Very basic dumb guy question

[tagnil]

Ok, not a bike guy, which will be obvious. I'm visiting my mom, she had a flat front tire. I put two different kinds of fix a flat stuff in the mounted tire, no good. So, I took the tire/rim off and removed the tire and tube, bought a 24 tire and tube at the store and could not get it on. Brought it to a friend who said I had the wrong size tire, needed a 26. I went back to the store, exchanged the tire, then thought, "hmmm...better get a 26 tube as well. Now I am back looking and the tube looks gigantic, too big. I am afraid to fill it, because then I won't be able to exchange it. Did I make a mistake? Should I have stuck with the smaller tube? Or will this tube fit once filled?

[GeorgeET]

Yikes. Did you look at the markings on the old tires and tubes. Those are measurements you need to get.There is a reason they are there. Having that info here we could tell you if the tube is right for the tire. Do not fill it till you know if its right. Ask your bike dealer.
Filling tires with fix flat stuff is messy and useless . Maybe get you home for a proper patch fix or new tube. Make sure to check old tire and remove whatever made the flat.

[tagnil]

(01-08-2011, 04:55 PM)GeorgeET Wrote:  Yikes. Did you look at the markings on the old tires and tubes. Those are measurements you need to get.There is a reason they are there. Having that info here we could tell you if the tube is right for the tire. Do not fill it till you know if its right. Ask your bike dealer.
Filling tires with fix flat stuff is messy and useless . Maybe get you home for a proper patch fix or new tube. Make sure to check old tire and remove whatever made the flat.

Well, I finally did look at the old tire, nd the friend was right, I did need a 26. I didn't see any markings on the old tube, but didn't look terribly close because I assumed 26 tire meant I needed a 26 tube. Is this not always the case? Thanks for your time, and particularly the info on the messy fixaflat stuff.

[GeorgeET]

Yes if you have a 26 inch tire you need a 26 inch tube. However that tube needs to match the width of the tire too. Look at the tire again carefully and it should say 26X??? thats the size tube you need. Tubes usually come in one size fits several widths. So it could be 26X 1.5-1.9 say.

If you need to go to the bike dealer again bring the old tire in with you .

Nice of you to try to fix your moms bike.

[tagnil]

Yahoo! Bike is fixed. Thank you George!

[GeorgeET]

Great , glad to be of help.