Ancient Mariner

I have a mostly authentic Trek 613 that fits me nicely. I want to switch the 27" wheels to 700C. The first thought was to lace new rims onto the existing hubs, and that is still an option. In the meantime I swapped a Nishiki Seral touring bike for the '86 Miyata 912 that's too tall for me. The wheels fit the Trek just fine......they both have 6-speed freewheels with 126mm spacing.

My question is, am I destroying the value of both bikes? The Miyata has a decent frame, although at 60cm, it's way too tall for me. It has all Shimano 600 components, and they look pretty good. The Trek is fairly original, but appears to have had a freewheel change at some time.

I have no real idea of the value of either bike, but will refrain from swapping wheels if I'm diminishing the value of both bikes.

due ruote 

So are you swapping all the parts, or just the wheels? Anyway, I would do it. There's nothing crazy unusual about those parts. Maybe if the Miyata was a time capsule, never ridden bike it would be different, but life's short and you have a plan for a rider. Go for it.

Ancient Mariner

That makes excellent sense. I know there are people who are very big on the 912 Miyata, and it is a very nice bike, but for someone with decidedly longer legs than my own. I wish I could swap out more of the parts, and I might look more into it. The first thing I checked was the brakes, and even though they're both side-pulls, the mounting screw is different. Also, the wheel swap is the easiest to undo.

dvsjes28

Any pics of the Trek? My 82 613 is my favorite bike

Ancient Mariner

One.....

RaleighSport

Depending how determined you are, you can make those 600 recessed nut brakes work with a dremel or file or drill etc pretty easily, if they're dual pivot sidepulls that may well be worth doing. If it was myself though, and I'm glad it's not I'd probably take it to an extreme of even switching the forks so the 613 would have a proper 700c setup for the fork etc.. and of course the full 600 groupo.. but that's me.

auchencrow

If you plan to install long reach dual pivot brakes on your Trek - instead of drilling, you should read this thread.

inkandsilver

That is a gorgeous bike. I understand the desire to tinker, but that bike looks pretty perfect as is. What do you want to gain/improve by making these changes? Why switch to 700c? I don't mean this to be argumentative -- just curious. Maybe you need an n+1 frame that fits you to put those Miyata components on?

Bruce Enns

+1, there are plenty of 27" tires to choose from. I ride the crap out of my Trek 400 w/27" wheels and use Panaracers on it. It would appear that your 613 also has Panaracers, its a nice tire!

SuperLJ

I don't know much about the Miyata, but you'd be hard pressed to find a sweeter bike than your Trek 613. In no way will you hurt its value by converting to 700c wheels. There aren't "plenty" of 27" tires out there, there are a few, only a couple of which are decent. There are plenty of nutted brakes though that work fine, including the Dia-Compe sidepulls it came with. Please don't drill out your frame.

Bruce Enns

"only a couple of which are decent" ....... well, how many sets of tires do you run at any given time? LOL

wrk101

If you just want 700c wheels, just pick up a set used, and keep the 912 complete. Cleaned up and ready to ride, the 912 will bring nice $$$.

rekmeyata

It depends if you're going to sell the bike or bikes. A typical bike collector, the kind of person that would pay more for a bike, is not going to buy a bike that has been bastardized, so you'll degrade the value of the bike if you cannibalize one bike to finish another.

Having said that the Miyata is the better bike if the condition of two bikes are the same. The 912 uses Miyata triple butted splined tubing which was the best tubeset on the market at the time; and they used better components.

Ancient Mariner

Lots of good feedback, and it has me thinking hard. I would definitely prefer the Miyata, but it's about 5cm too big. I suppose I could shop around for a proper-sized frame and swap the components. I thought I was onto something a while back. Someone listed an identical Miyata frame on eBay. It was listed as 54cm, so I put a big bid in on it, and asked the seller if he was sure it was 54cm. He listed specific measurements in the body of the listing that suggested it was bigger. It turned out to be 58cm, so he canceled the listing and re-listed it correctly. That sure would have been easy. It was even the right paint scheme.

I'm leaning now towards just selling the Miyata intact. It's in pretty good shape, and I should be able to get enough to buy another bike that fits me. In the meantime, I'll look around for a decent set of alloy wheels. That shouldn't be hard, I hope.

JesusBananas

Well, clearly we need some pics of the Miyata too, you know, to make an accurate comparison.

Ancient Mariner

Tomorrow. I'll put something together and post it.

SuperLJ

The "couple" I was referring to was individual models of tires, not individual tires. I haven't had much luck running any more than two tires at a time, one per wheel, just so we're clear. LOL

I've got no problem with 27" wheels - I have one bike the uses them - and I love Paselas. I was just trying to point out that were he to switch to 700c wheels, the number of tire choices he'd have would go up exponentially.

The 27" wheels that came with his Trek use hollow-section straight-sided Rigida rims and galvanized spokes. Not a great set of wheels. There's no way changing to a quality set of 700c wheels will hurt the value of this bike. He'd also get more clearance for wider tires and/or fenders. A very sensible upgrade IMHO.

SuperLJ

+1

a77impala

My belief is I can do what I want with my bikes, resale value doesn't enter the equation. Do
what you want with your bikes and don't let anyone tell you different. Just enjoy them!

Pars 

I'd agree with finding a used set of wheels (good hubs, SS spokes, 700c). I picked up a set of Campy NR hub/SS spokes/Matrix rims for my Trek 400 and switched it to 700c running 700/28 Gatorskins for ~$100. I kept the stock wheels (Maillard hubs that aren't very smooth even after being rebuilt with grade 25 bearings, galvanized spokes, and Rigida rims) for if and when I sell it. I also swapped out the brakes/levers for Tektro R200 levers and 57mm reach brakes. These will also come off if I sell it.

Ancient Mariner

Per an earlier request, photos of the Miyata 912:

seely

I could ride a 60cm and love Miyatas... just sayin'...

wrk101

Great advice if you are keeping both of them. But since you say the Miyata is 5cm too large, its not about keeping it. So at the point, the question becomes, is it a good idea to use a nice Miyata 912 as a donor bike, to just get a set of 700c wheels?

Answer is heck no. Sell the Miyata for some serious coin complete. I regularly pick up 700c wheelsets used for $50+/-. While I will use donor bikes, when it is something as nice as a 912, the only way I use it as a donor bike is if the frame has serious cosmetic issues.

dvsjes28

same color scheme as mine. I kept it 27" with a pair of Sun CR-18s. Cant go wrong for $120.

mainstreetexile 

There's nothing wrong with 27" wheels. Those frames are very different sizes though, so it's unlikely you can ride both of those comfortably.

If the Trek fits you, I would sell the Miyata. Then, you could use that money to buy a nice new set of 700c wheels if you still want to convert the Trek (which probably isn't necessary).