My '49 or '53 Elswick has 26" x 1-3/4" wheels. What up?

[GTs58]

This shows Kenda blackwall 54 and whitewall 47 available through Harris Cyclery, but it just sent me into black holes of internet marketing.

26 x 1 3/4" Schwinn size Bicycle Tires from Harris Cyclery (ISO/E.T.R.T.O. 571 mm)

Harris Cyclery carries a wide selection of tires, both common and obscure sizes.

www.sheldonbrown.com

That Harris shop has been closed for maybe 2 years now.
The rims on your bike look pretty wide from what I can see. Continental tires also makes a tire with the 571 ISO but it's more of a ATB tread.
Kenda's 47 is pretty damn small for a middleweight and I picked up a 1955 Corvette with the smallest tire I've ever seen on a middleweight bike. Even the tube was small just slightly larger than a lightweight tube. I'll be waiting to see those Kenda's mounted and on the bike!

Kenda's on the outside, 47 on the left, and F&R fat brick middle.

55 Corvette with the 47 571

 

[bloo]

Thank you both. So it looks like the K&R "small brick" (center in @GTs58 's picture) remains the widest of these available 571mm tires. Those are a fairly smooth tread, and higher quality than you usually see these days. The tread pattern absolutely screams Schwinn though.

 

[steve bennett]

I have been looking at the Schwalbe Marathon 40 x 635's on my Raleigh DL-1. They look huge compared with the Schwinn 26 x 1-3/8" to fit EA-3's, stock size on my Raleigh Sports. 47mm seems like it will look disproportionally large on either the Elswick or the Sports, (but, I hope, a great riding improvement,). 54mm is difficult to imagine. But you do have me imagining. . .

A quick google search yielded me nothing on K&R bicycle tires.

We'll see how the Kenda's look. Thanks for protecting me from complacency.

Whoa!

Having become uncomplacent, before posting I did a little sniffing around at wheels and discovered a set of S-7's with Kenda 54x571 26 x 2x1-3/4 white walls that had been totally unaware of as oddballs. (In time to cancel the order for the 47's, too.) I think you're right on about the 54's . Let's hope they fit under the fenders.

 

[bloo]

Kenda has a long standing and well deserved reputation for making the cross section too small. This is especially well known to Schwinn S7 owners because there was a time Kenda 26x1-3/4 was the only thing you could get for 26" S7, and the original Schwinn tires looked too skinny (IMHO) but Kendas were even skinnier. These are the Kendas we are calling "47" in this thread. Later, real Schwinn S7 tires reappeared. It was not the only instance of Kenda looking skimpy, just one of the best known.

K&R is not easily googlable. Those tires are sold by @mrg here on the CABE, but he will only ship if you buy 3 pairs. He sells locally somewhere in California. The tires are also available on Ebay, or at least that's where I got my one and only set a couple years ago. The size is marked 26x2x1-3/4" and "small brick" is an excellent search term for those. I see now they are marked 54-571 also, but 26x2x1-3/4" is a better search term. I can't rave enough about the quality. They are nice and round, run true, and feel like real rubber, not the warped plasticky stuff that generally passes for tires in older sizes these days.

https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/brick-tread-2-0s.168190/

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1655634939...d=link&campid=5335809022&toolid=20001&mkevt=1

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1547493457...d=link&campid=5335809022&toolid=20001&mkevt=1

(I have no affiliation with these links and don't know if this is the seller I bought from or not.)

 

[mrg]

I have only used the S7 2'0 bricks on Schwinn S7's and are some of the best quality around, don't know anything about extra #'s besides the size tho, definitely more beef than the Kenda's that seem to run smaller in all sizes. I've kept to the 3 pair shipping because it seemed like the best price, is to expensive and hard to find flat boxes for 1 pr. have not tried rolling them up like others do with thinner tires?

