So I have a classic Rodriguez steel frame that I'm slowly converting to something slightly more modern. It started in 1984 with down tube shifters, and then I wasn't sure whether 700c would take off in USA so I hedged and got 27 wheels, but the cantilever brakes are mid position so I can switch to 700c without issue.

I've updated my Mavic aero brake levers to something lots more comfortable from Tectro. I had my rear derailleur switched to a Shimano Deore XT from the old Duopar Eco. I've switched to Shimano bar ends.I am still running an Avocet triple up front with a 24 tooth hill climber. I think my big gear is 48, but honestly I spend most of my hours in the middle. I don't remember anymore.

Now it's time for the new rear wheel in 700c, quick release and rim brakes, obviously being retained. I believe I've done what I need to (possibly barring spacing in the rear cold set, but I'm going to start without) switch to 700c with maybe 130mm Shimano 105 hubs with 11 or 12-34 or 36 teeth on a hyperglide (my current low is 34 teeth with no chain wrap issues). I'm looking for reasonably priced wheels and advice about 9 vs 11 and what else should I watch out for? I wouldn't hate switching to tubeless, I think, but tech has changed so much since I last went to pick components that I'm a little overwhelmed by all the compatibility issues and sizes to be thinking about. I believe my derailleur is from the mountain bike line. Will that be an issue with the new wheel and cassette?

Seeking advice, sources, and guidance? I have no experience building my own wheels or I would be tempted to just get it done myself.

My rando bike frame came with a 130mm dropout spacing. I did not bother trying to cold set it, I am running a 135mm rear hub in it, it is easy enough to pull the stays out 5mm when I put a wheel into the frame. If your frame is a 126mm frame and you go to 130mm, I would try it first to see if you really think you need to cold set it to wider dropout spacing. It might be easy enough to set a wheel on the dropouts and pull the stays out for the wheel to drop in.

What size tire width do you plan to run? That may be a factor on whether you would prefer tubeless or not.

You said this is rear wheel you are contemplating, would you not have a front tire to match the rear? Are you planning to get both front and wheels?

I have two derailleur touring bikes, both have the same 3X8 drive train with Shimano indexed bar end shifters (BS64). I am very happy with that. But there are some on this forum that think you should go with the most modern drivetrain possible, like a 1X when making changes. I think that would be personal preference. You did not say if your bar end shifters are the older friction ones or indexed ones, or if you plan to change those too. I think that Microshift makes new 9 speed ones, but I am not sure on that.

I build my own wheels, so I can't suggest a good vendor for you to buy complete wheel(s).

I have Velocity Dyad rims on my light touring bike, very happy with that for a non-tubeless rim.

I thought I would start by just pulling them out, and later cold set if that was a pain.

Tire size, not positive, but the advice seems to be run really fat these days. I would like to expand my touring to include gravel, which I've been avoiding since a 10 mile stretch in Montana nearly ruined me on a tour there. So, fat. I thought I'd get rims in the mid 20s as they seem versatile enough for narrow to fairly wide tires.
I'm focused on the rear wheel as it's the most complicated. The front I'll just buy to match. Seems easy.
I figured that I would probably end up with 9 speeds. My bar ends are supposed to be able to do that with indexing, but I've been friction shifting for 50 years, so I can probably manage that if I need to with 9.

I do have a x-c bike with a 1x setup and it's fantastic for the purpose, but I think more gears are better for my touring. All that weight and air resistance makes small changes feel bigger when you are going for hours with it.

If you have a 9-speed shifter, going 9-speed certainly makes sense for the chain and cassette. 8/9/10 speed cassettes are all the same width, if the hub you find is 11-speed, you will need a 1.85mm spacer to take up the extra space.

Depending on which XT rear derailleur you have, you might be able to just slap on a 11-36 cassette and have it work, or you might find you need to add a longer b-tension screw, or add a derailleur hanger extender such as a WolfTooth RoadLink.

Older frames with cantilever brakes often have the studs closer together than modern frames, which can limit the width of rim you can run. For example, my wife's 1984 Univega has studs spaced ~63mm apart, with rims that have an internal width 18mm, and going any wider would make it so I could not set up the brakes as well. Some of my mountain bikes from the 00's have studs spaced around 80mm apart, and they have no problem taking a rim with an internal width of 25mm. With your current wheel installed, find some flat pieces of wood/metal/cardboard/whatever to use as shims, hold them up to your rim on each side, and try to adjust your brakes to have the pads come in contact at a good angle. If it works, then the combined width of your rim plus the shims tells you how wide of a rim you could get away with. This measurement would be the external width.

Good tip about the cantilever studs. I'll have to check that. Thank you Arrowana

what do you think is a realistic max tire width for the fork and rear ? Being '84 you might be limited to 35mm as a guess?

Tire size, you really need to make sure the tire will fit between the stays, under the fork crown, under the rear seat stay bridge, Djb (above) is guessing 37, but if you previously ran 27 X 1 1/4, you might be limited to 32mm. And that impacts your rim width. Since the bike previously used 27 inch, then the width between the fork blades and between the chainstays is likely the limiting factor, as the space under teh fork crown or seatstay bridge should be quite good. That said, on my folding bike the width between the chainstays is the limiting factor.

I think the chart at the bottom of this page is very good for sizing rim inner width to tire width.
https://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html

Also, consider that many of us that do touring like to have fenders for those wet days. My light touring bike frame is adequate for up to 45mm tires or 45mm fenders with up to 37mm tires. Point being that you should decide soon if fenders are in your future, as that impacts max tire width, which is a factor in rim decision.

