Tire Height

[JeffC]

It seem that the height of a tire once installed and inflated is not an important factor to the tire manufacturers. On the old forum there had been reports from various members over the years that they bought a standard size tire of say 630-32 which is the 27 and 1 1/4" tire but the tire once installed rubbed the bottom of the fork crown and that the tire was in fact too tall for the fork. I specifically remember it was a Super Le Tour and the tire was a Panaracer Pasela. I have one of those bikes and I put those very same tires on the bike and the clearance is satisfactory.

Fast forward to 2024. I was refurbishing a 1978 Raleigh Super grand prix a few months ago and it needed new tires. I took the size of the old tire that were fitted to the bike 622-35 and searched for that size for replacements. As it turns out the tires I bought as NOS Schwalbe Road Cruiser tires from eBay were much too tall and would not fit between the narrow stays of this Raleigh. I ended up buying Michelin Protek something or other in 622-28 and they turned out to fit with just slightly more clearance than the original tires that came with the bike which were Performance Bike 622-35 tires. They were a bit of a close clearance fit to begin with but they cleared. The NOS Schwalbe tires didn't come close to clearing the stays. I compared pictures I had of it before I disassembled the bike.

Now fast forward to this past weeks. I am refurbishing a 1987 Peugeot Orient Express Mountain touring bike. It like the '88 Raleigh Teton Tour and '87 Mongoose Hilltopper were one step down from the top of the line offering for those years in mountain style bikes. Anyway On the Peugeot I ordered Michelin Country Dry 559-52 (26 x 2.0") tires for it which fit the rims nicely but again they were too tall and rubbed the fork legs just below the crown. The rear had like .040 clearance on either side of the stay at full inflation of 60psi. The bike has long stays and are quite wide compared to the other two mountain bikes. I ended up getting Michelin Protek Cross 559-47 (26x1.75) tires and they fit like they were made for the bike and fill the forks and rear stay rather nicely.

The point of all this is just because the tires you buy today that are of modern designs carrying the same measurements as the older version doesn't necessarily mean they will fit because they use different standards for stay and fork widths to determine side wall heights for the tires.

[JeffC]

Pictures of the '77 SLT for clearance with Panaracer Pasela Kevlar and Peugeot Orient Express with Michelin Protec 559-47. The last picture is the size comparison of a Forte (Former Performance bike brand made by Panaracer/Panasonic) to the Michelin Protec Cross. Both of the rims are the same 559 BSD and 20mm rim width. The tires are the same specs of 559-47. The Forte tire is about 12 years old and was purchased when Performance Bike still had brick and mortar stores in Paoli PA. Today the are an online only with one brick and mortar store in California. It is owned by Amain Hobbies.   

[rickpaulos]

Lets see a full photo of the Peugeot Orient Express.  Is this a Made in Canada Peugeot? 

[JeffC]

Lets see a full photo of the Peugeot Orient Express.  Is this a Made in Canada Peugeot? 

It's a Made in Taiwan 4130 cromoly frame almost identical to my '87 Mongoose Hilltopper. I'll get some picture tomorrow, it's still on the stand getting refurbished. The wheels, headset, brakes and derailleurs are all done I'm waiting on delivery of an IRD (Tange- Made In Japan) bottom bracket cartridge. I've pretty much given up on on cup and cone now that I can get these IRD cartridges in just about any size. They have a metal left side lock ring unlike the plastic Shimano.

I ran into some difficulty with the 6 speed Suntour later model PT-5000 Perfect. Loose lock ring too much play cogs not spaced properly. I had an earlier model and used the cogs from it and put new bearings in. It tightened up nicely and spins smooth now.   

[JeffC]

I weren't doing nuffin' so I took some pictures. Just tire pictures in this post the rest are in Bikes Made in Taiwan.