cradduck

I am just wondering how many of you out there commute on old bikes with 27" wheels?

I am a fan, but I think that 90% of it is nostalgic value. It reminds me of what I used to ride when I was a kid. I also like that replacement tires/tubes are dirt cheap

Chris_in_Miami

My first Crossroads had 27's on it, thought they weren't original.



I wouldn't think twice about doing it again, but only with tires that are easy to remove to fix a flat, Paselas come to mind. I've got several other bikes with 27s, 26x1/38", and 700c tubulars, I'd probably commute on any of those except the tubulars, they're a bit too light for my urban commute.

fuzz2050

I did, but tire selection is much more limited. You don't have nearly the range of widths as you do with 700c wheels. Although, 1 1/4 is pretty close to my ideal size, so I guess it isn't that bad.

BengeBoy 

My Univega commuter has 27" inch tires. Not much in the way of tire choice, but the ones available are good for commuting (e.g., Pasela TG's). One flat in the last 2,500 miles.

Tequila Joe

I commuted for 1 summer on a 1972 Falcon and then year round for 2 years on a 1987 Bianchi Campione Del Mondo. Both had 27" wheels. I used Continental Ultra Sports ($20 ea.) on the Falcon and during the summer on the Bianchi and switched them out for Tioga Bloodhounds ($15 ea.) in the winter.

gerv 

I have an 82 Fuji Supreme as my summer commuter. I bought some 27 inches 1 1/4 wide Nashbar Prima 2 tires for this. They have a Kevlar belt, so are pretty reasonable on flats and I believe I paid only $10 each for them.

My only problem is that the rear wheel seems to maybe have a slight bend in the axle. I think the older freewheels aren't as solid as today's freehub and cassette design.

joeyfrench

My daily commuter is an 80's Raleigh. 27" wheels and Schwalbe Marathon 1-1/4 tires. About to replace the old rims with Sun CR18's. Haven't had any problems with the wheel size at all. Also, not one flat, riding everyday.

tjspiel

I have in the past and once in a great while I'll take my wife's road bike to work, - which has 27" wheels. I like the bike but if somebody were to hand me some quality 700c wheels I'd switch out the 27s in a heartbeat. I probably wouldn't care at all except that with the 27s I have to keep a stock of tubes with schrader valves when I already have a bunch of extra tubes with prestas.

CACycling

I commuted on my '77 Schwinn Le Tour II with it's stock 27" chrome steel rims (with Forte GT2/k tires) until a year ago. Only retired it so I could make my then "good" road bike my commuter and have an excuse to get a new road bike.

Booger1

I've ridden on 27" tires for 30 years.Just changed over to 700's last year so that I could have more choices of tires.

mconlonx

Our early 80s Burley Duet tandem came with 27" wheels. 1-1/4" works fine for us, so tires are not a problem. Let's see, keep commuting on tires that are just fine, or throw down for new wheelset, tires, probably brake issues I haven't even considered... Nope, gonna stick with the 27"s.

KLW2

Until this fall when I bought a LHT, I commuted daily on my 88 Voyageur with Continental Ultra Gatorskins. Thousands of miles and a long commute.

scottbot84

getting a commuter built up with sun Cr18 rims and a SA AW hub. Mostly went with 27" for extra stand-over height, and because the guy doing the build had some 27 inch Marathons lying around for a song.

HardyWeinberg

My wife and I have both commuted on her schwinn worldsport from her high school days; she finally hung it up after a black ice wipeout a couple years ago, is mostly on a breezer now w/ 26x1.5 or 1.75 tires.

rumrunn6

50% of my 1,000 commuting miles between February and August '09 was on 27" wheels. I prefer Specialized All-Condition Armadillos (the slick ones). I crank them up to 120 psi and they're still comfortable. If I can rig a triple crank I'd still ride an old school steel bike. I just gravitated to my 700c hybrid which I converted for the road because of the triple crank. Here's my Varsity as it stood last summer.

drummer5

Another 27er here too.

1979 Motobecane Mirage, even when I converted it to fixed I kept the 27" wheels instead of going 700, probably also because the front wheel was the first wheel I ever built so there's a bit of sentimental attachment there.

gerv 

I have built up Sunrims CR18 700 and 27. I find the 27 rims a little tighter for mounting tires. Not sure why. You might want to lube or powder the rims a bit before you try to mount them. I actually ruined a new Chinese gumwall tire last time I tried.

seenoweevil

Yep. My Miyata still has 27's on it. I ride it most of the time when it's dry and no chance of rain(no fenders).

Bioflamingo

Up until recently I only rode 27s on commutes because flats tend to happen from time to time, and no one within 60 miles sells 700c tubes/tires. I just got done building a custom commuter, and while ordering parts I ordered a bunch of extra 700c tubes/tires, so I'll be using those on my new bike from now on.

spiker

My winter bike, a 70's Raleigh Record, runs with 27's, Kenda's. My step-daughter's Puch mixte runs with Kenda 27 x 1 3/8 knobbies. Thought about putting a pair of these on the Raleigh but the shop closed for the winter.

Grim

700's are relatively new "common" size in the bike time line. Go get some Pasela's. They made their reputation in the 27 inch size and man you can pick up 27's cheap.

I like the Michelin Would Tours on my 84 Fuji. They ride nice but a little slow. They will be replaced with Pasela's when the time comes. I have Continetal Ultra Sports on my 77 Super LeTour $15 each on sale at REI. Nice fast dry tire tire for a old bike. Little easier to get flats on though.

https://www.niagaracycle.com/index.ph...a6120a5235bf6a

corkscrew

My Motobecane has 27" wheels with Specialized Tri-Cross tires that it came with. Had a few flats over the summer but no other real issues.

Most of the older road bikes in my garage have 27" wheels. Only 2 have 700c's (An '86 Bianchi and '93 Cannondale).

Totaled108

Yes, the VolksCycle and Schwinn, both have 27" wheel sets. I've put over 2,000 miles on the VC in the last 9 months, mostly commuting.

Schnayke

Yup, I do, I was using a motobecane mirage, but it ended up being wrecked, so now I use a 87' schwinn traveler, most of the time. I have a pair of 1 1/4 tires from bontager Kevlar lined. Never flatted.