Darnedifino

First of all, I'm new to this forum. It seems to be THE place for reliable bike information and advice, so here goes:

Last month, for $200 I bought a Trek 7500 Alpha SL bike in good condition. Until recently I was riding a Myata road bike I bought in 1988 and am a little out of date on technology, etc. The Trek's front wheel rim has no markings and has a Schrader valve tube in the tire, which is 700x28C. The rear wheel has a Bontrager Camino rim with a Presta valve with a 700x25C tire. My pump adapts to both types, so it hasn't been a problem. In case of a flat, however, it seems I have two options: Carry one tube for each wheel, which I'll do for the time being, or eventually replace one of the wheels so I can carry just one tube in my already very full seat bag. Since the rear wheel is more complicated, I assume I would replace the front, but I've found that Bontrager Camino wheels are no longer made and I couldn't find any used ones online. My question is, what would be a suitable replacement front wheel that would more or less match the rear Camino wheel?

csport

No need to replace the wheel. You can do at least two things:

1. Use a Schrader to Presta adaptor in the front wheel: https://wheelsmfg.com/pss-1.html Both tubes will be Presta.
2. Drill out the Camino rim for a Schrader valve. Be careful to check that this will not compromise the rim strength, do it at your own risk. Use Schrader tubes in both wheels.

Also, it looks strange that the tires on an hybrid are 25 and 28. Trek site lists 35mm tires as stock for this bike: https://archive.trekbikes.com/us/en/...k/7500/details

Darnedifino

Good advice. I guess the owner customized it to make it more like a road bike. Thanks very much.

hokiefyd 

I've had a few bikes that came with Presta valves, and I've drilled every one of them out to accept Schrader valves. This is generally very safe to do, unless your wheels are SUPER narrow (like, fewer than 14mm or so). Otherwise, it's generally considered very safe.

katsup

Easiest solution is to pick up the schrader to presta adapter, which is what I'd do. The mismatched wheels wouldn't bug me otherwise.