Hello to one and all, As the title says I have an old Marlboro 5 speed gents bike which is worthless but as i have an aversion to scrapping or dumping old bikes i would rather reuse them when possible. The tyres are so old that all markings and sizes have disappeared and i have no way identifying the size i need. The only measurement i have is when i stand the bare rim up and measure from the ground to the top the overall diameter is 610mm ouside edge to outside edge. What size tyre am i looking for to suit that wheel could anyone tell me? What size wheel does that record as? With so many variations of wheels and tyres there now it is off the internet i shall end up buying so id like to get it as near as i can to the right size. Thank you in advance.
Old Marlboro Bike
- Thread starter billeen
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Others will probably have better advice, but here are my thoughts. Once you have figured out the diameter of the bead seat you are well on your way to getting an answer. Your wheel is 610mm edge to edge, and the top of the edge will be a bit higher than the bead seat, say about 5mm. So your bead diameter will be about 600mm.
Looking at Sheldon's tyre sizing page https://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html I see that 26"x 1 1/4 is listed as 597mm. So I'd mark that as a distinct possibility. But carry on researching. Try seeing if you can get an accurate measurement bead-bead from the tyre.
Another thing to do is get a bright torch and light the tyre very obliquely. This might throw shadows that will enable you to decipher old raised writing that you didn't notice first time.
Caveat. I'm a complete idiot so please don't take the above too seriously. I'm probably wrong. However, Sheldon wasn't an idiot, so do give the link above a read.
Looking at Sheldon's tyre sizing page https://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html I see that 26"x 1 1/4 is listed as 597mm. So I'd mark that as a distinct possibility. But carry on researching. Try seeing if you can get an accurate measurement bead-bead from the tyre.
Another thing to do is get a bright torch and light the tyre very obliquely. This might throw shadows that will enable you to decipher old raised writing that you didn't notice first time.
Caveat. I'm a complete idiot so please don't take the above too seriously. I'm probably wrong. However, Sheldon wasn't an idiot, so do give the link above a read.
Last edited:
Thank you for the reply to my question. All very good recommendations. I didnt think about the torch angle of it. That could work. I will try and run the tape around the wheel and see what is near to Sheldon Browns measurements. Once upon a time long ago such things were instinctively known but the passage of time has put paid to all these things. My instinct would have said 26 * 1 3/8 but the old raleigh has that size tyre but it wouldnt stretch over the rim so it must be bigger but which bigger is the problem!
