tpadul 

Hi there
Can someone recommend a decent street tire and some tubes that are good for a 265 pound rider. I know good tires can be expensive but I知 trying to do this as economical as possible. Just found out I値l be furloughed from my 24 year career as an Immigration Officer with USCIS on August 3rd for an undetermined time frame due to Covid issues. 😢😢

I just bought this old bike for $35 and the tires and tubes are probably original to the bike, it looks like a home built bike, not sure of the brand of the frame but the tires are 26x 1 3/8. I can see cracks in the tires around the gum wall so I don稚 want to risk blowing them out and crashing on it.

Im just getting back into riding and I知 52 with one bad knee that has Arthritis so I知 not going to be speed racing or doing any long distance biking yet. I値l be just riding around my subdivision and our nature preserve for now.

rutan74

Gatorskins, period. I have ridden 25's for years and after 15,000 miles I have had only 2 flats. Very durable tires (3,000 miles tread wear for me) and puncture resistant. 45-50 per tire but worth it.

I should say, this is road riding and not gravel or trail riding. They will handle your weight just fine.

john

tpadul 

Any other tire recommendations? 26 x 1 3/8 37-590 older rims I really cannot afford the gatorskins right now :-( not with being furloughed from my job. I need to find tires under $25 each and maybe I can look for stronger tubes?

squirtdad

OP how tall are you, does this bike fit? it is a pretty small bike. a quick rule of thumb is that when you are in the saddle with you heel on the pedal you leg should be fully extended. If you can put your feet on the ground without getting off of the saddle it is too small. No matter what budget a bike that does not fit is not a good deal. over all bike looks clean and in good shape, but as it has steel rims, I would replace the brake pads with salmon kool stop (steel does not brakes as well as alloy/aluminum and pads get hard and less efficient with age. Don't know if you know if it has been greased and lubed, but that would be a good thing for you to learn how to do in the future.

tpadul 

I am 5'7" and with the seat raised the way I have it, I am not able to stand with my feet touching the ground while sitting on the saddle. I just got back from the Bike shop in town with it, and the guy that owns the shop looked over the bike and said that it is actually in great shape, does not need a tune up and all and he said it looks like someone recently worked on it before they sold it because it is so clean. He looked carefully at the tires and said that they look to be in really great shape for being so old and said that if I wanted to spend money he could put new tires on but he felt that the tires are in good shape, did not notice any dry rot on them, and he said it looks like the bike was not ridden much at all.

So I think for now I will just use the tires that are on it, and I'll wait until my furlough from work ends and then might think about upgrading the tires at a later time. I felt confident having the bike shop owner look it over for me, he has owned the shop in town for over 35 years and I liked that he did not try to sell me items or services that I did not need.

squirtdad

great enjoy the bike and do an updated ride report sounds like a good LBS