Tube/Tire Sizing Help

[Budtooz22]

The wheels on my mountain bike are 26x1.5 to 26x(something over 2). I bought the thinnest tire I could that fits this frame (26x1.5) and ordered tubes of the same size. For some reason the tubes have a slightly larger diameter than my tires. Is there a reason for this? I currently have slicks that are 1.90 with tubes to match and those work and fit just fine. For some reason I'm having problems getting the 1.5s to match up. Any thoughts?

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[DaveM]

Let a little pressure out of the tubes and retry fitting them in the tire. Putting some air in the tubes first is a good idea, it helps get the tube lined up straight in the tire before installation. But if you put too much in, the diameter of the tube expands and you can't fit it in the tire without it bunching up. Sometimes you have to scoot the tube a little until you can get it to lie flat in the tire. This is normal.

[Budtooz22]

(10-29-2013, 05:29 PM)DaveM Wrote:  Let a little pressure out of the tubes and retry fitting them in the tire. Putting some air in the tubes first is a good idea, it helps get the tube lined up straight in the tire before installation. But if you put too much in, the diameter of the tube expands and you can't fit it in the tire without it bunching up. Sometimes you have to scoot the tube a little until you can get it to lie flat in the tire. This is normal.

Dave,

I took the tube and tire to a bike shop across from where I work and they did this same thing and got the tube to fit perfectly. For some reason working with these thinner tubes is different from the wider tubes I've been used to previously.

If it had been something other than this simple solution I would have been totally lost on tube/tire sizing.