arkistan

Hey all,
Just picked up a vintage 70s Raleigh Sport. It looks like it has very old, if not its original, 26 inch tires tires. As a part of my overall restoration plan, I'm looking to replace these with something new (safer). I want something that goes well with the vintage look and I'm digging gumwall tires. I'm not too familiar with tire brands. Can anybody recommend a 26 inch gumwall tire model? Or feel free to recommend any other type of tire that you think looks good on these vintage bikes.

Also, if I wanted to, would it be possible to switch to 700c tires on these old bikes? I'm guessing it would entail replacing the whole real internal 3-speed hub, but it hasn't been working well and if I can't get it fixed I was planning on installing a modern (new) internal 3-speed hub anyway.

I'm new to bikes and pardon me if these questions don't make any sense mechanically.

mickey85

Panaracer Col de la Vie tires are quite possibly the best I've ever ridden.

David Newton

Hi Arki,
Welcome, and yes, I think you should stay with the original sized wheels, 26x1 3/8", 590, 650A, whatever you plan as far as hubs go. Less trouble and expense on every side.

An ebay seller, sailing2453, sold me several sets of 26 x 1 3/8" gumwalls, at a good price. Had a mix-up (sent me S6, schwinn, by mistake, be sure to specify 590) and he was very generous with his service to me.

You can source replacement alloy wheels, either whole (the least expensive option) or buy parts $$. There are a couple of sellers of these. Uglyrm (ebay seller) Harris cyclery, & AE bikes.

tcs

First, we are talking about 26 x 1 3/8 tires here, right? Nothing oddball?

There is an abundance of choice in the 26 x 1 3/8 (ISO37x590) size, but if you must have "gum"walls for aestetics, that does limit things. Kenda, Pyramid and Chengshin all offer generic gumwalls in this size. Moving up you'll come to the Michelin World Tour and finally reach the previously mentioned Panaracer Col de la Vie.

Other worthy abeit blackwall tires in this size include the Bell Sports Streetster folding, Continental City Ride, Schwalbe Marathon, Specialized TriSport and Vredestein Perfect Tour. Kenda offers knobbies - which, now that I think about it, have tan sidewalls.

The three speed hub: we are talking about a Sturmey-Archer AW here, right? Nothing oddball?

Most likely it only needs to have its 40 year-old oil residue soaked out and then be relubricated. Should anything actually be worn out or broken (unlikely), all internal parts are still available from Sturmey for their 1936-1999 AW three-speeds. If you go with a new hub or wheel, Sturmey's current production S-RF3 hub (which uses the improved AW-NIG internal mechanism) will slot right in and hook up to the existing shifter and cable.

If the bike is going to be a rider instead of a wall hanger, the one modern upgrade I'd recomend is aluminum (a.k.a. alloy) rims. The Sun CR18 is offered in 26 x 1 3/8 with 32, 36 or 40 spoke holes.

tcs

P.S. No make that two upgrades. Get new brake blocks.

Maddox

OP just so you know, if you ask for "26 inch tires", the average LBS employee will not lead you to the correct tires for your Raleigh Sports. Instead, they will probably pull some 26-inch mountain bike tires for you to purchase, or maybe some 26" Schwinn cruiser-sized tires. Neither of these will fit, 26" MTB tubes will NOT fit your Sports.

For your Raleigh Sports be sure you purchase the correctly sized 26 x1-3/8 tires (also referred to as 650a or 590mm) and 26x1-3/8 tubes as well. You can find the tubes many places, including Wallyworld. Just be sure to ask for the correct item.

I use some Schwalbe Delta Cruisers on my bike, and they are fantastic. They do not, however, come in gumwall. If you're looking for some seriously wonderful gumwalls, get some Col De La Vie's.

elbertus

I have Col De La Vies on my 650B 3 speed conversion - wonderful tires.

I also have an old Raleigh sports that I put 650A (26 x 1-3/8") Schwalbe Delta Cruiser Creme tires on, those creme tires look real sharp, ride nice, have puncture protection, and a reflective stripe. the delta cruisers also come in whitewalls I believe which would actually be more period correct - i think all those old raleigh 3 speeds came with whitewall tires.

Frankly, riding the Col de la Vies and Delta Cruisers, I really cant tell much difference between the 2.

arkistan

Great! Thanks so much for the advice everybody. I'm new to bikes in general so I didn't know that not all 26" will fit the bike and I didn't know that 650a tires are the same thing. The panaracers look great!

And thanks to tcs for the tips on the hub. I'm hoping it's just a matter of cleaning and relubing as you mentioned. It would be amazing to maintain the original parts. As for replacing the rims, is it mainly to reduce the weight of the steel originals or is there a safety factor to this as well?

I'm learning tons everyday thanks to these forums. It's really exciting. Thanks all.

tcs

It reduces the weight of the rotating mass and caliper brakes + aluminum rims brake much better than caliper brakes + steel rims - especially when wet.

tcs

tcs

There are eight different, non-interchangeable “26 inch” wheel sizes.

