sunstealth

Hi, I will soon be building something for a friend who has literally no money and was given a bike (found it gave it to him) its a 1981 leader 12 speed bike (quebec low end bikes from the end of the bike boom in the early to mid 80's). The bike is in decent shape but needs some tlc.

the problem is my friend would like to follow me on some easy mountain bike trails but the bike is sporting 27" wheels. there is no problem with the crankset handlebar derailler shifter or brake levers since i've been collecting parts for the last 2 years.

The only problem is the wheels and here is the question:

Should he stay with 27" wheels (seems fragile to me for even light trail use) and use a set of tioga 27x 1 3/8 cyclocross tires?

should i grab a set of 700c wheels and use a set of all purpose 700x38 kenda k-180 tires on there ?

or use a set of 26" wheels and use a set of kenda 26x1.75 hybrid slightly knobby tires ?


also if anyone has a picture of a 10 speed frame/road bike using 26" wheels i would like to see if it could fit the bill for him (money is a big aspect here hes got like none)


thank you!

reverborama

I recently changed over two bike-boom 10 speeds to 700x32 for use with studded tires. One had center pull brakes, the other was sidepull. The sidepulls work... but the tires need to be empty to get them on and off the bike to get them past the brakes since they are the old style with no release. I am not sure I would be able to use 38's with those road brakes. It would also be pretty tight in the rear triangle and I don't think the brakes would clear the rubber.

If you think you can get by with 32's on the trail, that might be your only option with a road frame like that.

sunstealth

iirc the bike has cantilever brakes but as you say rear triabgle clearance might be of some trouble! gotta check that out!

wrk101

For the price of the wheel change and tires, you could pick up a decent used rigid frame MTB around here.

sunstealth

i already have the wheels in all sizes,what i dont have are the 700x38 tires but theyre 7$ ea.

i can get new 26's for 10$ (for both) and the 27" for the same price .

cheapest frame i found for a mtb around here was 50$ for a ccm and 45 for a supercycle (both lower end than the leader 12 speed) much too expensive for him!

divineAndbright

Give him normal road tires and another set of cyclocross tires if he ever wants to go offroading. You'd be surprised how well you can make do with what you have. At the end of the season a buncha guys I ride with all wanted to start doing cyclocross and they all have cross bikes cept one guy with a mountain bike and me, I just threw together a cheap road bike and I all had were slick 23c tires on but still I took that thing everywhere and didnt really have any issues (cept climbing one steep big climb on loose gravel ha).

sunstealth

ok so I found a set (1 of 2 ) of 700c wheels.

so this week is mock up to find the tire size than buying them cleaning up the wheels and istalling the tires + wheels on the bike. the bearings are sealed i checked them and theyre rolling pretty much flawlesslly.