Yes, I did this also in the mid-70's. Fortunately, back then most frames were build with considerable clearance for fenders, and equipped with much longer reach brakes, so there was still wheel clearance even after installing the larger 27" wheels. The greatest problem was usually that you had to reposition the brake shoes when switching between clincher and tubular wheels. Ocassionally you had the problem of brakes whose shoes could not be raised enough, in which case you either used an offset brake center bolt or changed to a shorter reach brake. Today it is usually impossible to install 27" wheels on a road frame (except touring models) as there is just too little clearance on the new frames.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
<Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2002 9:19 PM Subject: Re: [CR]re: 27" vs 700c size
> Jon M. Schaer wrote:
>
> >I've never heard of anyone trying to fit 27" wheels to a 700c frame, but
the
> >other way is common.
>
> Actually, back in the '70s it was quite common to install 630 mm (27
> inch) wheels in bikes that came with tubulars: PX-10s, Raleigh
> Internationals, Mercier 300s, Gitane Tours de France, others...
>
> Back then, 622 mm (700C) clincher rims and tires were quite hard to
> find in the U.S., so this conversion made a lot of sense in these
> bikes, which had quite generous clearance.
>
> Sheldon "Still Uses Both Sizes" Brown
> Newtonville, Massachusetts
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