Myth Busted "There are very few options for 27 inch tires"

On one of the bike mailing lists I frequent a gentleman was building up a old school mixte for his lady friend and wanted suggestions for 27 inch tires, in response several well meaning folks mentioned that there were "very few options" for 27 inch tires.  On other bike forums I have seen this expressed by members urging people working on old 10 speeds to convert them to 700c wheel-sets "so you have tire options".  Now I do not dispute that 700c tires have a tremendous variety of widths and options BUT as one who has spent way too much time searching online for tire deals I can tell you  the 27 inch tire cupboard is far from bare.

Sizes

You basically have 4 widths to choose from for 27inch tires from a 25c narrow width to 37c fat width -see options below

27  inch size	ISO	rough metric equivalent width
27 x 1	630x25	25c
27 x 1 1/8	630x28	28c
27 x 1 1/4	630x32	32c
27 x 1 3/8	630x37	37c

Brands

There are a bunch of companies making 27 inch tires including;  Avenir, Bell, Cheng Shin, Continential, Kenda, Michelin, Panaracer, Schwable, and Vittoria to name the big ones.  Just do a search on Amazon and you will see for yourself.

Price Range

You can spend $8 a tire for some Cheng Shin gumwalls or $36 a tire for Continental gatorskins and every where in between.

Options

You want a traditional gumwall, my favorite, you have choices in every size.  I personally like the Kenda K35 which is a great looking tire, sturdy and a very good bang for the buck.

You want a lighter tan than the gumwall but not quite a whitewall then go with a skinwall like the Kenda K36

You want to "pimp your ride" with cool white walls - no worries check out the Schwalbe HS159

Like a more modern stealthy all black look - your covered with something like the Vittoria Zaffiiro

You like color matching the side walls or treads to your bike?  your covered- check the selection from Junky Rusty Bikes

You want something knobby for cyclocross of just winter commuting check out the Kenda K161 I put on the Tiger rebuild

Conclusion

So if you want; skinny or fat, colored or black, hip or retro, road or cross, you have choices with 27 inch tires.  Don't get me wrong 700c is a great size with tons of options just don't convert your old school 10 speed to a modern wheel size out of the misguided notion that there aren't many options for the old school 27 inch tires.  That's just a myth..  As Always....

Ride.Smile.Repeat.

Addendum

Based on some comments it appears some folks think that 700c tires and 27" tires are interchangeable, THEY ARE NOT, and if I have said anything here to make you think so I am sorry.  To be very clear 27" tire will NOT work on a 700c rim and a 700c tire will NOT work on a 27" rim. I have tried.  The diameters are too different a 27" tire has a bead seat diameter of 630 and at 700c tire is 622.

If you are in doubt about what  size you currently have look at your rims which usually have a size stamped on them and look at your current tire, in addition to having a size on the sidewall, they should also have the ISO number expressed in (parentheses) as below.

This is a 27 x 1 3/8 tire and the ISO is expressed as width and diameter (BSD) so (37-630) if this were a 700 x 23c tire it would be (23-622).  So step 1 - determine your rim size, step 2 - buy tires that match that rim size, Step 3 - don't let tubes confuse you, since they don't have a bead they can be used in either 700c or 27" and you will see both sizes on the box the tubes come in.

As you can see above the phrase "Get the grip" it shows sizes for 700c and 27", tubes are interchangeable, Tires are NOT.    Again tires must match the rim size. I will close with repeating that 27 inch tires and 700c tires are NOT interchangeable.  Thanks.