Back when I had my Gitane Interclub it had 27″ wheels with tubular tires. There were 700c wheels (ISO 622) around but I don’t think I was familiar with them at the time. The 27″ wheels (ISO 630 mm) are often found on older road bikes like I had. The 27″ wheels are slightly larger than 700c at 630 mm as opposed to 622 mm. Hence there is a 4cm difference on the brake reach. On my old Miyata I don’t remember if the tires were 27″ or not. I feel like they were 26″ tires. I went to Western Auto to get replacement tires for it from time to time.
There are so many choices when it come to tires now days depending on the bicycle type (Touring, mountain, gravel, etc.). There are 26″ (ISO 559) tires which are used on mountain bicycles and cruisers. There are 650b or 27.5″ (ISO 584) tires which are also used on mountain bicycles. There are the 700c or 28″ (ISO 622) tires which I have mentioned already which are used for road, hybrid, city, and touring bicycles. There are the 29″ tires which are used as a marketing term for wider 700c tires. Then there are some less common tire sizes such as the 27″ (ISO 630). While the 27″ (ISO 630) is less common now days, it is still widely available, but not usually bought on new bicycles.
I have a set of 27″ wheels that I got with the Miyata 210 frame. I will be using them with the Miyata 310 build. But I am going to use 700c wheels as the primary wheels for the Miyata 310 build since I can use wider tires with the 700c wheels. Here are some pictures that I took of the 27″ wheels along with two 700c wheels (both having the same type of rim). The 27″ wheel happens to be almost 27″ tall. The 700c with the 23c tire is about 1/2″ shorter at roughly 26.5″. And the the 700c with 38c is roughly an 1″ taller at almost 28″. There will be plenty of clearance for the wider and taller 700c tires on the Miyata.
