Tubes
Inner tubes are the necessary evil in riding bike – sometimes they puncture so easily! And sometimes they develop what we call a ‘slow leak’ of air over hours which has you scratching your head. And sometimes they simply fail from deterioration of the rubber itself – otherwise known as perished.
In general you will find yourself going through a lot more tubes than tyres. Unless, of course, you rip skids & wear down your tyre!
But if you are the superstitious we recommend always carrying a spare on your ride, or in your garage. The theory being that if you are prepared, then you won’t need it!
A quick run down on how inner tube sizing works
Your inner tube is the ‘balloon’ inside your tyre which punctures!
To find the right size tube you need to consult the sidewall of your tyre.
Your tyre should have somewhere on it printed into the rubber itself (harder to see) or branded on the side, it’s size.
The size format may be something like 27.5 x 1.75″ or it may say 47-584. Sometimes it will have both, because this is Imperial & Metric measurements.
The big number in both of these examples represents the tyre circumference, and the smaller number represents the width of the tyre.
So you are looking for an inner tube that matches your tyre size.
However, you will notice that inner tubes have a range of sizes that they cover (most of the time).
This is because inner tubes are balloons, so an inner tube can suit a variety of sizes as it inflates inside the tyre.
For instance a 27.5 x 1.75″ tyre, can use an inner tube which is 27.5 x 1.5 – 2.125″. Because the inner tube will suit both a narrower 1.5″ tyre, as well as a 2.125″ tyre.
Our hot tip for choosing an inner tube when you have options of ranges is to choose the one which is on the smaller size.
So if you have a 27.5 x 1.75″ tyre, and you have options in tubes for a 27.5 x 1.5 – 1.9, and a 27.5 x 1.75 – 2.125, then choose the first option.
This is to make fitting the tube inside the tyre easier. While they will both fit your tyre, and will both work just fine, one is a better fit. And therefore a little easier to feed into your tyre.
And anything which makes fitting a tube in a tyre easier is a good thing!
If you’re still unsure about what size tube you need we can absolutely help! Give us a call or send us photos of your tyre if you are lost and we can figure it out for you.
