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Tire Size Blues
I think all of us with older 28" rim CCMs have found it challenging to find suitable tires. I have several times found comments from ccm owners wishing they could find a taller tire to better fill the gap between the wheel and fender.
The Canadian Tire stores I've been to in Toronto, Mississauga, and Ottawa only stock one choice, the Kenda Kwest. First, I bought a pair of 37-622 700x35C 28x1 5/8 x 1 3/8. They are not too bad. Then I bought a pair of 40-622 700x38C 28x1 5/8 x 1 1/2 thinking they would be larger tires. They're not! These tires come flattened out in a box and when you lay them flat and measure them you will find the width is exactly the same. All Kenda did was make the tread area wider on the 38C, which narrows the sidewall area. Not only are these tires (38C) not larger than the 35C, they actually look smaller due to the reduced sidewall! In the first photo, the 38C is behind the 35C. In the second photo the 38C is in front. Am I right?
Comments, words of wisdom, and tire brand and size recommendations would be most appreciated. -Brian R.
Trying again to attach photos.
Yes, the 28"s are a problem. I have two CCM's with 28"s. A 1962 CCM Imperial women's bike with coaster and a 1977 CCM men's Rambler. The other 1962 Imperial (3 spd men's frame) I have uses the 26" x EA 3 rims. The tires are not easy to find either - (Schwalbe 37-590 - 26 x 1 3/8 - $ 22.95 USF).
The tires I have sourced are Schwalbe Marathon 32-622 (700 x 32c). Harris Cyclery will ship them to Canada through the mail. They cost $39.95 USF plus shipping. Very pricy.
Since they are otherwise hard to find, I don't want to mess around with a cheaper solution, so I'm going to bite the bullet and order sets of both from Harris. My regular shop doesn't like to look too hard to find tires for these old bikes and I ride them every day all year.
Good luck.
Thanks. 32C? Any chance you can post a photo of how the Schwalbe Marathon look on a bike?
I use Vittoria, Voyager, 37-622 - 700-35C
I don't have any problems finding 26 x 1-3/8" tyres locally for EA3 rims. My CTC stocks Kenda K40 in that size (i.e 590mm bead seat diameter). They're only $13.99 and I see that thery are listed on the website (part number 73-7255-8) so they are an active item. Your local CTC should be able to order them for you, if they don't regularly stock them.
I'm leery about using folding tyres on old F13 compatible, wired-on rims. When folding tires first came out, there were warnings to use them only with hooked edge/bead rims, otherwise they might unseat. These days, hooked edge/bead rims are standard on just about everything except children's bicycles, so there's little worry in marketing a folding tire. There are probably several members who have run them successfully on old Westwood and Endrick style, wired-on rims but personally I don't.
I personally never put any tire on a 28 X 1 1/2 inch rim that has a modern look to it. The Dutch have been big users of this size of tire for years and tires that have an old look to them can be found on European Ebay web sites, although postage will raise the overall cost. You may have to enter the size as 28 X 1 3/8 X 1 5/8 and look carefully to see the actual tire width since this size seems to cover a wide range. Ebay NL, Ebay Deutschland, and Ebay Italia are good prospects. Not long ago I bought a number of Russian made tires that were almost 2 inches in diameter and had an old look to them. You may want to avoid any tires that have the manufacturer's name on the side in a contrasting colour.
John Williamson
Thank you for all the tips. I did not know that about fold-flat tires, so thanks for the heads-up T-mar. They seem to sit pretty deep within the rims (1940s painted rims) but I will keep an eye on them. On a somewhat related note, I put some really really old made in Canada wired F13 tires on a 1918 CCM I have (metal rims) and I think they're so old they lost their ability to stretch and then return to their normal shape because when I inflated them they started to come off the rim in the spot where I had levered them on. I will see what I can order from CTC or mabe try the local bike shop catalogues - again. Maybe I will try asking for 28x 1 3/8 x 1 5/8 this time.
John, I also would prefer not to use a tire with modern look to it, hence the eternal struggle to find suitable tires - in look as well as size. I had a look at the Dutch Ebay website but nothing jumped out at me. I will keep looking. If I find an easy to source tire I will post it here. Maybe there is a business opportunity for someone here, to do for bicycles what Coker tire has done for vintage cars? They could order some custom size retro tires of different sorts from a factory in China and then set up a website. Ah just a dream I suppose, as the volume would be far too small, right?
-Brian R.
Hi Brian,
I know it can be frustrating looking for tires......don't give up. Try Ebay Italia using "28 X 1 3/8 X 1 5/8" as your search term. Look at the online catalogue for "Dutch Perfect" tires. Sometimes old tires just turn up on Ebay France, using "pneu ancien 700" as a search term. I know that there are 2 very old French Dunlop 700 tires on Ebay France right now. It is also not that difficult to find old 28 X 1 1/2 tires that are still O.K.. If you happen to have a bicycle recycling operation within a reasonable distance, they may have good tires in this size that have been removed from old bicycles. I know our local recycler has old tires hanging on the walls in all kinds of sizes. Fitting tires to wooden rims can be a challenge, but it should not require the kid of force that would permanently distort the wire bead.
Good Luck!
John Williamson
Try Vintage Velo in Paris Ontario, I bought some cream coloured tires from them, $25 each.
You should not have to order Schwalbe tires from the US the 2 main bike stores in Regina stock them so you shouldn't have a problem finding something closer to home .
I don't know where you live but I'm sure there's a real bike shop somewhere in the province that you can contact on line that will ship you some tires .
I have the cream ones on my old Elsworth Hopper I believe they are 700x 35 and don't look any differant
than the 700x 38 that I changed from super nice riding tire .
Also have the brown 29 inch (700x50) Schwalbe tires on my 1946 CCM which fit and ride awesome .
They are long lasting and puncture resistant worth the money .
If you are going to ride it put some nice tires on if you are going to display it you should be able to find some old original tires that may not be any good for riding but will look period correct .
cheers B