Cycling UK Forum

Slightly confused here. I have a very old 3 speed Emmelle bike which I use several times a week to nip to shops etc. Just fitted new 26 x 1 3/8" tyres and decided to fit new tubes. What size tube do I need please. I have a new 26 x 1.5-2.1 but I think this is mountain bike? Help much appreciated.

You need a 26 x 1 3/8 tube

That 559 ATB tube IIRC is actually too small.

you need tubes also meant for 26x1-3/8" tyres. These are also known as 650A or 37-590 tyres/tubes. Make sure you get the valve type that you want (woods presta or Schrader). Tubes and tyres which are marked for 26x something where the 'something' number is a decimal not a fraction are meant to go onto 559 rims which are a substantially smaller diameter than your 590 rims.

Schwalbe #12 tubes ought to be a good fit.

AV12 if you want Schrader
DV12 if you want woods
SV12 if you want presta

cheers

+1 for Schwalbe here.

As innertubes don't need to be so precisely sized, they organise them into "groups" numbered as in Brucey's post and with colour-coded boxes to reduce the risk of getting the wrong valve. Another plus for Schwalbe is they make a decent attempt to do a Maureen Lipman: all the tubes in all the sizes, rather than one for road bikes and another for mountain bikes.

A rather annoying negative is that they used to do a catalogue as a download which enabled you to check which size group you needed. That seems to have gone and the replacement is much less informative (which is why I couldn't tell you which group you needed when I first saw your post.)

2019 Schwalbe catalogue can be downloaded and the tube chart is on about p89

Many other brands of tube are available! Schwalbe ones are usually good quality but I think there are better tubes for some sizes, the reason being that some recommended fits for schwalbes involve stretching the tube to a very large extent. Their 37-590 tube is OK because it is one that doesn't have to stretch to an absurd degree.

cheers

Brucey wrote:2019 Schwalbe catalogue can be downloaded and the tube chart is on about p89 ...

Totally correct. When I originally searched the Schwalbe downloads I came up with this, which is much less helpful
https://www.schwalbe.com/en/schlaeuche.html

thirdcrank wrote:... A rather annoying negative is that they used to do a catalogue as a download which enabled you to check which size group you needed. That seems to have gone and the replacement is much less informative (which is why I couldn't tell you which group you needed when I first saw your post.)

Is this the page you were looking for?

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/catalogesflyer.html

RickH wrote: ... Is this the page you were looking for?

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/catalogesflyer.html

Yes: I found it by a different route after Brucey's post, which is why I wrote "Totally correct" in my reply. FWIW, I got the summons that my tea was ready while I was posting that, so I didn't post the relevant successful link before dashing off for my grub.

Also, this may be my imagination but I thought that earlier versions of that table in the catalogue were set out the other way round and included the variety of traditional but confusing sizes such as that quoted by the OP. (Back to normal prolix style now I've had my tea. )

I think you are right, they used to list inner tubes by listing tyre size in a table. All well and good but suffers from the same problem as the current online 'chooser' in that it suggests a tube (or tubes) but unless you do some more research you don't know if it is a really stretched fit or not.

BTW this page is full of sound advice

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/ventile.html

but a notable omission is the role of mould release compound in promoting tyre slip, although it could be argued that the issue of heat in rims is an oblique nod in that direction.

cheers

Schwalbe on it's way, thanks. Have downloaded the guide book. WOW!

Brucey wrote:Schwalbe #12 tubes ought to be a good fit.

Schwalbe #21 should be OK too (27.5"/650B 40-584) will fit OK too, and may be easier to find locally.