Road Bike Wheels

tobiii95

Hi,
I am trying to restore an old Puch road bike that I have recently bought for cycling to college upon. It was very rusty and both wheels are damaged. I am currently trying to find two wheels for it. The bike has one chainring and a 5 speed rear mech. So the rear wheel needs to fit that. The dropout width on the back is 125mm.
These are the two wheels that I have found:
Front: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261083615850#ht_708wt_1037
Rear: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/70s-80s-RACING-SPORTS-BIKE-26-x-1-3-8-REAR-WHEEL-MULTI-SPEED-FREEWHEEL-/261077565007#vi-content
I have contacted the ebay seller for the rear wheel and he says that the OLD for the wheel is 130mm. The bike has a steel frame so I assume it will be able to flex this much.
Both wheels are 26" because I can't find any wheels for a freewheel that are 700c.
So basically I am asking whether the wheels will work on this bike or for any advice on the subject?
Thanks,
Toby

estampida

how old

could be 27" wheels

change over to 700c size happened in the early 80's

http://singlespeedcomponents.co.uk/wheels.html

it might be some help

tobiii95

Oh sorry I forgot to mention that it did originally come with 27" wheels. Will it make a difference if I just put two slightly smaller (26") wheels on?

estampida

well the brake callipers wont reach, or you could be lucky with the brakes on it

you can get long reach sets to run 700c wheels on them

but single speed it is the way to go, it wont have a modern rear mech hanger so will be stuck using retro gearing.... or asda bike type rear mechs

cycleclinic

As it is a commutor keep 5 speed. If there nothing wrong with the rear mech leave. Visit retrobike to source wheels. New ones can strill be built up on new threaded hubs. There is a Alex rim that works well and hubs would be Zenith. 5 speed freewheels are still available and there are plenty of good used ones out there. A 27" wheeled bike with mudguard mounts would have had long drop brakes to begin with so you may be lucky in having enough drop by fitting 700c wheel then again maybe not. Tektro still make a very long drop brake but the longer the drop reduces you braking efficency.