Classic & Vintage - Tires and brake shoes for Raleigh Sports

Any recommendations on 590 (26 x 1 3/8) tires for use on Raleigh Sports 3-speeds? One bike has its original steel rims while the other has Sun CR-18 alloy rims.

Is there a best model of Kool-Stop salmon brake pads to use with the stock brake calipers? It looks like the Continental fits and that some other models would work on the rear. Thanks!

Any recommendations on 590 (26 x 1 3/8) tires for use on Raleigh Sports 3-speeds? One bike has its original steel rims while the other has Sun CR-18 alloy rims.


37-590 tires are something I have been looking into recently.

I can tell you that the cheap Taiwan brand tires are much narrower than their markings. I bought some very cheap Cheng Shin off Amazon to use temporarily, they are actually only 30mm wide and are very lightly constructed. Kenda and Cheng Shin seem to be available in the low end category and Amazon seems to be the best source for these tires. Note that some of the Kenda tires are listed there as being Pyramid brand, or at least I think so because the model numbers are identical.

Probaby the Japanese made Panaracer blackwalls that Harris Cycle sells are the most authentic looking if it is for a restoration.

Schawbe, Panaracer, and Continental seem to be the only ones making premium quality tires in that size any more, or maybe they are the only ones still importing them into the US. And there seems to be a rather limited selection of those imported.

I note that Wal-Mart has some kevlar belted Bell's in the store for $14 but have no idea what the quality is. Another mid-price brand is Innova, but I do not know anything about the quality. Kenda seems to make some mid-priced tires as well as the cheap ones already mentioned.

All of them should fit your CR-18's, the narrow ones my not work well on the steel westrick rims.

Kenda and ChengShin make better quality tires but they are hard to find in the US. IRC also makes high pressure tires, again hard to find. I use Schwalbe Marathons but they have been special order only. The Bell tires from WM are acceptable, but I prefer to use the Kenda's for half the price from the LBS.

Aaron:)

I've run the cheapo Kenda's on mine and haven't had any problems/issues.

As far as brake pads, the Continentals are correct. I had a hard time setting these up because there were no adjusting washers on them. I went with a BMX pad from my LBS that had plenty of adjusting washers on them. I didn't notice any braking difference with the BMX pad vs. the kool stop - wet braking still sucks.

Matthew Grimm at Kogswell did have a couple of Panaracer models in 590 size. He still might. You can find his contact info at kogswell.com.

Neal