New Wheels - Cassette or Freewheel?

[SimonR]

As you might have read on my other thread, I'm building an 80's Raleigh 531 frame up with period components but thanks to a member of this forum I've discovered that the wheels I need are 700mm not 27".

As I've only got a couple of sets of 27" wheels I'm going to have to buy a new set of the correct size.

Does anyone have any recommendations of which wheels to buy and whether to go with the freewheel that an 80's bike would have had or go for a cassette instead? I'm going to have to sacrifice some speed for strength as this bike will be my daily hack to commute to work and back.

My budget for two wheels with freewheel/cassette is around £100 although I may well extend this if it becomes obvious it's a good idea!

Cheers...

I'll post a few pics of my progress a bit later on if I can find my camera.

 

[HLaB]

I would go with wheels with the modern freehub (is that the right term?) it be easier to find a new cassette to fit at a decent price. It'll probably be easier/cheaper to find modern wheels too.

 

[4F]

Cassette every time

 

[nuovo_record]

hi simon, i too would go for a freehub with a cassette, 8 speed isn't readlily available as it'sbeen replaced by 9 , 10 and 11 speed....9 and 10 use the same hub, but 11 uses a different one?
i run 8 speed no problems and with cambridge being flat you won't need any crawler gears, you should be ok with downtube levers too.
are you looking for campag or shimano?

post in the wanted section and see what gives

 

[Bigtwin]

Why can you not use the 27" wheels? They are slightly smaller than the 700s, so should fit fine. if the problem is the brakes, you can get differing reaches to suit. I built up a bike where I used the "wrong" wheels like this, and all was fine - and cheap!

 

[SimonR]

Hi all,

Many thanks for the replies - so a cassette is the way to go then!

I've attached a couple of pictures after the work today - I didn't have much time but still managed to disassemble and reassemble the brakes, put the rear derailleur back together again and fit the bottom bracket.

The wheel issue is an interesting one - looks like the 27" wheels that I have are actually too big because the brakes don't line up with the rims and also there's very little clearance at the points where the frame is close.

Surely the frame can't be designed for 26" wheels?!

http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/bb67/thomasandwei/?action=view&current=13062009031.jpg

There are a few more pics of the bike here:

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y291/Wonkey_Donkey/Bike/

 

[nuovo_record]

the 27" wheels came from another bike?
i am guessing that the raleigh frame you have is for 700c wheels - that'll be why the rims sit too high compared to the brakes.
can imagine it's the same for the front too.
i always thought 700c wheels are smaller than 27"?

 

[Bigtwin]

Think your first link there may be a red herring!

Looking at the racer, what are the wheels on it in the pic? What does it say on the tyres? I wouldn't expect there to be much clearance on that sort of frame, plus they are fairly chunky tires on there. If they are the 27's - they look like long reach calipers on there to me - mebbe someone's put them on to use some other wheels for some reason?

Hang on. I'm talking out my arse. 27 wheels are bigger than 700c, contrary to what I said above, and though 27" is less than 700c. A 27" wheel does have a bead seat diameter (BSD) of 630mm. A 700c wheel has a BSD of 622 mm, so a 27" wheel is actually 8mm larger in diameter than a 700c. 26" mountain bike wheels have a BSD of 559mm, so they are 63mm smaller than a 700c (almost 2.5"). The reason for these oddities is that wheel sizes were the outside diameter WITH A TIRE MOUNTED. Only accurate for one tire size, and can be confusing as anything, but the way it was done. It is often easier to just use the BSD measurement.

My apologies. That said, with different tyres and brakes, it would still fit I think!

 

[SimonR]

the 27" wheels came from another bike?
i am guessing that the raleigh frame you have is for 700c wheels - that'll be why the rims sit too high compared to the brakes.
can imagine it's the same for the front too.
i always thought 700c wheels are smaller than 27"?

Yeah - the 27" wheels came from a Claud Butler Majestic that I've broken for parts.

Any yeah - you're right 700c wheels ARE smaller than 27". I thought it was the other way and so, it seems does someone else who posted above but apparently not.

I just looked here and found this:

You are partially correct. A 27" wheel does have a bead seat diameter (BSD) of 630mm. A 700c wheel has a BSD of 622 mm, so a 27" wheel is actually 8mm larger in diameter than a 700c. 26" mountain bike wheels have a BSD of 559mm, so they are 63mm smaller than a 700c (almost 2.5"). The reason for these oddities is that wheel sizes were the outside diameter WITH A TIRE MOUNTED. Only accurate for one tire size, and can be confusing as anything, but the way it was done. It is often easier to just use the BSD measurement.

So that's not confusing then!

Panic over - I still do need a set of 700c wheels as you said some time ago ;-)

 

[Bigtwin]

Panic over - I still do need a set of 700c wheels as you said some time ago ;-)

Or, if you can lose 4mm clearance, lower profite tyres and some shallow drop calipers.

 

[SimonR]

Or, if you can lose 4mm clearance, lower profite tyres and some shallow drop calipers.

Yeah - agreed!

I think I'm going to go along the new wheels route though because I like those brakes but mostly because I'm going to want to fit some mudguards for winter use.

Thanks for all the help and guidance!

 

[Bigtwin]

Yeah - agreed!

I think I'm going to go along the new wheels route though because I like those brakes but mostly because I'm going to want to fit some mudguards for winter use.

Thanks for all the help and guidance!

Have you checked the width at the back - is it 130mm rather than 126mm? Modern cassettes will be the wider - the old 6/7 speed road was the narrower (as with most 27").

Not a killer with steel - you can spread them

 

[SimonR]

Have you checked the width at the back - is it 130mm rather than 126mm? Modern cassettes will be the wider - the old 6/7 speed road was the narrower (as with most 27").

Not a killer with steel - you can spread them

Hmm - the back is actually 122mm (measured between the two rear wheel mounts) so I guess that's 126 really. So - if I go with the wider 130mm rear axle I guess I just have to bend the frame that little bit more.

 

[Bigtwin]

Hmm - the back is actually 122mm (measured between the two rear wheel mounts) so I guess that's 126 really. So - if I go with the wider 130mm rear axle I guess I just have to bend the frame that little bit more.

Could be 120mm which was the old 5 speed spacing. Either way you should be fine!

 

[nuovo_record]

what about something like these?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/shimano-r-500...66:2|39:1|72:1688|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50