "Show us your 700c to 27" conversions"

The Golden Boy 

I'm all on it!!!

YouthxCrew

Schwinn World Sport, with a bunch of upgraded components. Sunshine high flange hubs with sealed bearings, Ukai 27" rims with 28mm Paselas


Still unidentified Italian bike, with the exact same components as the World Sport, minus the pedals, brakes, headset, and wheelset. Shimano HC-110 hubs, Araya 16-A rims, 28mm Paselas



1974 Raleigh Grand Sport with Nuovo Record components and Fiamme rims (dork disk has since been removed)

Andy_K 

I finished my 1982 Trek 614 last night.