I am new to bikes and was wondering if there is a difference between inner tubes for a 27 x 1 1/4 bike and a 27 x 1 1/8 bike. My bike has 27 x 1 1/8 tires but I wanted to use 27 x 1 1/4 inner tubes since they are easier to find.
122873
I have 27 x 1 1/4 inch tires on my bike and need to buy new tubes. Can I use 700c or just 27 inch?
67348
I currently ride a hybrid that came with 700x32c tires. Can I swap out a narrower tire without changing the rims, or do rims only fit a specific size of tire?   How small can I go before I have to buy new rims?  I hear having narrower tires makes you go quite a bit faster.  Does it really help that much?
98627
I recently bought a pair of inner tubes and when I partially inflated one of them before putting it into the tire (only a few pumps with a floor pump), I noticed a portion of it was bulging out considerably. It looked like a snake who had swallowed a giant mouse, there was a huge bulge on one section of the tire. I went to get my camera to take a photo of it, but it then burst before I could take a photo.   Went back to the LBS and got a replacement tube, and when I partially inflate this one it also bulges quite a bit too, although not nearly as extreme as the last one that popped.   Is it normal for an inner tube to bulge out as much as this? I'm just worried this one will pop as well.
61490
I park my bike at work in a rack like this:    At the moment I have 26 x 1.9" knobbly tyres and the wheel just squeaks into the rack. However I'd like to replace these with 26 x 2" Schwalbe Marathons for a smoother ride and better puncture resistance, and these almost certainly won't fit.  What's the best way of putting my bike in this rack if the tyres won't fit, preferably without annoying colleagues by taking up more than one space? So far I've thought of:   using the lock cable to 'tie' the wheel to the side of the rack - possible but a bit of a faff fitting the bike with a kick stand so it doesn't need the rack to hold it upright - not ideal getting the 26 x 1.75" tyres instead - would work but I'd prefer the wider ones for best grip as my ride is partly on offroad paths and a cobbled street (and nothing to do with thinking the wider ones look better, honest).   But are there any other techniques or products I haven't thought of?  (Security of this type of rack is not a big concern, incidentally, as the rack is inside a shed with a code lock.)
9811
After learning how to break a chain and reattach it, and also how to add and remove a master link, I find that I can now do much more in the way of maintenance at home. I'll no longer need to bring my bikes into the shop simply for a new chain... if I can only figure out how to identify what size chain I'll need to order.   Is there a simple way of telling what size and type of chain I'll need to order to replace the chain on a bike? Do I measure the chain links? Count links? Count gears on the cogs?   If it helps, some of my bikes' drivetrains have internal hubs, some have derailer gears.
45643
I have just bought a new bike and had it about a month now. I don't really know much about bikes but I do know how to repair an inner tube.  I have had one puncture and just bought a new inner tube. It worked for a few days and then went down again so this time I got a puncture repair kit. I took the inner tube out to check for any punctures and found nothing. I put it in water and pumped it up and there were no bubbles. I went around the entire tube pushing it next to my ear and heard nothing. I checked the tire to see if anything was wrong - there was nothing that I could see.   So I put it all back together and took it for a ride and got about half a mile and the tire was flat. I pumped it up and got about another half a mile and it was flat again.  Do you have any suggestions for me?
41636
I'm thinking of changing the 9-speed Tiagra rear mech on one of my (road) bikes to something, still Shimano, but 10-speed.  The obvious replacements I'll need are cassette, right-shifter and chain. But I reckon because of the narrower chain I'm also looking at a new chainset and rear derailleur. However I think the front derailleur and left-shifter should be safe (still keeping the front mech the same). Ditto the bb, regardless of whether I need a new chainset  Has anyone actually done this conversion and is able to confirm (or put me right)?  Thanks  Update  Decided in the end that going from 9- to 10- was too much to spend all in one go. But I used a service as an excuse to change the cassette (to a 9-speed ultegra) and the chain (dura ace) at quite minimal cost. Can upgrade other parts as and when, although I'm basically looking at Shim's 6500 range here so all quite dated now.
39879
Any thoughts - my spare tube that I carry in my bag currently has a dozen or so patches on it, but still works fine. I'm tempted to keep going to see how many I can get on there until it get impossible to mend.  What is the most number of patches you reckon a tube can take ?  (And I know new inner tubes are only £5 or so, but a puncture repair costs about 10p if you buy the patches and glue in bulk, so "It's cheaper to buy a new one" is not necessarily true...)
