Originally Posted by
qclabrat
Thanks, I'll research the bearing sizes
The Joey has the hard to find 520 tire size. The set in the pics are Deore hubs/Sun rims with Intense tires. My "racing" set, are Velocities with a mix of Stelvio and Pasela rubbers. I'm been lookin for something other than Panaracers, but not much luck with the 520 size. Were yours always 507 and are you able to find a good range of tire choices?
Mine was always 507. I bought the frame and fork, built it up myself. Initially I bought a set of wheels on clearance somewhere, maybe Nashbar, but that was over a decade ago and do not recall. When I decided to get wider gear ratios with the Dual Drive, I decided to build up completely new wheels, used Ryno Lite rims.
When I built up mine, I was not in the bicycle business, I had no clue what tire sizes were common and what was not. But Airnimal marketing information touted that the 507 was a very common size tire for kids bikes so if you were concerned about ability to buy tires in the future, get 507. I learned the hard way that I was being misled. My frame at the chainstays is very narrow. I can only fit the 24X1.5 tires. In the photo, you see a pair of Schwalbe tires. But when I bought the frame Schwalbe made plain Marathon tires that were 40mm wide. They no longer make them that narrow. Once i bought a 1.75 width tire, and it rubbed on the chainstays. So, I am limited to 1.5 which is very rare, 1.75 is much more common.
Intense made some narrow tires, I bought some of these a couple years ago to make sure that I would have more tires later. Have not tried them, they are in storage. I bought them mostly to make sure I had them, not knowing if I would find them again in the future.
https://www.amazon.com/Intense-Foldi...dp/B004C94SYO/
I recall reading years ago that Airnimal changed their frame to allow wider tires to fit. Maybe you got lucky and have a wider frame. When I looked at your photo, it looked like the frame had a disc mount besides the rim brake posts. If so, your frame is several years newer than mine. In that case, you might have much better tire availability than I do.
My frame can't fit a front derailleur, can you on yours? If so, you might have a new enough frame that you have wider chainstay clearance.
I average less than 100 miles a year on my Airnimal, so I my tire wear is really quite limited. I think so far this year I have ridden it less than 30 miles.