I have an old Raleigh I use for commuting on - only 30 minutes or so each way. It still has the origional wheels - rusty, dented, and with perhaps 1" wobble.

I know the general advice is buy cheap buy twice, but I don't have a lot of money to spend, nor do I need it to be a beast on the track.

Would I see significant improvements if I were to buy a cheap set of 27 x 1 1/4 wheels? I think I saw some Wilkinson ones on amazon for £50 a set, which is about my max budget.

I would consider 700c wheels too, but don't want to make any major frame mods. The idea of 'stretching the drop outs' sounds sketchy on a 40 year old frame. 700c wheels with a hub that will fit an old frame would be great but I haven't seen any.

Sure it would be an improvement over rusty, dented wobbling wheels. "Buy cheap buy twice" doesn't really apply here - tension the spokes least half-way decently and they'll last as long as expensive wheels.

I have a new 27 inch wheelset build with Sun CR18 rims, see: Sun CR18 27 5,6,7 Speed Freewheel hubs Road Bike Wheelset [72274726665] - $115.00 Velomine.com : Worldwide Bicycle Shop, fixed gear track bike wheelsets campagnolo super record vintage bike

These hubs fit 5, 6 and 7 speed bikes without altering the frame. You may need to spread the rear spacing a little if your current frame spacing is less than 126mm. This can be done by hand each time you install the rear wheel.

Avoid any wheel that requires a cassette. These will be at-least 130mm wide and will require that the frame be reset to fit. You will also need a new cogset and chain to fit a modern cassette-type hub. Your freewheel cogset will not fit modern hubs.

I imagine you're in the UK. You might be able to have your wheels rebuilt with these rims and new spokes. These alloy double wall rims are very strong. These will be a big improvement over any steel rims. Steel rims are almost never seen since the braking performance is very weak, especially in the rain. Alloy rims are lighter, stronger and safer.

Yes, newer wheels with aluminum rims and sealed-bearing hubs is the way to go. Most hubs allow for adjustment to match your frame's spacing. Requires wrenches you might not have. If you buy the wheels from a reputable shop, they likely will adjust them for you as part of the sale. Going down to 700c is possible, especially if your brakes have enough adjustability in them. They will need to be "lengthened" by loosening and moving the brake pads downwards to be able to contact the smaller rim. You will find the newer wheels faster, less maintenance with sealed bearings and much lighter to boot. Good luck. Oh, by the way, braking will be 1000% better too.

Wholesale distributors that sell to bike shops supply wheels built of parts at less than retail,

assembled with the same efficiency as the ones fitted on New bikes at the bike factories..


Its a good way to find cheap wheels.. at the LBS..





...

Thanks for the advice chaps - i will have a look at specific ones within my budget and ask for suggestions. Is there likely to be any significant dofference between 700c and 27 in anything other than tyre choice?

I've upgraded a 1977 Motobecane from 27 inch to 700c. It was easy to do, all I had to do was reposition the brake pads about 4mm. If you have 4mm of adjustment available on the brakes, you won't need new brakes.

I was able to fit a wider tire and I was able to pick from dozens of different tires by making the conversion. If you are satisfied with your existing tire choices a 700c conversion will not have any merit.

As I don't need anything fancy 27" tires are fine. I do fancy the idea of 700 however. The issue is in the axel spacers no? I guess it depends on the specific wheelset, but the ones I saw in person today looked like I would have to widen the forks to allow room for the spacers on the axel. The wheel itself and the brakes will both fit fine.

The rear axle spacing will be the issue. Your bike has spacing in the 120 - 126mm range and uses a freewheel cog set. Modern rear wheel axle spacing is 130mm on most road bikes and 135mm wide on most mountain and hybrid bikes. These modern wheels use cassettes and not the freewheel your bike has. The modern hubs will require that a framebuilder increase the rear dropout spacing to match the hub.

A 700c rim is probably built with a modern 130mm hub, so inquire before buying.

Yes I will need a 124mm hub, and a freewheel (as I plan to fixie it). Are there any cheap 700c wheels which are like this, or can be easily modded to be?

Josh, If you are converting to a fixed gear, you will find many options that will fit your bike. Most fixed gear rear wheels are 120-126mm wide between the axle nuts. these will easily fit a 124mm frame without any modification.

I will have a look at this option too then, although I already have a fixie sprocket, so I just need any hub that will take a freewheel.

Which shops / sites would people recommend for uk buyers? Prioritising value over quality. All I know are Halfords, Evan's Cycles, and Amazon - I'm sure there are better places to buy from! Cheers

You should have led with "I'll be building a fixie" -- there are tons of 700C fixed-gear wheels out there for sale.

Well there are, but they also seem insanely expensive compared to sticking a sprocket on a freehub wheel? I also thought i would have issues with spacers with them.

Ok, so to be precise, you're wanting to convert to single speed, rather than a fixie (no freewheel on a fixie) - this is likely to make a difference to what hubs other members recommend to you and the clearances involved.

Nope, a fixie. But the sprocket I have screws onto a hub that has threads to take a freewheel, rather than a hub designed to take a cassette. I hope those are the correct terms anyway!

tire choice is limited in 27"/630 ETRTO

Off the shelf freewheel hub machine built wheels will still be cheap but they are dished , dished, to fit more than a1 cog freewheel,

I have re centered the rim on a wheel like that , but you loosen the drive side spokes ,

in one way wheel is more stable bracing angles more symmetrical , but backing off the spoke makes the nip-head prone to breaking

as the spoke does not come up fully into the nip, but when they break that is not hard to replace.







....

That's kind of a pain, getting the chainline right, hub spacing, wheel aligned, and adding some adjustment for the chain length. You can buy a kit for the freewheel single speed conversion though, which looks pretty easy.

Yeah chain line is an issue with my current wheels, but even they (which are awful) still work.

Have you considered just getting a new bike? Craigslist or Xmart, either could probably source a full bike for about the price you'll end up paying for a new set of wheels.

I have, yes... Frankly, I think I have summit fever - too far in to quit. Would make much more sense to just abandon the heap of junk I have and get something good. I am enjoying the project though.