Tire & tube size confusion - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

08-26-2004, 06:10 AM

I need to replace the tires & tubes on my wife's Schwinn Crisscross
ATB-style bike. The original tires were 700x38mm with a knobby type tread.
The tubes were 28" x 1 5/8". I went to the LBS with these dimensions in
hand. The guy (owner) handed me a 700x35 smooth tire and said that there
was no such thing as a 700x38 for a hybrid bike. (?) I also had to wait on
him to order the tubes. When I got the tubes they were 26" x 1 3/8". They
seemed much thinner. My wife didn't like the smoothie style tires I
originally got so I went back and got some not quite as smooth but still not
as knobby as the original. She still doesn't like them (she rides on gravel
roads frequently), but the bike store guy said that is all you can get.

My questions are:
1) Can you get 700x38's in a heavy tread style? Where? Why did he tell me
no, and why did he give me 700x35's instead? I can't find these in the
Performance or Nasbar catalogs.

2) What is the deal with the tube size? Can't I get 28"x1 5/8" or doesn't
it matter?

....
Cheers!
Duke