this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2023
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bike wrench

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A place to ask bicycle repair questions, and for bike shop monkeys to share advanced non commercial wrenching resources (no YouTube self promotion). This is only for repair related topics.

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Howdy, I recently gave some new life to an old 1980s raleigh road bike that I found on craigslist turned into a commuter. The tires are somewhat old, and I'm looking into replacing them. Would you recommend any different sizes for the wheels? Brands to look for? It's not a common size tire on modern bikes. Also, I currently have 700 x 35c inner tubes in the tires. Is that an issue or will they work just fine for now? They were provided to me by my local bike shop.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The tube are good. If you wanted new wheels you'd need to check clearance with 700c wheels and make sure your brakes reach. I have schwalbe marathons on my 27"wheel bike and love them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Thanks! I'm hesitant to replace the wheels because I have an internal hub on the rear and replacing the wheels would mean paying for a rebuild. But based on doing some more googling it looks like that would be my only realistic option down the road.

Edit: I just wanna say y'all are so lovely and helpful here.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't (and didn't) switch my 27s out and have had no problems. Wait until your hubs need servicing and then revisit and see if there is anything a new wheel size would help you with.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Second this on the brake clearance checking. I had an old west German steel road bike with 27 x 1 1/4" wheels and thought I could just swap in modern 700c road bike wheels and be happy. However the brake calipers on the bike wouldn't work as the rims were now in a slightly different location and wouldn't adjust far enough to reach. That said you can get extenders and longer reach brake calipers if you're fully committed to putting a modern wheelset on, but worth checking everything will work/fit before going too far down that route.