I am guessing you will conclude that inner width of 17 to 19 might be about right if you use a 32 or 37mm tire width. I run 37mm width on my light touring bike (with the Dyad rims I mentioned before), that works pretty good on rail trail or towpath type gravel trails, but on occasion I wish I had a bit more width. Maybe you got lucky and Rodriguez made enough room for wider tires?

Tourist in MSN Thanks. I do have fenders for it, but haven't toured in a while and took them off. Honestly maybe they were not that good, but I didn't like them much. Some plastic things, probably from some European company because that's what that shop believed in back them.

All my bikes except my folder or road bike have plastic fenders. My light touring bike, they are Planet Bike Cascadia, 700c X 45mm is what the frame manufacturer recommended. And 37mm tires under them.

Just a couple weeks ago I replaced the plastic ones on my heavy touring bike, I never did like the older ones that now were a decade old. Put on some SKS Bluemels that I had bought a few years ago. Now I realize how lucky I was to buy them when I did, they are in a size no longer sold.

And there are ones that clip on from over a dozen different styles that typically do not go under the stays or fork crown, only partial coverage. That is what I use on the folder or road bike.

Photo below, I wish I had fenders that day, but the fenders did not fit in my bike case for airline travel.



I had so much mud on one of my brakes that when I used the brake, it stayed engaged. I had to get off the bike and pull the pads apart to get rolling again.

But, your call, if you want to go super light then skip the fenders. Plenty of people do.

Maybe it is the optimistic people that skip fenders? Years ago one of my bosses said I was a real cynic. I responded - no, I am an experienced optimist.

you've started down this road of refitting a dear old bike, so it is what it is, but I still have my first touring bike and about 15 years ago thought of modernizing it, but realized for various reasons it wasnt worth it. I still fixed it up to an extent and still use it on a trainer, sentimental reasons keeping it really, but measure the rear frame area to see how wide tires you can put.
My bike is from about 1990 and both the fork rear area are limited to about 35mm tires. I had 32s on it with fenders at first, but ran 28s on it always afterwards.

I can measure the distance between the rear stays near the bottom bracket on my bike if you want, but measure yours in mm at widest point.
If you are happy with 32s I guess its a moot point.

what crankset will you use, the original?
So many options of setup, but it does come down to how much money you want to spend while living with the limitations and inherent design of a 84 frame.
My 1990 bike was always a bit flexy also, and that cannot be "modernized out" with new parts--but depends on how much weight you think you'll carry and your body weight.

So glad to have you all as a reference and reality check. I've got a few sets of rims for the bike, and when I took the calipers to them, all, including my old broken original touring rim, were 20mm or below. Mounting one of the 20s up, sure enough, no room for any wider rim. There was, however LOTS of room for more rubber. This one had 32mm Gatorskins on it, so 35 should be easy, maybe 38 or.... Well, a fella can dream.
So with the rim limited to 20mm OD, there are lots of availability for the relatively simple update to a suitable rim and 105 hub for a 9 speed. This will open up the world of 700c tires to me, which is actually one of the main drivers. 27 inch tire choices grow fewer and fewer each year. That combined with a 50% jump in gear choice with a switch to 9 speed, not something to complain about.

Your triple crank, being from that era I suspect it has a road triple crank with a 52T big ring. And probably cup and cone bottom bracket. The bottom bracket should be re-greased if it has 1980s vintage grease. Most of us now tour with a big ring no bigger than 46T.

I have a couple different sets of these PASAK brand wheelsets with sealed cartridge bearings. These have the black anodized hubs, but you can also get colored ones for the same price--even ones with the titanium oilslick finish if you really like bling (one of mine is that, the other is gold) You can pull off the cassette just by popping off the dust cap on that side, so no need for a cassette tool if you happen to break a spoke on that side--which I haven't had to do yet. At these prices, with one or two day free delivery, it's hard to beat these. They are also sold on Temu, but mostly in 27.5 or 29 in wheelsize.
Edit: OK, apparently 29 in is exactly the same as 700C, but maybe you should go with 27.5 as being just a bit larger than the old 27 in wheels. Which opens up the USA warehoused Temu wheelsets.


https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256808450989948.html

My big ring is already 48, and I have a sealed Phil Wood Bottom Bracket. I didn't want to mess with the BB on a tour. I replaced the bearings comparatively recently.

Sounds like you are thinking this project through pretty thoroughly, which is good.

Putting together an order. I believe I'm getting 105 hubs, CXP33 rims (15 inside), 36 butted spokes, The Open Road Pro are also common enough. I think both rims are strong and capable.
The cassette I'm looking at is the HB50-9 and the chain and is the HG-53.
Everything but the chain and tires is used, but is in good shape.
I'm going to start with some either 32 or 35mm Vittoria Randoneurs and make sure everything is working fine, then worry about spending twice as much on nicer tires later. I like to have extras around the garage anyway.
It looks like I can get out the door with this for around $300, and can get some shorter, maybe weeklong, tours in on this setup.

Since you all have been so helpful and I'm pushing into territory that I'm not as familiar with...What am I about to do wrong here? Anything I'm forgetting?

For what it's worth, my landlord just ordered the same 27.5" wheelset as I got in April for his mountain bike, for even cheaper than I paid. He wanted the blingy oilslick finish hubs, too. The rachets aren't as loud as I thought they would be.

https://www.temu.com/27--bike-wheels...949482019.html



Make sure your derailleur can handle nine-speed chains. I'm not sure how those designed for six speeds work with nine.

Thanks, yes, it started an Huret Ecopar but it was never the same strength after going into the spokes one careless afternoon. It kept rebending, so I replaced it with a Deore.