Originally Posted by
eschlwc
what about the history of width sizes for 27" tires for mid/upper level bikes?
was 1" always the most narrow available? did marketers go this narrow on their new 'performance' road bikes, or was the substantially fatter 1 1/4" more standard, even for 'racing' type applications?
in a thrift store for $15 each, a friend of mine found me a nos mavic ma2 27" wheelset. they're so awesome looking. i put 1" paselas on them, and they look great. but, honestly, 23mm tires would look even better to me. just wondering if even more narrow tires were ever available for 27".
I think 1" was about it, there may have been some custom ones, there were two issues, one is that hooked rims were not common in that size, and without it, you were pretty much limited to 80PSI and lower. The other is that tubular tires were common for high performance applications, so the narrower, higher pressure tires were often tubulars, which were not made in 27" size. Modern hooked rim clinchers have pretty much eliminated the need for tubular, which is why they are no longer as common as they used to be.