700c spaced for a 5 speed frame?
 

Pardon the ignorance but what are the options for a 700c rear wheel without doing any cold setting?

I've seen a handful of online shops with budget priced alloy 700c wheels, like this. How decent are these to get started with? Would I be able (better off) to find a set of wheels at my co-op or used bike shop with the right spacing and of better quality?

Down the road I'll invest in a better quality rear wheel. For now, the front wheel with a dynamo is the priority.

If I understand correctly what you're looking for, the easiest way to get exactly what you want is to lace 700c alloy rims like Mavic Open Pros to a 120mm O.L.D. hub with threads for a 5 cog freewheel.

If the bike is steel, you don't even need to coldset. I put 130mm 700C's on my steel frame Schwinn Voyageur (original spacing 121.5), I just lightly spread the dropouts when putting the wheel in. It doesn't take much force.

First off, whats the rear spacing of your frame?

something like this http://www.bikepartsusa.com/bikepart...gory=wheel-700
will take a 5-6 speed freewheel and are most likely 126mm spaced. So like john said there's hardly any force required to spring the frame open a couple mm to get the wheel in the dropouts (no cold spacing required...its steel so you've got some wiggle room to make things fit) if you've got a 120mm spaced frame... if yours is not 120mm its probably 126 or possibly 130 so all the better.

If you want a 700c rear wheel that is exactly the right spacing for your frame you may have to locate a hub with the right O.L.D and the rim you want, and build it ourself or have it built. Wheels aren't terribly hard to DIY...especially when you consider what most shops charge to build them for you.

Here is a selection of wheels from a shop I know you can trust:

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/wheels/622.html

I think those are looking like the best option. I'm pretty positive I have a 120 mm spaced frame. Looks like those wheels would work fine according to Harris. Would a standard 6 speed freewheel work as well?

Suntour made a 6-speed freewheel that fit 120mm frames (Suntour "Ultra"), but standard 6-speed freewheels require 126mm spacing.

Not mine: eBay auction for Suntour Ultra 6-speed freewheel

I've used one of the Ultra-7 freewheels for years, and it's quite nice, but I have to admit it's "tetchy" in the shifting department -- it's quite easy to overshift when you're in a hurry to do so. So my recommendation for max. reliability would be to use a 5-speed at 120 OLD, or a 6 at 126.

The only difference between the wheels would be how they're built: a 126 OLD wheel would have an extra spacer on the right side, and would be built slightly more dished than one for 120. Hubs, rims, spokes would all be the same. The wheelset you put up the link to is for 5- or 6-speed, so probably built to 126. Some people claim that they can add some washers and a 6-speed freewheel to a 120 OLD wheel, but I've never tried it. As another poster said, it's cake to fit a 126 wheel into a frame with 120 rear spacing, though I imagine you might curse a little when out on the road trying to fix a f*** and reinstall the wheel with only two hands while keeping the chain out of the dirt too. Then it's nice to have the wheel fall right in.

I think I'm also going to take a look around the co-op and the used bike shop here. Were there production bikes with 120 OLD AND 700c? I think that is the largest question I have right now.

I would be happy keeping it 27" given that I would probably have an easier time locating a good replacement set local. Converting to 700c would be a bit of bonus with the ability to run snow tires.

Yes, but many of the 700c clincher rims on production 120mm O.L.D. spaced frames were straight-sided; they didn't have the "hook-edge" to capture the tire bead, and as a result the tires couldn't be inflated to more than 70-80 psi.

A lot of bikes with track dropouts are 120mm.