 

[GTs58]

I can possibly see the small Kenda tire fitting very tight in a lightweight but it might be very possible. The one marked 26 x 2 x 1 3/4 will be a stretch and the brick tread F&R would be impossible. The Kenda that is marked 26 x 2 x 1 3/4 is near identical in size to the Schwinn Westwind tires.

 

[bluecoast]

Here's what I can contribute:

1. I have two Dunlop "Made in England" Westwood rims here: 26x1-3/4 W.O. and a Dunlop 26x1-1/2" W.O. They're not the same size - the 1-1/2 is about 1/2" larger in diameter . My best effort at measuring the bead land shows the 1-3/4" BSD is 571mm and the 1-1/2" BSD is 584, which aligns with Sheldon Brown.

What would 1-1/2" be? Not 571mm like Canadian I gather? 584mm/650B? Wikipedia thinks Westwood rims like that exist. Do they?

In other words, I can confirm my Dunlop 26x1-1/2" W.O. is definitely Westwood and seems to be 584 mm BSD.

2. I found this shop in UK selling a tire that's marked both 54-571 and 26x2x1-3/4. https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tyres/journey-delivery-bike-tyre-26-x-2-x-1-34-inch-54571/?geoc=CA
If you read the reviews, customers confirm they fit delivery bikes, autocycles (which is what I have), and an Elswick Hopper

 

[bloo]

2. I found this shop in UK selling a tire that's marked both 54-571 and 26x2x1-3/4. https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tyres/journey-delivery-bike-tyre-26-x-2-x-1-34-inch-54571/?geoc=CA
If you read the reviews, one confirms they fit delivery bikes, autocycles (which is what I have), and an Elswick Hopper

Thanks! What is an autocycle in this context? Motorized?

I notice I have been typing K&R instead of F&R for the maker of the "small brick" tires. F&R is correct. I don't see any edit option to fix it, but on the off chance a moderator should stumble across this, please do.

 

[mrg]

@bloo, I don't know the timeline but there is a "Edit" ( in blue ) in the lower left next to "Report" you can click on but it goes away in 24 hr. maybe?

 

[steve bennett]

Good tip about SIS Cycles. It was fun reading the comments. I don't know brands; their 54mm is by Journey. The same pattern tire by CST is available at BMX Guru, https://www.bmxguru.com/products/cs...-bicycle-tire-all-black-54-571-goodyear-style in the U.S.

But where have the Kenda 54x571's gone? We have the Kenda blackwall advertised used on E-bay and GTs58's Kenda whitewall (on the right) and my Kenda 54-571 26x2x1-3/4 whitewall on an S-7. But I haven't found anything but Kenda 47 x 571's on line.

Just dredged up another pair of S-7s. From Schwinn 'Debbie' about 1960. One with a Schwinn Westwind 26 x 1-3/4, the other with a Wester Auto Supply 'Davis Deluxe' 26 x 1-3/4 to "Fits British F-12 and American S-7."

And for anyone else who may be trying to make sense of this, here's Sheldon Brown. The best listing I have found.

