Hi Everyone,
Bought my friends' daughter a sweet little Peugeot girl's bike. Pink w/white fenders, freewheel, old school generator lighting system that works! Anyway, I digress. Need to find tires and tubes for it. The tires are ok, but one of the presta valves is shot. The tires have this lettering on the side: 28-440 (500 x 28 A). I'm assuming 28 is the width and 440 is the diameter, both in millimeters. Yes? No? Would prefer to drill out the rims for schrader valves(wouldn't want to subject my close personal friends to the horrors of presta). Will 20 inch tubes fit? Are heavier tires available? Have tried Harriscyclery to no avail. Website suggestions? Thank you in advance.

What exactly are "the horrors of presta"? I believe that you have an odd ball European juvenile size tire. I believe it is tire size 500A. Here is a link to one at Harris that should fit: https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/tires/440.html

The horror of presta to me is that you cannot fill it anywhere but your home, or a bike shop. That's the horror of them to me anyway... Shrader can be filled anywhere and everywhere, by nearly any equipment. I suppose the fun of having a high end bike is sitting on the side of the road unable to fix your flat, if you forgot an adapter. Of course if you have adapters, then why not have shraders to begin with, hehe,,,,BD

https://www.bikesmart.com/index.cfm?m....50&StartRow=1

Come to think of it, what are the advantages of running Presta's, assuming there's more than one? Lighter weight? Snob factor? Because they fit in the tiny hole provided by the wheel maker?,,,,BD

The last - and the smaller hole is an advantage on very slim aluminium rims.

You should carry a pump with either Shrader or presta.

If you are that worried about it you can buy a Schrader adapter and leave it installed on the Presta valve. Last time I bought one it was a couple of dollars. Roger

So there I was on the side of the road in the middle of no where and all I had with me wat this air compresser that I brought with me that could only fit Schrader valves. And to top it off, where the heck was I going to plug this thing in???

Yeah I guess. I just got stuck tonight, and pushed my bike 3-4 miles through my "wonderful" neighborhood. No patch kit, and was dark to begin with. The only svc station on the way home has no air anyway. Well unless you count that 50 cent POS that hits maybe 45psi on a good day, lol. 45 is better than nothing, but it wasn't a slow leak. I get off after all the shops close, and my wife has the truck until 11 pm. Yes, you can fit a 26x1 3/8 thorn proof into a 27 x1 1/4 tire BTW, lol. Saturday I guess I will get tire liners. Thorn proof tubes are heavy!! The rim felt like it weighed twice as much once it was all back together.,,,,BD