Advice vintage road bike

[Necomanis]

Having only had a road bike (modern) for the last 18 months, my knowledge is hugely limited, so forgive my ignorance.

I like older stuff and have numerous old mtb, and wish my road bike could take wider tyres to deal with a bit of light gravel. I've seen an early 60s Viking which is really tempting me, but feel that if I left the gearing period correct, I'd rarely pull that bike out of the rack, so some sort of update might be on the cards. Also, I'm unsure about tyre choice for a bike of this vintage - I believe it has good clearance, but what about wheel size etc.

Any advice around these issues? Cheers.

 

[hamster]

It's a minefield potentially...but here goes:
1 Agreed, gears then were mentally tall.
2 You can easily respace a frame to 130mm which improves usability and allows more modern components.
3 As it's 60's frame it will be for 27" wheels - swapping to 700c gives more tyre clearance, typically for 32-34mm.

I've done it on my Witcomb, respaced and running mid-90s Campag 9s with ergos. Currently it sports a triple chainset. https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/rbotm-november-autumn-rides-theme-enter-now.453373/#post-3326275

 

[novocaine]

Howwood is old enough? Turn of the century is a good time.

 

[Necomanis]

Thanks for the answer.

fnaf games​