masi61

I have a Puch Marco Polo project frame that I want to do a resto-mod build on. This frame is designed for 27” wheels with nutted center pull brakes. The rear dropout spacing I measured at 124mm with my metric dial caliper. I would like to do a wheel build using either a 28spoke dura ace 7400 7-speed freehub in the rear preferably (or 32 spoke would be my second choice). Just wondering if anyone knows of any old school 27” rims that came in 28 spoke count? What about 27” clincher rims with machined sidewalls? This is just going to be a wildly improbable query I realize….

So then I may re-think how to proceed on my Puch Marco Polo wheel build. Could anyone post a link to some nice 27” rims I could use (32 hole, 36 hole, etc…)??

Lastly, I may play around with some long reach nutted dual pivot side pulls that will permit me using the much more readily available 700c rims. Obviously this will open up more modern options such as machined sidewalls, lower spoke counts and tubeless ready extrusions….

Thanks in advance for any links to nice available rims or sharing how you have resto-modded 27” frames with upgraded, modernized wheel builds.

Aubergine 

I can’t say I am an expert in old 27 inch rims but I have never seen them with fewer than 36 spokes. In your position I’d go for 700c and longer reach brakes.

Kontact

You should be able to use 700c wheels with the existing brakes.

JohnDThompson 

I doubt you'll find a 28-hole, 27" rim unless you find an undrilled rim and drill it yourself. As Kontact notes above, it's likely you could use 700C wheels, for which 28-holes and machined sidewalls could be easily sourced. If your brakes are too short to accommodate the 4mm drop for the pads to reach the rim, you may need to replace the calipers with longer reach calipers.

Re: machined sidewalls; these aren't really necessary unless the rim is hard anodized, as a hard anodized brake track gives poor braking performance. Until the mid-80s, most rims were not anodized and did not have machined brake tracks. The only exceptions were rims with welded joints, like the Weinmann A-129 and A-124, and those were only machined at the weld seam. Most high-end rims of that era were pinned rather than welded.

Classtime 

The nicest 27 inch rims I've had were Matrix. Maybe called Tour or touring?

repechage

32/40 spoke count wheels were pretty common in the UK. 28’s? I have not seen.

ebay uk?

JohnDThompson 

Close: "Titan," a Trek house brand.

icemilkcoffee 

I doubt you'll find a 28h 27" rim. But 32h 27" with machined brake track does exist:
https://carsoncitybikeshop.com/rim-s...5pahEI3z7nxBrX
You just have to wait for them to restock.

Velo Mule

In my opinion, or by my memory, machined sidewalls and lower spoke counts weren't really available during the 27" wheel time period. I suppose you can find them, but they will be more rare and likely to be at the end of the 27" era.

For me, keeping 27" wheels with 36 spokes and plain aluminum rims is my happy place. Even better if they happen to be Super Champion. Many of these wheels came with galvanized spokes. That is not a problem. There is only one thing wrong with galvanized spokes and that is that they don't look as good as stainless. More happy place stuff - Robergel double butted galvanized spokes.

squirtdad 

Just go for 700 rims. your will get much better selection of tires and may be able to fit a slightly bigger tire.

as noted by others the center pulls will likely adjust to for the difference, worst case you get a set of medium or long reach brakes.

have done this several times and IMHO is the only way to go

nlerner

By no means an endorsement, but I did come across this idea to use a 28-hole hub in a 36-hole rim: https://drewdevereux.wordpress.com/2...o-28-hole-hub/