1) 26 x 1.25: bead seat diameter 599mm. Obsolete.
2) 26 x 1 ¼: bead seat diameter 597mm. Schwinn S6. Obsolete. Still made for very old Schwinn lightweights, but uncommon.
3) 26 x 1 3/8: bead seat diameter 590mm. Traditional “English racer” size, and used on American-built single- and three-speeds and inexpensive bike boom 10-speeds. Also known as 650A. Obsolete for new bicycles in the USA, but very widely available in bike shops, hardware stores and big boxes. Common in Japan where it is used on new bicycles, and common legacy size in the UK. This is also a common wheelchair tire size.
4) 26 x ?: bead seat diameter 587mm. Also known as 700D. Very obscure and obsolete size.
5) 26 x 1 ½: bead seat diameter 584mm. Also known as 650B. Obsolete, but a few companies are trying to revive this size for both road and mountain bikes with proprietary tires they provide.
6) 26 x 1 ¾: bead seat diameter 571mm. Also known as 650C. Obsolete. In the USA these wide tires were used on old Schwinn middleweights. Tires are still made, but uncommon.
7) 26 x 1: bead seat diameter 571mm. Known as 650C as well (!), this narrow racing format is based on an obsolete Italian sew-up tire rim size. Used today on time trial and triathlon bikes.
8) 26 x 1.0 to 2.35: bead seat diameter 559mm. The ubiquitous mountain bike tire size, descended from the American balloon tires of over a half century ago. Now made in a huge array of widths and tread patterns. Widely available worldwide in widths of ~1.75 inches and greater; the narrower sizes are available in well-stocked bike shops. In the wheelchair world, this smallest 26-inch size is sometimes referred to as “25-inch”.

HTH,
tcs

tcs

Sometimes folks will post that they can't find this tire size.

What I've seen lately:

Bell Sports Streetster (folding) - available at many big box and some hardware stores
Chengshin C638
Continental City Ride
Innova Cloud Nine - seems to be out of stock everywhere currently
IRC Super Gold - on Amazon Japan but I haven't found any in N.A.
IRC Super Seed - on Amazon Japan but I haven't found any in N.A.
IRC City POPS - on Amazon Japan but I haven't found any in N.A.
Kenda gumwall
Kenda Cross (knobby)
Kenda K40 Street
Michelin World Tour - traditional tan sidewalls
Nutrak Traditional - available from UK shops, but haven't found any in N.A.
Nu-teck (airless)
Panaracer Col de Vie - traditional tan sidewalls
Panaracer Passhunter (light knobby) - sporadically imported in small quantities by Kogswell, Longleaf and Aaron's
Panaracer ST Daily Commuting
Pyramid gumwall
Pyramid Sunlite Hybrid Nimbus
Raleigh Record - available from UK shops, but haven't found any in N.A.
Rubena Flash V66
Schwalbe Delta Cruiser - available in all black, all cream and with traditional tan sidewalls
Schwalbe Marathon
Schwalbe Marathon Plus
Schwalbe Speedway Pro (knobby) - available from UK shops, but haven't found any in N.A.
Specialized TriSport
Vittoria Randonneur - cataloged, but I can't find any in N.A.
Vredestein Perfect Tour
Vredestein Dynamic Tour - cataloged, but I can't find any in N.A.
Vredestein Classic - cataloged, but I can't find any in N.A.

tcs

sonatageek

I just installed a set of Michelin World Tour tires on a nice Free Spirit Greenbriar (26x1 3/8) and they are pretty nice. They were about $14 each and much better than the typical cheapy tires of that size that I buy for flip bikes. Interestingly they are the same tires as what was originally spec'd on the bike.

Maddox

I don't think this is correct. I've shopped around and have never seen them with gumwalls/tan sidewalls. The only Delta Cruisers I've seen with a colored sidewall are the whitewalled version, which won't look period correct on a Sports. Early Raleighs came with all black Dunlops, they later went to Gumwalls in the 70's. That said, while not period correct the whitewalls do look quite nice.

OP here are two Sports I've redone with the Schwalbe Delta Cruisers. Mine with creme, another with Whitewalls for a friend --

My creamy LTD-3:



My friend's whitewalled '72 Sports (unfinished restoration at time of photo):

Maddox

Here's another image from a very nice set on Flickr of a bike just like mine with the Col De La Vie's.

tcs

Schwalbe lists them on their web site. You can click on them and put them in the on-line shopping basket.

tcs

PolishGuy

I'll add my $0.02 and recommend the Panaracer Col de la Vie. I put a set on my '72 Raleigh Sports and they look and ride wonderfully. I have a set of Schwalbe Marathons on my Raleigh DL-1 and they also ride very nicely, so the Schwalbes are also a nice option. My Raleigh Trent Sports came with the 32-597 wheels and tires which are now a very odd size to find so I had a set of 700C Sun CR18's build up with an old Raleigh front hub and a S/A FW rear gear hub then installed Panaracer Pasaella Tour Guard tires. With new brake pads, the bike rides and stops suprisingly well for a 50 year old bike. PG.

gna

I have the Schwalbe Delta Cruisers. They're very nice. I got creme for my wife's bike and whitewalls for my bike, but my wife preferred the whitewalls so that's what she got.

Dorks..JPG

As far as the hub, what's the problem? It may just need some oil--10W30 or ATF work fine.

arkistan

Thanks for the pic. While I'm leaning toward the Col De La Vies, both os those wheel types look very nice in your pic.

As for the hub, the gears won't shift a lot of the time. I'm wondering if the problem lies inside the hub or is because the gear cable is kinda loose.

tcs

Uh, yeah, first things first, the shift cable has to be adjusted properly on that hub.

tcs