I've got two bikes that still have 27" inches on them and I noticed the short supply and the size being squeezed out a few years ago. I bought four pairs, all different and haven't gone through set yet.

Schwalbe puncture resistant w/ reflective strip - About 300 miles on them and all the center flashing isn't gone yet. The compound is very soft to the touch but they wear very slowly
Pasela Pro-tite - in the wings
Pasela regulars - in the wings
Michelin World Tour - About 500 miles on them and still look newish. These won't inflate past 65lbs on non hooked rims without spitting off the rim. Probably the rims fault though, and me for matching them up.

Im not very demanding of my tires. I look for the smoothest path always. The streets in Tucson are another story but I avoid most of the bigger holes.
I found the Michelins in England and the others here in the USA on Ebay. I think I bought them all in 2019.
By the looks of it, there will be a couple pairs of Paselas at my Estate Sale.... stand by.....

Western Bikeworks, www.westernbikeworks.com, has Schwalbe HS159 27 X 1-1/4 gumwalls at $19.99 ($16.99 each when I put 2 into the basket). With puncture protection and real tread they look like great commuter or pathway tires.

Thx for the pointer. I just picked up a pair, with some tubes. My favorite 27" tire. I've bought 3 pair in the past for 3 vintage restorations. Noticeably lighter than the Marathons in the same size, and feel like it too, although a Schwalbe guy at Sea Otter said the Marathon had lower rolling resistance. To me, the 159's feel better.

SwiftTire's Sand Canyon 27 x 1 3/8 Tan Wall are back in stock!

"Description

The original SwiftTire! Now in Tan for a more vintage feel.

• 27 x 1 3/8
• 66 TPI
• 350 grams
• 35-80 PSI
• Tan sidewalls
• Folding Kevlar bead
• 33 mm width on common 630 rims
• Made in Japan by Panaracer exclusively for us

A SwiftTire balanced for both on and off road adventures. Features a chevron tread pattern, which when combined with our premium Panaracer casing makes for a top shelf tire at mid-level pricing. For hooked-edge / beaded rims. For those who loved the Michelin World Tour, this is the tire for you!"



(Price has inflated 20%, to $36, but where else are you going to find a 350 g folding Kevlar beaded 27" tire with a tan wall?

I ordered a pair already.

(I have been refreshing their page for years, literally years, waiting for these to present and an hour or so ago they did. I have no personal experience with them, but they are attractive on paper? I somehow don't think they will be in stock for very long?))

I suspect these are based on the same casing size as the 1-1/4 Pasela, which measures huge compared to other 1-1/4" tires.

The World Tour is of course similarly huge (though is heavy, sluggish and stiff at least compared to most skin-side tires).

I get good tread mileage from Panaracer tires of this type, Pasela et al.

Thanks! 15.99 free ship with 4 tires.

Western bikeworks now only has 3 gumwall schwalbes left in stock! Hopefully they will get more in,,,

Blueskycycling has HS159's in white or gum for $20 today. Plus tax/shipping.

this is good to know, I was wondering at how big my Paselas were be cause they looked bigger than 1 1/4. they are pretty sluggish, especially compared to 28mm gravel king

I just ordered a pair of these Pasela Panaracer Urban Max 27" tires. Hope they roll as fast as they claim.

https://www.thebikesmiths.com/collec...panaracer-3319

Are there any actual claims about it's rolling performance?

It's a ruggedized tire for urban use, so there will be some layers of added material under the tread cap, but Paselas typically leave the sidewalls thin, to flex easier.

Velomine has Vittoria Randos in 700x28 for $16.99. 4 in stock.

Oops! Not 27's

I buy regularly from Bike Tires Direct and they are a good and long established online vendor. They have a good rewards program, too for repeat customers.

I have a set of the Swift Tires ( black wall ). They measure 30mm at 45psi on VERY narrow rims. That works out to just a bit under 1 1/4" . The O.D. on these rims is 20mm sooo maybe 18mm I.D. ? The cheap 1 1/4 tires I took off were measuring around 27mm. I'm sure they would be plumper on normal rims.
I am very happy with them. Smooth, fast, and enough tread to last a while. Definite step up from the Chin Shens they replaced.

