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.
Not that I disagree that the Trek 410-412 bikes were great bikes, but it wasn't but a few months ago I was reading the replies to a guy who was looking at a new old stock Trek 412 and he basically got jumped all over about it being a low end bike not worth more than a few hundred bucks.
I think the same seller, who was on CL also had a bunch of new take off 27" wheels from various very early 80's Trek bikes. They were listed in NJ.
A buddy bought a set for $200, they were basically brand new 1980 Trek 412 or 512 wheels with Rigida 1320 rims, Campy hubs, and original skinwall tires.
I wouldn't have thought the tires would be much good but he's been riding them all summer with no issues.
The guy had something like 20 brand new bikes still in the box, most were tall frames. I haven't seen the listings for any bikes in a while but I do see him listing some wheels from time to time. I think the guy buys out old bike shop inventories in the NY/NJ area.
Most folks around here though simply will not put more than a few dollars into fixing any bike, I've gotten a few really nice bikes lately after they realized a good set of tires would run them over $50. More if you want anything decent. They toss a vintage Raleigh or Schwinn to the curb and go buy a new something with tires that hold air.
The selection of 27" tires is still decent but its mail order only these days around here. The few bikes shops that are left just don't stock anything, 27" or other.
All through last year though there didn't seem to be any shortage of high end tires, just those that were affordable, so if your after better quality tires, the supply of expensive tires didn't seem to be hampered by the pandemic.