Wheel size …yet again ….

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Landsurfer

Veteran
For the 5235th time …. No doubt …. Raleigh Clubman … 1980’s version with 27 x 1/1/4 tyres … can I fit 700 c ….. And why not ….😁👍🇬🇧
 

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
For the 5235th time
I must have said a million times, you should not exaggerate.

To the question, a 27" rim is larger than a 700c rim, so no.
 

wafter

I like steel bikes and I cannot lie..
Location
Oxford
IIRC the answer is usually "maybe with long-reach calipers (which will probably offer worse performance).

27" apparently has a 630mm BSD while 700c is 622mm, so you'll be needing to drop the brake blocks by 4mm.
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
I did something similar to a 26" wheel bike in that I had 700c rims laced to the existing 3 speed SA hub and a front 'dynohub' just meant fitting shorter reach calipers (which I had in the shed) Win win, not only did I have nice Weinmann aluminium brakes but I was able to throw those bits of twisted steel that Raleigh laughingly called brake calipers in the bin.

Should be pretty easy to do but you will need longer reach brake calipers like the Tektro R 559
 

Punkawallah

Veteran
You can fit 700c wheels to an 80’s frame, assuming your brakes are long enough.
I have replaced the 27” wheels on my ‘hack’ with 700’s, the Weinmann 730 brakes will allow MTB brake blocks to reach the rims, no problem.
For tyres, Google ‘bike 27” tyres’ -quite a few on the market. I ran Duro tyres on my Galaxy for a good while with no problems.
Hereunder the ‘hack’:

IMG_1407.jpeg
 

wafter

I like steel bikes and I cannot lie..
Location
Oxford
You can fit 700c wheels to an 80’s frame, assuming your brakes are long enough.
I have replaced the 27” wheels on my ‘hack’ with 700’s, the Weinmann 730 brakes will allow MTB brake blocks to reach the rims, no problem.
For tyres, Google ‘bike 27” tyres’ -quite a few on the market. I ran Duro tyres on my Galaxy for a good while with no problems.
Hereunder the ‘hack’:

View attachment 780253

That looks like a fine utility hack indeed; although I wince at the lack of mudguards :tongue:
 

Profpointy

Legendary Member
IIRC the answer is usually "maybe with long-reach calipers (which will probably offer worse performance).

27" apparently has a 630mm BSD while 700c is 622mm, so you'll be needing to drop the brake blocks by 4mm.

I swapped wheels from 27" to 700c on my old bike and one issue was indeed the calliper arms not allowing the brake blocks to go low enough. I resolved this by using a needle file to file out the slot to give me an extra 4mm. Fortunately there was enough meat on the arms to accommodate this. Caveat: the brakes never worked that well after -possible because of the extra flex of the longer arms but I think more likely because I had also replaced the brake levers which might have had insufficient pull, or maybe weren't that good quality
 
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