Mother of all tight tires! (or the curse of Carl)

[landotter]

I bragged in a thread, and I believe it was Carl's, that I've never
struggled to mount a tire. Of course such boasting has its
consequences.

I'd picked up a really swell women's Raleigh Sprint with 27" wheels a
few days ago. Only needed a couple hours of TLC to be a great
neighborhood ride. The tires were dire, with the gumwall literally
melted to the rim! On a Sunday, tire sources are small, but as I was
out and about, I tried a few of the big box stores, as they sometimes
have a cheapie 27" tire, and you don't need Schwalbes on a neighborhood
bike. Finally got some at Xmart for $8/per. Exact same as the OEM on
the Raleigh. Rediculously thick gumwalls, and that goofy grooved tread!
Horrendous, and exactly what I wanted.

When I arrived home, I first took off the old tires, which took half an
hour to pry off as they were melted on. No biggie. Then scraped the
remaining residue off. Again, tedious, but expected. Then to the
mounting. It took over 2 hours, 2 broken good quality levers, and
finally four levers, 10 pinch flats, and some Dawn dish soap to mount
them. Of course I should have stopped after half an hour of this
nonsense, but it's like a sore tooth, you just can't stop touching it.

I rue the day I get a flat on the thing, and will probably rebuild onto
some cheap Alex 700c rims the day that happens in lieu of patching.
It'll likely be faster.

Anyway, Carl F., sorry if I belittled your tire woes, now put down the
velo-voodoo doll and give me life back!

 

[Chris Z The Wheelman]

I would seriously check both the tire size and the rim, it sounds like
one or the other is an odd size, like on the early Schwinns.

- -
Comments and opinions compliments of,
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

My web Site:
http://geocities.com/czcorner

To E-mail me:
ChrisZCorner "at" webtv "dot" net

 

[Jim Higson]

Funny, I've just struggled putting some a pair of Schwalbe Big Apples onto
my girlfriend's bike. It took much longer than my 700x23s.

Mechanically it was actually very easy, the hard bit was convincing myself
such a big tyre would not just fall off the rim (it doesn't). At 60mm wide,
they are HUGE! I spent quite some time just looking at them and wondering.

I haven't tried them much, but seem to give a very comfortable ride for
getting around town and light off-road.

--
Jim

 

[landotter]

Chris Z The Wheelman wrote:
> I would seriously check both the tire size and the rim, it sounds like
> one or the other is an odd size, like on the early Schwinns.
>
> - -

AFAIK, there was only one "27" size sold in the US. This is a mid 70s
Sprint, not the models with "26"" wheels, those are indeed different.
They inflate, hook onto the bead properly, and ride well, it's just
that they're made slightly too small and have the thickest sidewalls
I've EVER experienced.

On aother note, the morning after, a valve failed on my other girlie
bike, Helga, which has the classic 26x 1 3/8 tires. Those are
traditional blackwalls by IRC. It was just as difficult to change--I
couldn't get the tire off with two levers, so I threw it against the
garage as now I was REALLY fed up with it. Threw it against the lawn so
many times that half the spokes broke, and then I cut the rest of the
spokes out, and rebuilt the hub on a 700c Mavic I had in the garage.
Only took 45 minutes, I figure it was faster than changing the tire.
*g* First time I've built totally from scratch. I thought it was
harder. The dark ano MA3 (the one that cracks) with the shiny DTs
on a Sachs Torpedo hub are totally overkill. I like it.

 

[landotter]

Here she is, my first totally from scratch wheel. Thought I'd never get
around to building one:


http://static.flickr.com/94/241816154_c84298d83b_o.jpg

 

[Werehatrack]

On 12 Sep 2006 09:17:30 -0700, "landotter" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Anyway, Carl F., sorry if I belittled your tire woes, now put down the
>velo-voodoo doll and give me life back!

Karma's a *****, and she just had puppies.


--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

 

[Chris Z The Wheelman]

Group: rec.bicycles.misc
Date: Tue, Sep 12, 2006, 1:54pm (EDT-3)
From: [email protected] (landotter)

>Here she is, my first totally from scratch
>wheel. Thought I'd never get around to\
>building one:

>http://static.flickr.com/94/241816154_c84298d83b_o.jpg

Sounds like you had fun. Congratulations on "getting your cherry
popped". ;-3)

BTW, The old Schwinn rims were marked "27 inch" too, but they still
required a speciasl tire (made by Schwinn, of course) to fit.

- -
Comments and opinions compliments of,
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

My web Site:
http://geocities.com/czcorner

To E-mail me:
ChrisZCorner "at" webtv "dot" net

 

[landotter]

Chris Z The Wheelman wrote:
> Group: rec.bicycles.misc
> Date: Tue, Sep 12, 2006, 1:54pm (EDT-3)
> From: [email protected] (landotter)
>
> >Here she is, my first totally from scratch
> >wheel. Thought I'd never get around to\
> >building one:
>
> >http://static.flickr.com/94/241816154_c84298d83b_o.jpg
>
> Sounds like you had fun. Congratulations on "getting your cherry
> popped". ;-3)
>
> BTW, The old Schwinn rims were marked "27 inch" too, but they still
> required a speciasl tire (made by Schwinn, of course) to fit.
>

Guess I can't sing along to *that* Madonna song any more. If I do
the front, it'll be a fly radial lacing.

