Hello
I have 23 year old Marin Bear Valley mountain bike with 5 year old 26 inch mach1 wheels on it labelled ETRTO (559 x 17c (which does not seem to make any sense)). Since I mostly use the bike on the road I have Continental SportContact tyres (26 x 1.6) on it. They have been absolutely fine for many years until a week ago when I had a puncture. There was no obvious reason for the puncture (no thorn etc) on the rim side on of the (26 x 1.0-1.25) inner tube. I assumed that I had pumped it up too hard or something so I patched it but it didn't hold properly and went down over time.
No problem I thought - just buy a new inner tube. Got one (26 x 1.25-2.0) from Evans after showing them the wheel and tyre. It went on ok but on a short ride it blew instantaneously. I patched it and it did the same again - both on the rim side of the tube. I checked both times that I hadn't pinched or twisted it. The rim and tyre have no rough areas.
So then I bought another inner tube to match the one that had been working for years (26 x 1.0-1.25) thinking that the one from Evans was "just too big" and that went on ok but once pumped to 40psi or so - it just blew instantaneously again. The tube was so badly wrecked I think I must have twisted it despite reckoning to check it several times.
I'm at a loss now! Is this a tube issue or a tyre issue? Or maybe I have just been victim to a series of unconnected coincidences?! Surely a 26 x 1.25-2.0 tube should go into that size tyre?
I have 23 year old Marin Bear Valley mountain bike with 5 year old 26 inch mach1 wheels on it labelled ETRTO (559 x 17c (which does not seem to make any sense)). Since I mostly use the bike on the road I have Continental SportContact tyres (26 x 1.6) on it. They have been absolutely fine for many years until a week ago when I had a puncture. There was no obvious reason for the puncture (no thorn etc) on the rim side on of the (26 x 1.0-1.25) inner tube. I assumed that I had pumped it up too hard or something so I patched it but it didn't hold properly and went down over time.
No problem I thought - just buy a new inner tube. Got one (26 x 1.25-2.0) from Evans after showing them the wheel and tyre. It went on ok but on a short ride it blew instantaneously. I patched it and it did the same again - both on the rim side of the tube. I checked both times that I hadn't pinched or twisted it. The rim and tyre have no rough areas.
So then I bought another inner tube to match the one that had been working for years (26 x 1.0-1.25) thinking that the one from Evans was "just too big" and that went on ok but once pumped to 40psi or so - it just blew instantaneously again. The tube was so badly wrecked I think I must have twisted it despite reckoning to check it several times.
I'm at a loss now! Is this a tube issue or a tyre issue? Or maybe I have just been victim to a series of unconnected coincidences?! Surely a 26 x 1.25-2.0 tube should go into that size tyre?