tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36250316.post389932259677922207..comments2023-11-05T01:50:47.040-07:00Comments on Bike Commute Tips Blog: Hi-tech tires for older bikesPaul Dornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893190816290007375noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36250316.post-37465154592968882352008-08-08T09:09:00.000-07:002008-08-08T09:09:00.000-07:00Joel, have you seen Sheldon Brown's tire sizing pa...Joel, have you seen Sheldon Brown's tire sizing page?<BR/><BR/>http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html<BR/><BR/>It looks like you might have 597mm tires, where the usual 26x1 3/8 is 590mm.<BR/><BR/>Browsing the Schwalbe ETRTO product search<BR/><BR/>http://www.schwalbetires.com/product_search<BR/><BR/>you appear to be out of luck.<BR/><BR/>One possibility is to simply downsize your rims to the 26x1-3/8 "3-speed" size. Your brakes may or may not reach (you need 3.5mm more reach; when I did an equivalent downsize from 27" to 700c, the rear reached just fine, but the front is right on the hairy edge, and needed a little file work on the brake). Schwalbe makes tires of that size with reflective sidewalls, though you might want to check the prices before committing to this project. The Marathon 348 or 368 are your most-likely choices.dr2chasehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16320828055999939449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36250316.post-3149874268740042362008-08-08T08:18:00.000-07:002008-08-08T08:18:00.000-07:00This brings me a little hope that someday I'll be ...This brings me a little hope that someday I'll be able to get reflective sidewall tires for my commuter bike - a 1972 Schwinn Speedster made with "Schwinn size" tires (26 x 1 3/8). I've tried the closest I could find (which claimed it was compatible) and it wouldn't fit on the rim.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16497903322233190967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36250316.post-54288451447963293982008-08-07T18:23:00.000-07:002008-08-07T18:23:00.000-07:00The new tires are vastly better than what I grew u...The new tires are vastly better than what I grew up with, but it's hard to know which are the really good tires and which are the merely pretty good tires. When I changed, because of potholes, from "skinny" (28mm, 120psi) tires to "fat" (60mm, 60psi) tires, I noticed that my commute time went down. I later measured it carefully and found that in fact the fat tires had lower rolling resistance.<BR/><BR/>But this is just one experiment -- should I conclude that big slick tires in general are better, or is it just these two particular tires? Evaluating on the subjective "fun" axis, I definitely like the fat tires better.<BR/><BR/>For reference, the two tires were Bontrager Race Lite (700c x 28, 120psi) and Schwalbe Big Apple (26 x 2.3, 60 psi). I could swap them easily because I have disk brakes.dr2chasehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16320828055999939449noreply@blogger.com