Didn't see that one on Cap'n Bike's site. It *does* list two "26"
standards for the older bikes, and it appears that the Schwinn bead
diameter is the same as Raleighs, but not the current "26" mtb tires.

The original tires from the Raleigh:

http://static.flickr.com/97/242607469_705c22eb08_o.jpg

And the girls pumped up ready to ride:

http://static.flickr.com/88/242524922_e86aa98587_o.jpg

I just need one more men's beater and my garage fleet will be complete.

 

[[email protected]]

landotter wrote:
> I bragged in a thread, and I believe it was Carl's, that I've never
> struggled to mount a tire. Of course such boasting has its
> consequences.
>
> I'd picked up a really swell women's Raleigh Sprint with 27" wheels a
> few days ago. Only needed a couple hours of TLC to be a great
> neighborhood ride. The tires were dire, with the gumwall literally
> melted to the rim! On a Sunday, tire sources are small, but as I was
> out and about, I tried a few of the big box stores, as they sometimes
> have a cheapie 27" tire, and you don't need Schwalbes on a neighborhood
> bike. Finally got some at Xmart for $8/per. Exact same as the OEM on
> the Raleigh. Rediculously thick gumwalls, and that goofy grooved tread!
> Horrendous, and exactly what I wanted.
>
> When I arrived home, I first took off the old tires, which took half an
> hour to pry off as they were melted on. No biggie. Then scraped the
> remaining residue off. Again, tedious, but expected. Then to the
> mounting. It took over 2 hours, 2 broken good quality levers, and
> finally four levers, 10 pinch flats, and some Dawn dish soap to mount
> them. Of course I should have stopped after half an hour of this
> nonsense, but it's like a sore tooth, you just can't stop touching it.
>
> I rue the day I get a flat on the thing, and will probably rebuild onto
> some cheap Alex 700c rims the day that happens in lieu of patching.
> It'll likely be faster.
>
> Anyway, Carl F., sorry if I belittled your tire woes, now put down the
> velo-voodoo doll and give me life back!

Dear Lando,

An email mentioned this thread--I don't browse RBM much.

Like others in this thread, I wonder if there might be an actual rim
and tire mis-match.

Sheldon' s site is still down, or I'd link to his depressing table of
ever-so-slightly different tire sizes.

But other posters have told similar (though not quite so horrible )
tales of 700c tires and 700c rims that simply didn't get along, so you
may simply have a maximum oversize rim and minimum undersize tire.

In any case, I certainly wouldn't stick pins in a voodoo doll . . .

http://home.comcast.net/~carlfogel/download/Goathead.jpg

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

 

[landotter]

[email protected] wrote:

>
> Dear Lando,
>
> An email mentioned this thread--I don't browse RBM much.
>
> Like others in this thread, I wonder if there might be an actual rim
> and tire mis-match.
>
> Sheldon' s site is still down, or I'd link to his depressing table of
> ever-so-slightly different tire sizes.

Like I mentioned to Chris, only one North American 27" tire size I've
ever encountered, and Cap'n Bike's chart confirms.
>

> But other posters have told similar (though not quite so horrible )
> tales of 700c tires and 700c rims that simply didn't get along, so you
> may simply have a maximum oversize rim and minimum undersize tire.
>

It's also a case of a very rigid casing, which I think was the main
culprit. I think that rebuilding front and rear on some silver Sun
CR18's is up for the future. With spokecalc, I figured I can use the
same length front and rear with radial front and 3x rear. $75 in bits
to do that, and with tires I'd still have a sub $150 Raleigh girly
bike.

She's a dreamy beer fetcher and the clicking of the Sturmey Archer has
settled in to a soft an reassuring even tick.

BTW, those 70s era self adjusting Raleigh brake levers?
Worst..idea...ever.

> In any case, I certainly wouldn't stick pins in a voodoo doll . . .

Back away from the tires, bub.

 

[none of your business]

Group: rec.bicycles.misc
Date: Wed, Sep 13, 2006, 1:43pm (EDT-3)
From: [email protected] (landotter)
>Didn't see that one on Cap'n Bike's site.
>It *does* list two "26" standards for the
>older bikes, and it appears that the
>Schwinn bead diameter is the same as
>Raleighs, but not the current "26" mtb
>tires.

That's what I was thinking of! The 26's! guess it's been longer than i
thought! Thanks for the correction.

- -
Comments and opinions compliments of,
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

My web Site:
http://geocities.com/czcorner

To E-mail me:
ChrisZCorner "at" webtv "dot" net

 

[landotter]

none of your business wrote:
> Group: rec.bicycles.misc
> Date: Wed, Sep 13, 2006, 1:43pm (EDT-3)
> From: [email protected] (landotter)
> >Didn't see that one on Cap'n Bike's site.
> >It *does* list two "26" standards for the
> >older bikes, and it appears that the
> >Schwinn bead diameter is the same as
> >Raleighs, but not the current "26" mtb
> >tires.
>
> That's what I was thinking of! The 26's! guess it's been longer than i
> thought! Thanks for the correction.
>

Hey, it gets confusing. I grew up in the summers with granma's bike and
dunlop valves, then schraeder then presta. Owned bikes with 20, 24",
26", 26x 1 3/8", 27", 700c, 28", and probably some other sort of
Scandinavian-only standard..it's maddening. 622mm or "700c" really
should become the standard for just about most stuff that adults ride.