Background: My main ride since January of last year has been a 1986 Miyata 210 touring bike. Steel frame, 27-inch wheels, cantilever posts, blah blah blah. Overall, it's a great bike, but the canti posts are short and positioned unusually close to the rim, which has given me a devil of a time in finding brakes that are both powerful enough and fit the bike. Because it's a tight fit, the LBS guy and I reluctantly concluded that, when my rims wear out, it may not be possible to replace them with a set of 700C wheels.

Fast forward to today. I'm at my parents' house for the week, and my bike is living in the shed with their hybrids. On an impulse, I decided to see if 700C wheels really couldn't be made to fit. I took the front wheel off of my bike and installed the front wheel from one of the hybrids, wearing a 700x35C tire. Mirable dictu, it fit! The brakes would require a bit of adjustment to prevent them from rubbing on the tire sidewall, but they literally just needed to be angled down a couple of mm. It might be necessary to use bigger tires in order for this to work, but that doesn't bother me - I like 35C tires just fine, thank you!

Anyway, the point of all this is that fate has a cruel sense of humor. There's simply no way that I can really justify new wheels... but Harris Cyclery has 36 spoke road and touring wheelsets available for $100 and $120, respectively. It's an incredible deal, but I'm spending a bucket on parts for a homebuilt lighting system and new fenders, and saving up for a possible new bike this summer - I can't spend $120 on wheels that I don't REALLY need, plus tires and a new cassette. But there they are... calling to me . What do I do in this situation? What do YOU do in this situation? Help me resist the siren song of new wheels!

Do your parents need both of their bikes at the same time? hee hee Seriously, go by a thrift store and tell them you will buy the bike whose wheels fit your Miyata. $10? $20? Then get good tires.

Hmmm, today I got my Brooks b17 from Santa Fe bikes, my fenders, computer and panaracer slicks from MEC and my hydration system from Blackhawk.

I guess that is it for a while... the wife isn't too happy with the money going out.

That seems contingent on finding a bike with good 700C wheels, no? With 36 spokes, strong enough for touring applications, right spacing in back. Well, it's worth a shot!

It's not like a bad addiction, like gambling, drinking, or drugs. Go for it!

I don't understand what impact tire size is having on the brake pad / rim relationship working? What am I missing?