BradCon

I am new to vintage bikes. So I’m working on a 60’s Huffy and I get started on the new tires and tubes. The front wheel was normal to me, it had rim tape and the new tire and tube mounted wonderfully. But the back tire was hard to get off and the tube was stuck in the wheel. When I finally got tired of finesse I went to brute force. Huge mess with tube pieces falling all over the place. I finally get the tire off over the tube. The tube appeared to be glued onto the wheel. Now I have a rim with thick chunky hard red stuff which I imagine is old glue.
The question is, can I clean this wheel, put some new rim tape in it and mount a normal tire and tube? Or does this require a different tire?

P!N20

If your rim has hooks (aka clinchers), you could mount a 'normal' tube and tire once you clean all the residue off.

If your rim is for tubular tires, you can only glue tubular tires on it.

Here's a diagram of clinchers, tubulars and tubeless rims. Don't worry about tubeless, that's a relatively new thing.

jamesdak 

Does sound like it's a tubular rim. The other option to gluing is using a good tape. I'm perfectly happy with how easy and how well the Effetto Marisposa Carogna tape works. Literally takes me about 5 minutes to put on a new tubular with it. Super simple to get the tire properly aligned and everything. Then pump it up and let it set up for a day. Seems to be a stronger bond then any of my glued tires.

BradCon

Thanks! I went searching and did not locate this information. This is great stuff. Fingers crossed for a Clincher!

BradCon

Totally tubular.
so this bike has a clincher and a tubular. Was that normal in the 60’s?

What are my options for this tubular wheel?
Replace the wheel or get a tubular installed?
And the tubular is the rear wheel.


Tubular mess.

dedhed

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair...-gluing-sew-up

BradCon

Thanks for the link dedhed. Guess I need to learn about this now that I have one.

dedhed

It's a Huffy - You're best bet is to find a used clincher wheel for it.

P!N20

Looks like a clincher to me.

xiaoman1 

^^^^
Ben

BradCon

I hope you’re right P!N20. I could easily be wrong. This is my first bike to really work on. I’ll have to compare the wheels together to really see. Is there a better angle to get a good picture or a definite way to tell them apart, if you’ve never seen one before?

Velo Mule

Thanks for the excellent pictures. I agree that it looks like a clincher rim and steel. I'd clean what I could with an old dull screwdriver and mount a new rim strip, tube and tire on it.

Check the old tire size to be sure you get the right size.

Unca_Sam

Old tubes do weird things. Old rubber contaminated with oils can get gummy and glue themselves to the rims. That's a clincher straight-sided rim. A replacement tire is likely to be a 26 x 1 3/8 size (etrto 590).

Unca_Sam

Fun trivia: those type steel rims were called tubular rims, because they were made by carefully crushing a steel tube into the rim profile.

ofajen

Yeah that looks like a clincher rim. Maybe the messy substance is a badly degraded rubber rim strip rather than the usual cloth tape?

Here’s what a tubular rim looks like... notice the more rounded profile.




Otto

BradCon

Thanks everybody! I’ve learned quit a lot from you on this. I am really pleased this is a clincher since I’ve already purchased a pair of tires. I’ve never heard of tubular and now I know to look at all my parts prior to ordering new.
Thanks!

Murray Missile 

Me too, especially sice it's chromed steel. Some of the old clinchers didn't have much of a "hook" for bead retention. Might be why it was glued.

Plus, who would put a tubular rim on a Huffy? Maybe the same guy that put a Nuovo Record RD, Simplex FD, Mafac Racer brakes, Dura Ace "corn cob" freewheel and Puegeot front wheel on the one owner mid-70's Schwinn Traveler I bought a few weeks ago. Nothing would surprise me.

Narhay

It looks like a clincher with the old rim tape and tube having stuck itself onto the rim. A brass wire wheel in a drill will do good for you.