95141
My bike (A FireFox Sniper V) has 26x2.1 knobbies. I cycle on urban roads, so I decided to upgrade to 26x1.95 hybrid tyres from BTWIN. But they have mentioned that it is a 1 speed hybrid tyre. Will it work on my 21 (3 front, 7 rear) speed bike?  From India
22417
i am currently workin on the Bicycle-Frame-Building-Jig that is designed by tanner W at Instructables  which bottom bracket assemblies should i work out: The question is - which bottom bracket-assembly-types would you suggest!?which axles and dummy shells should i drill see  well at the moment i am musing bout the extras and features  what should i add which features should i add eg some dummy axles for the bottom bracket assembly - what do you suggest!?  i think as long as we can get a standard English bb in both 68 and 73, we should be fine. afaik: It's hard to deal with the press fit sizes because AFAIK nobody is selling facing/reaming tools for them. As far as i know: Paragon has a ton of bb shells available, so we could match what they sell. but I think the two most standard sizes will probably do for now. the tanner w fixture is adjustable for width, so we only need one set of blocks see here:  and also see the bottom bracket shells:  well at the moment i am musing bout the extras - what should i add ?
9083
I live in a city with plenty of cycling shops, but they are all out of 27 x 1 1/4 tires. Each shop gives me a different answer about the possibility of using a different size of tire. Can I fit a different size onto an old 27 x 1 1/4 rim?
38651
I have a 2013 Shimano XT rear derailleur. It is part of a 2x10 drivetrain. How can I find out if it is a medium or a long cage one? The picture below shows the derailleur.
61853
I'm building a rear wheel for the first time. I have purchased the rim and hub and am now sourcing the spokes. I put the measurements into an online spoke calculator (on wheelpro.co.uk) and it estimated 295mm and 293mm for the right and left side respectively.  Now I can find 295mm spokes but, so far, I haven't been able to find a 293. I will keep looking, but I have two questions:  1)  How precise do the spoke lengths need to be. If they are out by a millimetre is it likely to cause a significant problem?  2) If they are out by 1-2mms, is it better if they are too long or too short. So if it turns out to be impossible to get a 293mm, would a 294mm or a 292mm be a better alternative.  Many thanks in advance.  Chris
37159
Why do women's bikes have a diagonal bar in the frame instead of a horizontal frame? Is this the only difference?  Sorry if this has been asked (but I cannot find it by searching) and I also just cannot think of a reason why.
12411
We are planning on doing some mountain biking in a few weeks time and we'd like to get some wider tyres for my wife's hybrid. I know there are similar questions and answers out there on this topic, but I need some specific help to make sure I buy the right tyres.  The bike is a Ladies Scott Sportster 50 2015, the best website I could find with a fairly accurate spec is     It's currently got Kenda K-180 700 x 38c / 30TPI tyres on it, which are fairly good all rounders and capable of running on clean forest paths but I don't think they would handle anything heavier.  It's got disk brakes so there isn't a clearance issue there, but I have noticed the frame is generally narrower than true MTBs, here are some photos i took of it.    Has anyone put larger, knobblier tyres on this kind of hybrid? whats the largest I can get away with? - I'm also slightly confused by all the tyre sizing, I'm sure someone told me this is a 27.5" tyre, but 700 seems to mean 29" on a lot of websites.  Any advice is very much appreciated, Thanks.
100790
I've been thinking about getting a power meter for a while now. I finally decided I would get one, but now I realise that Stages only starts at the Shimano 105 level.  I currently have a Shimano RS500 Crankset ( 50 x 34 ) and I'm very pleased with it, so I don't feel a need to replace the whole crankset with a 105 5800.  I also have no plans to upgrade anytime soon to Dura Ace or something like that (the rest of my bike has the 105 5800 set), so I don't think I should buy a higher lever crank arm from Stages.  Now, I know something about bikes, but not a lot. It seems that what I have (RS500) looks compatible with the 105 crank arm (just judging by the looks), but I would like to be certain before I spend this amount of money.  My set:  Stages I would like to get:   Kind regards and thanks in advance,
87427
I'm fairly tall (6'4" or 195cm), and the bike I'm looking for is fairly specialised these days (a tourer, presumably steel, possibly with a sideline as a gravel bike/off-road tourer but no need for full-on CX specs and I need heel clearance).  I ride a hybrid.  My total road bike miles add up to about the same as a decent ride on my hybrid (42 miles) and those were on a too-small bike. So I'm not familiar with road bike fit.  I do know that if I can get the saddle high enough I'll be OK for easily an hour in the saddle of anything.  Nowhere stocks a range of tourers in my size. Even finding one single tourer in stock in my size is rare (tourers don't sell fast).  Of course many places can get one in, try to fit it, fail, send it back, try again...  But how do I maximise my chances of getting it right first time?  I don't see that a rough fit on a typical road bike or even a CX bike would be very informative, as I'm after the long wheelbase, relaxed geometry of a tourer.  It feels like I could extrapolate as well from flat bars. I'd almost be glad if these assumptions were wrong, but I might take a little convincing.  The next step of course is testing it to make sure it fits -- with everything set nominally right it will feel a bit odd as I'm used to flat bars.  How can I tell whether this is bad-odd or OK-odd in a short test ride?  Part of my concern is that I'm looking at the , and I'm at the top end of the largest size -- by some shops' size guides I should be OK, but not according to others (including the one I may buy it from)