Road Bike Tube Sizes Explained

As the width increases the tire will have more contact surface with the road making it more stable and comfortable.

Road bike tube sizes explained.

How to get the right bike tube and valve size. A narrower inner tube will balloon out to. There are a myriad of wheel sizes for road mtb touring and children s bikes. Tubes because they can stretch will list a range of widths.

A standard road tire is 700c x 23mm indicating a tire diameter of approximately 700mm and a width of 23mm. The standard sizes are 1 inch 1 1 8 inch 1 25 inch and 1. Bike tube sizing essentially mirrors bike tire sizing with one exception. So a 29 inch mtb tube will have the same diameter as a 700c road wheel while a 27 5 inch tube will be the same diameter as a 650b road wheel.

Thus you need to be sure any new bike tube has sizing that has a width range that aligns with the sizing on your bike tires. Size used on some high performance road and triathlon bikes especially those designed for smaller riders. As the width decreases there is less rolling resistance or friction and therefore is faster. Road bike tires generally come in three widths.

Sizing width may vary from 18c through to 28c meaning 18mm through to 28mm. The steerer tube of the fork is threaded and a threaded race is screwed into the top of the fork to snug up against the top bearing. 700 or 26 but the tube s width will vary depending on the amount you inflate them like a kid s balloon. 27 5 x 1 9 2 3 for example.

When shopping for road tires you ll look for 700c x your preferred width 23mm being the slimmest option and going up to 36mm. To confuse matters further all tyres use the european tyre and rim technical organisation etrto system so for a road it would display 622 x nn with the nn value indicating the tyre width which is the same as 700 x nn. You can also get 26 inch mtb tubes. Common inner tube ranges for 26 inch 27 5 inch and 29 inch tire diameters 1 0 to 1 15 inches 1 25 to 2 0 inches 2 0 to 2 35 inches 2 4 to 3 0 inches.

Mtb wheels in particular can be further categorised by 26 inches 27 5 inches and 29 inches. The diameter needs to be the same e g. 23c 25c and 28c their width in mm. Road tubes come in different widths but not as broad a range as mountain bikes.

All inner tubes will come with a recommended range for tyre width for example 700 20 25 for traditional road tyres 700 25 32 for wider road tyres.