Fractional sizes:​

Fractional	ISO	Applications
36 inch	787 mm	Unicycles, some novelty bicycles
32 inch	686 mm	Unicycles, some novelty bicycles
29 inch	622 mm	This is a marketing term for wide 622 mm ("700C") tires.
28 x 1 1/2	635 mm	English, Dutch, Chinese, Indian Rod-brake roadsters (Also marked F10, F25, 700 B)
622 mm	(F.13) Rare Canadian designation
28 x 1 5/8 x 1 1/2	Northern European designation for the 622 mm (700 C) size
635 mm	Old Swedish designation
27 x anything except "27 five" and 609 mm Danish	630 mm	Older road bikes.
27 x 1 1/2	609 mm	Rare Danish size
26 x 1 (650 C)	571 mm	Triathlon, time trial, small road bikes. Old Schwinn S-4
26 x 1 1/4	597 mm	Older British sport & club bikes
26 x 1 3/8 (S-6)	Schwinn "lightweights"
26 x 1 3/8 (E.A.3)	590 mm	Most English 3-speeds, department-store or juvenile 10 speeds
26 x 1 1/2 (650B)	584 mm	French utility, tandem and loaded-touring bikes, a very few Raleigh (U.S.) & Schwinn mountain bikes.
26 x 1 3/4 (S-7)	571 mm	Schwinn "middleweight" cruisers My Elswick Hopper’s original wheels are Westwoods, the size a rarity
26 x 1, 1 1/8	High performance wheels for smaller riders, common on Cannondale bicycles
24 x 1	520 mm	High performance wheels for smaller riders; Terry front
24 x 1 1/8	520 mm or 540 mm!	Caveat emptor. 540mm is common on wheelchairs.
24 x 1 1/4	547 mm	British or Schwinn Juvenile
24 x 1 3/8 (S-5)	Schwinn Juvenile lightweights
24 x 1 3/4 (S7)	520 mm	Schwinn "Middleweights"
24 x 1 3/8 (E-5)	540 mm	British Juvenile, most wheelchairs; common on women's utility bicycles in Japan.
22 x 1 3/8 NL	489 mm	Dutch juvenile
20 x 1 1/8 20 x 1 1/4 20 x 1 3/8	451 mm	Juvenile lightweights, BMX for light riders, some recumbents, some folding bicycles
20 x 1 3/4	419 mm	Schwinn juvenile
20 x 2	438 mm	Swedish
18 x 1 3/8	400 mm	British juvenile
17 x 1 1/4	369 mm	Alex Moulton AM series
16 x 1 3/8	349 mm	Older Moulton; Brompton & other folders, recumbent front, juvenile
16 x 1 3/8	337 mm	Mystery tire
16 x 1 3/8	335 mm	Polish juvenile
16 x 1 3/4	317 mm	Schwinn Juvenile
14 x 1 3/8	298 mm	Moulton mini, etc.
12 1/2 x anything	203 mm	Juvenile, scooters
10 x 2	152 mm	Wheelchair caster
8 x 1 1/4	137 mm	Wheelchair caster

Traditionally, fractional sizes are made for straight-sided rims. High-performance sizes (520 mm, 571, 622 mm etc.) are preferably used with hook-edge rims, which can hold higher pressure and center the tires more reliably. Tubeless tires may use special hook-edge rims that form an airtight seal.

Decimal sizes:​

Decimal	ISO	Applications
29 inch	622 mm	This is a marketing term for wide 622 mm ("700C") tires.
28 x decimal	Some German tire companies use this non-standard designation for 622 mm ("700C") tires -- violates Brown's law!
"27 five" (meaning 27.5)	584 mm	Marketing term for wide, knobby 584 mm tires. Some Mountain bikes
26 x 1.00 through 5.0	559 mm	Most Mountain bikes, cruisers, fatbikes etc. Old Schwinn designation was S-2
26 x 1.25 (rare)	599 mm	Very old U.S. lightweights
26 x 1.375 (rare)	Very old U.S. lightweights My 1943 Huffman Victory
24 x 1.,5 (Dutch, rare)	534 mm	Still made in India as of 2022
24 x 1.5-24 x 2.125	507 mm	Juvenile mountain bikes, cruisers
22 x 1.75, 22 x 2.125	457 mm	Juvenile
20 x 1.5-20 x 2.125	406 mm	Most BMX, juvenile, folders, trailers, some recumbents
18 x 1.5	355 mm	Birdy folding bikes
18 x 1.75-18 x 2.125	Juvenile
16 x 1.75-16 x 2.125	305 mm	Juvenile, folders, trailers, Strida, early DaHon, some recumbents
14 x 1.75-14 x 2.125	254 mm	Juvenile
12 1/2 x anything	203 mm	Juvenile, scooters