There's going to be about 6-7mm difference between the outer and inner width dimensions, so your 20mm wide rims will probably measure i13mm, which is very near the lower limit of what is possible to mount tires on and have the tube and valve stem fill the space between the rim sidewalls and tire beads.

Back in the 70's, it wasn't possible to make a wider rim without some serious weight gain. Later design development allowed deeper and wider rims extruded with much thinner walls and of stronger alloys like Maxtal, and which defines today's state-of-the-art alloy rims.

30mm (as mounted) tires on such narrow rims invites the possibility of the tube suffering stretching stress concentration as the pressure tries to push the tube down between the tire beads after the tube has already firmed up and started to pin the tube against the inside of the tire. The rubber reinforcing pad surrounding the valve stem, in particular, may not fully descend to the floor of the rim and so may cause tube wall ruptures to either side of said rubber reinforcement (look for tell-tale stretch marks to either side of the rubber valve stem reinforcement).
It is helpful with such combinations of wide tires on narrow rims to tug on the valve stem as the tire is being inflated past 5psi, to prevent such tube ruptures.
It is also helpful to use only tubes having generous width relative to the tire width.

Thanks, good info.
I'll un-mount the tires and check it out. They are presta valves ( there isn't anywhere near enough room for schrader )
I bought this bike as a frame and fork project ( a Raleigh Super Course ) and I wanted aluminum rims for better braking, these were all I could find locally at the time.

I’m just a low performance biker in the Midwest, but the cheap Kenda K35s do have a place for me. They were what I have used on my old 73 Super Sport for decades. I got a bit more involved in the next rung up of vintage bikes in the last 5-10 years. That put me onto some Panaracer Paselas and Gravel Kings. Nothing pricey, but a notch up.

Anyhow, after updating my old Schwinn including a new crank spider so I could change the front chainrings, I also updated to Paselas. They are the standard 1 1/4” ones and not Pro Tite with the added flat protection. They really transformed the feel and rode nicely except….. City riding here in the Midwest with the poor pavement and patches and cracks was terrible on that bike. I think the frame is quite stiff and has fairly sporty angles. I found myself watching for the tiniest road imperfections.

Back to the Kendas on my SS upright conversion and my 73 stocker and city riding on poor roads is quite tolerable. The Kendas on an upright conversion of a 72 Schwinn Continental was pleasing too. On that bike, one could practically ignore the road surface. Today I did a 15 mile shakedown ride with half being on so so roads on my recent Peugeot UO14 acquisition. The bike had a pleasant neutral feel with the Kendas and the tires and bike complemented each other for the conditions.

Obviously nicer tires for nicer roads equal nicer feel, but there is something to be said for a decent ride over poorer pavement. Other thicker tires would certainly give similar results, but this is my experience. All areas of the country aren’t blessed with fine pavement, especially in the heavier traveled cities.

I just mounted a Swift Tire Sand Canyon on a Rigida 13-20 for my Motobecane and inflated to 55 psi, it measures 1 1/8. I wonder what the OG Michelin Elan measured on these rims.

In fairness to the tires, those are really skinny rims. Panaracer Pasela 27"x1-1/4" tires measure an honest-to-goodness 32mm on the original wide steel rims on my wife's Schwinn Suburban. I bet your tires would measure closer to the labelling on wider rims, too!

I'm actually pleased that they mounted a might narrower. I was looking for Folding 1 1/4 Paselas and they weren't to be found. These rims are what came with the 1978 Grand Jubile -- a tourer?

edit: at 60 psi or less and my 155 lbs. on these rims results in a less than ideal cross section. At 80 psi, they are still very comfortable and more round.

Thanks for the info!

I just bought one pair of Pirelli model Jet Caju 27 x 1.1/4 here in Brazil. It is made in China, and wired. It weights 500g each.

My LBS just checked with their "supplier in Vancouver", "50 in stock there", and the price was reasonable so I'm in for four. Their store interface is the same as loads of other online LBS presences, I'd bet the same supplier get to other LBSs in the Great White North.

Only 46 now...

Setting up a racer for the season. Concerning speed and nothing else whats the best thing for 27" clinchers?