700c wheels on frame meant for 27" wheels

I have an old Oyama road bike with 27" wheels that are beyond repair.

Can one replace the damaged 27" 5-speed rear wheelset with a modern 700c
9-speed rear wheelset?. If the 700c can't fit, can one remove the 9-speed to
use the old 5-speed? Will the narrow 9-speed chain fit the double
chain-rings?

Replacing the front 27" with a 700c should be pretty straightforward, except
of course, the brakes will need to be replaced too.

Thank you.

A shy person asked:

I have an old Oyama road bike with 27" wheels that are beyond repair.

Can one replace the damaged 27" 5-speed rear wheelset with a modern 700c
9-speed rear wheelset?.

There are two issues: Width and diameter.

5-speed wheels/frames usually are 120 mm wide where the axle fits into
the frame. 8- and 9-speed road wheels/frames are 130 mm wide.

It is not difficult to re-space an older steel frame to work with modern
hubs. See: http://sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html

The other issue is the diameter. 700c wheels are 8 mm smaller in
diameter, so you'll need to lower the brake shoes by 4 mm. Many
bikes/brakes will have sufficient adjustment range available for this.
You can generally tell just by looking at where the brake shoe is
mounted in the caliper arm.

If it won't go down far enough, you may have a problem. Older brakes
tended to be longer than newer ones, and if your old ones are not long
enough, it may be difficult to find anything that will fit.

If the 700c can't fit, can one remove the 9-speed to
use the old 5-speed? Will the narrow 9-speed chain fit the double
chain-rings?

It will fit, but may be slow to catch on the smaller chainring when
downshifting, especially if you downshift the front while in one of the
outermost rear sprockets.

Replacing the front 27" with a 700c should be pretty straightforward, except
of course, the brakes will need to be replaced too.

The brakes are the main issue, but, as mentioned above, _usually_ they
don't need to be replaced, just re-adjusted.

Then again, 27 inch stuff is not actually extinct. See:
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/wheels.html

Sheldon "630/622" Brown
+---------------------------------------------+
| Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and |
| smiles, with sniffles predominating. |
| --O. Henry |
+---------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

kak61 wrote:

I have an old Oyama road bike with 27" wheels that are beyond repair.

Can one replace the damaged 27" 5-speed rear wheelset with a modern 700c
9-speed rear wheelset?. If the 700c can't fit, can one remove the 9-speed to
use the old 5-speed? Will the narrow 9-speed chain fit the double
chain-rings?

Replacing the front 27" with a 700c should be pretty straightforward, except
of course, the brakes will need to be replaced too.

A similar 27" wheel not only costs far less but you may then
reuse your rubber, skewer, chain and gear system, avoiding
several purchases. As you note, possibly even the brakes
might need to be changed if you change wheel formats.

If you actually want to chnge to 9speed that's a different
(and expensive) discussion apart from fixing your immediate
problem.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

As always where men on 2 wheels are concerned you will get different opinions,
but fwiw...

I changed the 27" wheels on an old ('75 or so) Viscount to 700c, and also
changed the brakes.

Changing the brakes on the front was easy (because I also changed the fork) but
changing them on the rear was difficult -- it took awhile until I found rear
brakes with a long enough reach.

Sheldon and others (who know much more than I do about bikes) may give
articulate reasons for sticking with 27" is a good idea, or why old brakes are
as good as new ones, my subjective experience is:

1. The combo of new wheels and new brake was fantastic -- zowie! The bike
seems to ride way better. Perhaps modern 27" wheels would have the same
result.

2. The brakes were wayyy improved. And I mean the brakes (the cables and
housings were already new, so they are not a factor here). IMO, modest Shimano
105 is dramatically better than old GB's. And very likely modern wheel rims
stop a lot better than old ones.

- Charles

"kak61" wrote in message
...
I have an old Oyama road bike with 27" wheels that are beyond repair.

Can one replace the damaged 27" 5-speed rear wheelset with a modern 700c
9-speed rear wheelset?. If the 700c can't fit, can one remove the 9-speed
to
use the old 5-speed? Will the narrow 9-speed chain fit the double
chain-rings?
Replacing the front 27" with a 700c should be pretty straightforward,
except of course, the brakes will need to be replaced too.

This might be what you need for the front brake
http://sheldonbrown.com/dpdropbolt.html

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 12:32:35 +0800, kak61 wrote:

I have an old Oyama road bike with 27" wheels that are beyond repair.

....

I have done exactly what you are contemplating (i.e., 5 - 9 speed), but
let me suggest that you may have more fun with this (and spend a lot less
money) if you go in the OTHER direction - to fixed gear and/or single
speed, assuming your frame has horizontal rear dropouts, which it probably
does. Here's your chance. Instead of messing around, just replace the rear
wheel with one built for this purpose (i.e., with a proper fixed/single
hub with a left-threaded lock ring and proper axle nuts). You'll probably
also want to spring for a new chain. Such a conversion doesn't cost that
much, and you won't even need a rear brake. Plus you can get rid of all
that old kludgy shifting apparatus. You can stick with 27 inch wheels, and
have fewer things to worry about - there are still a few decent tires
available in this size. There's tons of info on this on Sheldon Brown's
site. The hardest part will probably be getting a straight chain line,
which can usually be achieved by fiddling with the bottom bracket and /or
chainrings. Perfect thing to do with an old road bike, IMO.