Yesterday’s e-mail brought this opportunity:

The advantages of the inflate-free hollow tyre are as follows:

1.Good-elasticity: made of Rubber, with high rebound velocity and not creating heat.

2.Well temperature bearing: Can be normal used from 70 to -70.

3. High-resistance: continuous running of 3000 KM, no obviously wears away.

4. Bears the aging: no crack or color changed, aging resistance

5.Lower drive consumes and tiny rolling resistance.

Tags: unlikely

Schwalbe makes their high-end Marathon Supreme and Marathon XR models available in both folding Kevlar bead and wire-bead. The thing is, the way they are priced the wire-bead tire is only about $3 less expensive at retail.

Kevlar-bead tires are lighter, easier to carry and store, and (for us) easier to shelve and ship. Wire-bead tires take up a lot of shelf space and, given the small price difference, I am inclined to leave the wire tires out of our inventory.

But maybe I’m missing something. What is the case for a high-end tire with a wire bead over folding Kevlar at almost the same price. Tell me why you want us to carry these top-line tires with the wire bead. Wallingford Bicycle Parts wants to be your best source for Schwalbe touring tires. If there is a market for the wire-bead versions we will get them in here.

This presta stem is one indicator of the quality of the Schwalbe tube. Features include:

1. clear valve cap
2. replaceable valve core
3. collar on nut that adapts presta valve to schrader rim
4. nickel plating

Like tire sizing, different parts of the world have different names for tire valves. The valve that U.S. cyclists commonly know as a ‘presta’ style is listed as ‘SV’ (for Sclaverand Valve) by Schwalbe. It has also been called a French Valve.

Schwalbe labels the valve we know as Schrader as ‘AV’ for Auto/Car Valve.

We bring this small piece of an inflated tire system to your attention because we think it is a good example of the care that Schwalbe takes with all of their engineering and construction.

Tags: valve stem

Schwalbe is a German company, so it makes sense that you would see their tires in a trade show in Germany. But, of the thousands of bikes on display at Eurobike, I guess that about three-quarters of them were sporting Schwalbe tires. I’m not sure why the brand was so dominating. There is another big German bike tire manufacturer, after all. Maybe Continental’s logo is too subtle for me to notice.

Anyway, I learned about some more Schwalbe models and variations for the coming year. The hot-stuff Vectran belt in the top-end Marathon Supremes will be playing second-fiddle to the new “Double Defense” technology on the Marathon Extreme and the Ultremo R. Double Defense is Vectran plus a ceramic coating! (“tough ceramic particles that blunt the edges of glass preventing its destructive migration”) The ultra-flat-proof-but-heavy Marathon Plus and Marathon Plus ATB will be joined by a Marathon Plus “Tour” version. Other popular lines will have more sizes available. For instance: More sizes of Kojak and folding Kojaks.

I think we are going to have to build some more shelves in the wallwarehouse.

Standard disclaimer: When (insert brand here) introduces a new product at a trade show it doesn’t mean that the (insert brand here) truck will be backing up to Wallbike the next day. Sometimes new products take a while to get up to full production and sometimes they take a while to navigate the seas. Once in a while (insert brand name here) surprises us and has something ready to go when they announce it but we don’t expect much. It’s more fun to be surprised than disappointed.

Tags: eurobike, new, Schwalbe, Tires

We are using 'A' and 'B'

People are interested in the inflated measurements of the tires they put on their bikes. I have measured some of the Schwalbe tires that we have on bikes in our fleet. The tires were inflated to their normal running pressure.

Measurements are in millimeters, height is from the edge of the rim. ETRTO size is in parenthesis.

The diagram is from the excellent Schwalbe North America technical pages.

Stelvio 700×25 (25-622) = 25.1mm wide X 25.0mm tall. (contributor BL)
Durano 700×28 (28-622 = 27mm wide X 25mm tall, Sun CR18 23mm rim (BL)
Marathon 26 x2.0 (50-559) = 46w X 46t, Velocity Synergy rim (DR)
Marathon 27 x 1 1/4″ (32-630) = 32w X 31t (BL)
Marathon 700×25 (25-622) = 26w X ~25t, Sun CR18 23mm rim (BL)
Marathon 700×28 (28-622) = 26w X 26+tall, Ambrosio rim (R)
Marathon 700×32 (32-622) = 32w X 30 tall, Mavic A319 rim, 75psi (D)
Marathon 700×40 (42-622) = 40w, Sun Rhyno Lite rim (D)
Marathon 700×40 (42-622) = 39.7w X 41.2t, 60psi, Velocity Synergy rim (Wi)
Marathon Racer 26×1.5 (40-559) = 38w X ?t, Sun CR18 rim (Di)
Marathon Supreme 700 x 32 (32-622), = 28.6w X ?t, Open Pro rim (DH)
Marathon Supreme 700×32 (32-622) = 29.5w, Campy Montreal rim (SeA)
Marathon Supreme 700×32 (32-622) = 29w at 70 psi, 30mm at 80 psi, Salsa Delgado rim (Ad)
Marathon Supreme 700 x 35 (37-622) = 36w X ?t, Mavic A 719 rim, 60 psi. (DP)
Marathon Supreme 700×40 (42-622) = 40w X ?t, 55/60 psi, Salsa Delgado rims. (Ad)
Marathon Supreme 700/29×2.0 (50-622) = 45w X ?t, Velocity Synergy rim (Di)
Marathon Extreme 700×40 (42-622) = 40w X 40t, Velocity Synergy rim (D)
Marathon Plus 700×25 (25-622) = 24.3w X ~24t, Mavic Open Sport rim (G)
Big Apple 20 x 2.35 (60-406) = 60w X 54t (BL)
Big Apple 26 x 2.0 = 1.75 at 50 psi, Alex dh19 rim (Ad)
Big Apple 29/700 x 2.00 (50-622) = 49w X 47.5t, Alex Ace-17 rim (KW)
Fat Frank 26 x 2.35 (60-559) = 58w, 28mm rim (CS)
Marathon Racer 700 x 30 (30-622) = 30w X 30t (BL)

Please Help
Our list is growing but it needs more. Please contribute the measurement of your own Schwalbe bicycle tire in a comment. Once we get enough data to be meaningful I will add a column to our online tire table.

Tags: Schwalbe, specifications, Tires

This Monday I put together an order for Schwalbe North America. I looked at stock on the nice Ultremo tires. I had bought 10 in May and we still had six. I think ‘”Four tires in three months? The remaining six should last till the next order, at least.”

On Tuesday two customers bought all six of the remaining Ultremos.

We can run low on stock because I don’t plan well. We can run out of stock because the suppliers can’t supply. But sometimes we get surprised.

I was able to add the Ultremos to the order but for a few days they will be “out-of-stock”

Tags: Schwalbe, stock