Originally Posted by
The Golden Boy
Those points above are really important. Bikes like 410s and 412s are well renown bikes with great reputations that are built well, ride well and command decent prices despite being at the lower end of the hierarchy.
If you've got a bike that you like riding; don't be a Mad Man- if you can afford it- use the good ****.
IMO- if you've got 27s on there, and they're good, and you don't really want to change- get good tires and go with it until you need new wheels. If you need new wheels, if your finances allow it- go to 700C. There's just a WORLD of better tires than Paselas, Sand Canyons and Continentals. If it's a Trek with 27s on it, it's probably not a "performance" bike, so you'll be able to run wider tires and make the ride even better for yourself.
So I'm convinced. It's been many a moon since I built my own wheels, and it doesn't look like the savings would be significant even if I did. I do have extra 27" tires, so I think I'll stick with them on the Trek, at least, for the time being. (The wheels on the Trek and Cannondale were cannabalized from bike auction or yard sale bikes, and not the alloy rims they came with. So, I'll spring for new wheel sets for both, and then my wife and daughter can have the steel 27" wheel sets as spares for their heavy duty Schwinns, as appropriate!)