Tire sizes?
 

Hi, I'm trying to fix an old Nishiki road bike, and the rims say they are 27", but it seems my normal road bike tires won't fit on there. What tires do you guys use (size) and what tube size works? I tried getting a spare tire from a modern road bike but it seemed to be a bit small. Thanks.

There are two road bike sizes that are very similar. 700c is the current road bike standard. Many older bikes like yours came in 27 inch, which is very slightly larger. This size is now obsolete, but you can still get good tires for it. Check out Panaracer paselas.

Most modern road bike tires are 700C (622mm bead seat diameter). 27" rims used 630mm bead seat diameter tires. Althoough long deprecated on anything but department store bikes, these are still available, and even in decent quality, e.g. the Panaracer Pasala.

27" is NOT obsolete, your choices are smaller but there are still plenty of very good 27" tires on the market. Vittoria Zaffiro, Panaracer Pasela or the better Pasela TG, Schwalbe Marathon (finest touring tire on the market regardless of size!), Conti makes several models like the Gatorskin, Ultra Sport, Tour Ride, and Super Sport Plus, and Michelin World Tour.

Tube wise any 700c 28-32 tube will work. The only thing with those tubes is that they use a presta valve which means you have to convert your rim from Schrader to Presta which will cost you about $4 for the pair, see: https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...ta-stem-savers You have to remove a section of your rim tape where the stem hole is, insert the adapter and recover the rim tape over it (or replace the rim tape with new tape if the tape is old).

ob·so·lete
ˌäbsəˈlēt/
adjective

• 1.
  no longer produced or used; out of date.
  "the disposal of old and obsolete machinery"
  [TABLE="class: vk_tbl vk_gy"]
  [TR]
  [TD="class: lr_dct_nyms_ttl"]synonyms:[/TD]
  [TD]outdated, out of date, outmoded, old-fashioned, démodé, passé, out of fashion; More[/TD]
  [/TR]
  [/TABLE]
  
  
  

That being said, my 3 touring bikes all came with, and still have 27" wheels on them. I actually changed my 1986 Trek 400 Elance from 700C to 27" just so I could use some short reach brakes that wouldn't fit otherwise.

I figure when I get around to changing to 700C, I'd probably be riding on 32s anyway- the difference between 27 x 1 1/4 and 700C x 32 is pretty much negligible. As long as Panaracer is making the Pasela and the TourGuard Paselas I've really got no real reason to switch unless the wheels break.

Yes, I meant obsolete in the sense that they are no longer produced, not in the sense that they are no longer usable. I still use the 27s on my Trek. I have fewer tire choices, certainly, but you only really need one good choice, right?

I just got a nice set of Continental 27" tires for my Velo Cheap project.

All the LBSs in my part of town stock 27" x 1/14. The harder sizes to find are 27" x 1/8" and 27" x 1" but those are around too. One of them is the same size as a 700c- I think its the 1" width like I use on my Schwinn Sports Tourer.

Hmmm... I don't think we need to start a semantic battle here, but that word has connotations that are misleading. Lets just say there is a HUGE worldwide stockpile of everything 27" related and that's why dozens of tire manufacturers still gladly make a wide range of tires for that size of rim. They will be marked, as an example, 630/32 or (27" x 1 1/4") for one very popular size, available from dozens of manufacturers. A 27" x 1 1/8" tire is also known as a 630/28 and a 27" x 1" is a 630/25, etc. as the tires get narrower.

The nomenclature is admittedly a bit confusing, but the tires themselves are easily found.

To further complicate things, 26" x 1-1/4" (597mm BSD) is incompatible with 26" x 1.25" (599mm BSD).

Q. When is 1-1/4" not the same as 1.25"?

A. When the subject is tire sizes. ;)

There's lots of weirdness in tire sizing. Sheldon Brown does a good job of demystifying it in THIS ARTICLE on his website.

Again you're wrong, I just mentioned a whole bunch of tires that are CURRENTLY being produced that you can buy brand new. So no they are not no longer being produced, nor will they quit making them because there are millions of 27" wheels on bicycles still around, in fact I can find more 27" tires today then I could 15 years ago, so more companies are beginning to make that size.

What are the bicycles that are currently being produced based around the 27" wheel size?

27" was only popular in some English-speaking countries. So from the rest of the world's point of view it was always kind of obsolete.


:p

Sweet comeback but sorry we were talking about tires not bicycles where Icepick said this: "There are two road bike sizes that are very similar. 700c is the current road bike standard. Many older bikes like yours came in 27 inch, which is very slightly larger. This size is now obsolete" so in that vein that is the discussion in regards to 27" tires not bicycles being made with 27" wheels.

27" tires were mainly found in the USA and England but not other English speaking countries, and found mostly on low to mid end bikes and rarely on high end bikes. So yes, in most of the World 27" were odd ducks which is why America and England switched to 700c in the mid 80's.

When I built my cargo bike, I decided to put on a 700c wheel with 27" forks.

A couple of reasons. Obviously the 700c (29er) wheels are easier to find, especially with alloy rims. The other reason was that I could then put a 30-something tire in without worrying about clearance.

It works great, although I am right at the max of the stock centerpull brakes. If I keep the calipers, I should probably grind about 1/8" from the bottom of the slots to allow the brake pads more clearance from the rubber part of the tires.

The 27" wheel size is obsolete. It is no longer in common usage- there are no major bicycles in mass production that use the 27" wheel size. That's a great example of obsolete. The tires that are currently being produced are pretty much only for existing bicycles with 27" wheels. Obsolete.

ob·so·lete
ˌäbsəˈlēt/
adjective

no longer produced or used; out of date.
"the disposal of old and obsolete machinery"
synonyms: outdated, out of date, outmoded, old-fashioned, démodé, passé, out of fashion;

I think there is a distinction between something being obsolete and obsolescent. Sort of degree. I would say 630 as a tire size is obsolescent. In comparsin, 597 is obsolete.

Huh, before now, I would have thought the two words to be equivalent. I learned something. :thumb:

Obsolete?
No Longer Produced?

Can anybody provide a list of 27" rims?
Ok, so Sheldon Brown/Harris Cycles sells ONE 27" alloy rim, the Sun CR18, as well as two Weinmann rims built into wheels (plus the Sun)

Is that the entire entire global supply of 27" rims/wheels?

I suppose the Model T Ford is not obsolete yet either as there are both NOS and Reproduction parts available for it.

Niagara offers 27" rims by Sun, Alex, Weinmann, Velocity and one in steel by Wheelmaster. $10.50 for the steel rim, $749 for shipping.

Anyway, I see your point.

27" is obsolete as a tire size for new bicycles. 27" is not obsolete as a tire size. Just to add a little more semantics.

I thought I addressed this already, I guess you can't comprehend what you read, so read my post again and see if you get it.

I love embarrassing you.

If bikes are no longer made specced with 27" wheels, the 27" wheel size is obsolete. If the 27" wheel size is obsolete, tires made in the 27" tire size are obsolete.

Sit down junior.

Wee lets play on the merry-go-round with a special needs kid.

you guys are funny.

to stir the pot even further - i'd like to make a prediction: Within the next three years, bicycle manufacturers will discover that the 27in wheel is THE IDEAL wheel size. This should roughly correspond to market being saturated by everyone who just bought a 27.5in (650b) wheeled bike, and just barely got their 29er sold (which is a 700mm off road wheel...).

As for me - I'll be sticking with my 26in wheeled bikes and 700C bikes. Should be about 7~10 years from now when 26in will be THE IDEAL wheel size.
(unless, of course, you're after an EXPEDITION bike, then 26in already is THE IDEAL size)