Originally Posted by
iamacat
Hey all,
My idea is to take an old bike with 27" wheels, replace the wheelset with 700c, swap out the old center-pull calipers for some long-reach dual-pivots like the Tektro R559 and thus gain more clearance for fatter tires and fenders. Does that sounds reasonable or am I missing something?
The reason I ask is that in my area (Seattle) there are a lot of old 70s and 80s bikes for sale. I like these old frames but in order to be a decent commuter bike for Seattle, I need slightly wider tires (at least 30mm, hopefully more for the potholes), fenders (rains all the time) and non-mushy brakes for all the hills. All of the old bikes I've tried have terrible (outright dangerous, IMO) brakes and they generally don't have clearance for much wider tires with fenders.
Thanks!
...I think this should work, but I'd add that you ought to look for either a 70's bike or an 80's touring bike to have the space for fatter tyres and fenders. Personally, I think that spending the cash to convert to a compact crank is wasted. You can get the gearing you need with the original crank if you just experiment with downsizing the chain wheels. This is more easily accomplished with a Shimano or other 130 bcd crank on your purchase, because there are a lot of old chainrings for those in the used parts stream.
I commuted here for 20-30 years, on and off, on just such bicycles. If there's a lot of traffic you need to watch out for, in order to avoid death by driver, you're better off converting to a flat bar with a slightly shorter stem length to get a more upright riding position. This gives you better visibility. You can spend the money you save on the crank swap on new bar, stem, and levers.