Get a bathroom scale, a block of wood about the same height as the scale, and get on the bike while next to something to steady yourself. Put the scale under the front tire first, and then the back tire, and see how much weight is on each tire. Then use that Tire Drop article to see what pressure would be ideal for you. I run 85/110 in my 700x25C tires, and I'm 190 lbs. My MTB with 1.5" street tires and rigid steel fork gets 40/60.

Not sure if you want to drop a little over $100 on that bike, but if you did you could probably switch out the fork to a carbon fork from Nashbar. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way my road bike feels with carbon fork, and IMHO it rides better than my MTB with the rigid steel fork and larger tires.

I would say a $100 would be worthwhile to drop on the bike (Biased opinion and all). It's got a decent set of components, hubs kinda suck (Joytech), but the frame is nice as well. If Schwinn were to swap out the hubs for something better, it'd most likely be a bottom end bike at a LBS.

Not on a carbon fork. Because

1. CF does not magically remove vibrations, let alone big thumps - fork geometry and stiffness simply varies, and you can have forgiving forks in any material

2. I'm really against selling CF frame components to non-racers. Racers can reasonably be assumed to know what they are doing and to read the tech docs - and if they don't, it is their own fault - but most of the people here, no. A CF fork or frame can take quite a minor (or major bang) and look fine afterwards, then shatter an instant under minor stress - this is because of delamination, and inspecting for it is difficult even if you know what you are doing. A fork or frame could also take this stress while locked if someone tries to steal it or just runs into it. The result is a bike looks fine, you ride it, then you maybe hit a small pot hole and



I'm not saying that CF is super-dangerous, but delamination is a real risk, and the material does not have the magical properties the marketing people brainwash some consumers into believing in.

You can also get delamination without accident damage on poorly built cf components - I'd never buy a $100 cf fork unless it was a $250 from a manufacturer like Cannondale and on sale. A cheap cf fork on a road full of cracks and potholes is just asking for trouble.

If I was going to spend $100 on making that bike ride better on bad road then I'd buy wider rims and tyres - adding in the money from the sale of the old ones.

True as well. I suppose I was more pointing out the fact that this particular bike isn't the typical BSO from a department store, in which dumping any money into it would be worthwhile

Case in point: I'm considering replace the stock fork with a steel fork, to try and soften the road a bit.

It's a nice bike.

And I wouldn't to make any paranoid about CF - I just want stores to tell people the downsides, and to bring the bike in to be checked for accident damage after a spill. And in this case, I'd really say that it would be especially problematic.

I don't want to be too bike engineering nerdy.. but read

www.63xc.com/scotn/metal.htm‎

- It really isn't the material that matters but how it is used - my crosser and my classic Zaskar mtb both steel forks, but the Zaskar's Project 2s are super-rigid and the crosser's are twangy. And no rigid fork will soften the road as much as a slightly wider tyre - so the Zaskar normally rides softer despite the fork, because it is running wider tyres.

..So if you want a softer ride and can't/don't want to switch tyres, then research the fork you are buying VERY carefully! And be aware than some fork names get re-used for different designs - Project 2s have been in production for almost 30 years and look the same - but they can handle quite differently because of tubing wall thickness, heat treat, etc. You really to haunt review sites on something like this - although old style forks that have curve in an narrow down *do* strongly tend to be springier than straight forks like P2s. A Surly Cross Check fork would probably be ideal if you could get one.

+1 to all of that. At 130lb you are a very light rider, so you should be able to get away with lower tire pressures. The chart at that link will allow you to optimize your tire pressure individually front/rear according to how much weight you measure or estimate each one bears. That plus wider tires plus learning to ride light and learning your route so you can avoid a lot of the nastier stuff should put you in good shape.

BTW I hope the 35s fit, I would have suggested 32s, and/or go to a bike co-op and try on and maybe even buy some used tires for cheap. For a couple years now I've been very much enjoying nearly-new good brand (Continental) tires for only $5 a pop!

Also, that's a pretty sweet lookin bike comin from Target!

Oh, reading past the first page of posts, I see that you canceled your order. You're in Portland, get thee to a co-op and buy yourself a used pair of 700x32 tires that look in good shape and have a tread profile you like. I guarantee they will fit on your rims (I had no problem myself with 700x37 on Mavic Open Sport, which are speccd to max 32), and I can almost guarantee they'll fit in your frame, and if they fit, I can guarantee you'll be happy with front/rear tire pressures optimized using the 15% tire-drop chart.

If for some reason they don't work out, very little lost; give the tires to a friend, or donate them back to the co-op. If you do like them, then you can ride them for a good long time, or decide to pay more money for new, whatever you feel like!

Just had a good uphill commute to work. But I had to hit a crack in the concrete (perpendicular) because there was passing traffic to my left. I took my weight off the seat, lifted the front wheel a tad, and POW went my rear rim. Yeah, the psi drop may not have been a great idea... But at least my body didn't take any of the impact.

And at least you didn't (apparently) get the dreaded SNAKEBITE (pinch-flat).

There's this one manhole of death on my commute, downhill, extends from the gutter to outside the bike lane, hugely messed up asphalt surrounding it, I swear it's equivalent to a 3 inch curb. Lost a water bottle first time I didn't expect it. If cars are coming I can't swerve into the middle of the lane, so I've been practicing my bunny-hops. Only once I got complete air, but for the rest at least I get only a minor whack on the rear wheel, and not my full weight. (I actually found it on google maps -- doesn't look so scary from above, but I think the ground might have shifted and made it worse since this pic)

Say what you will, but my alu road bike with CF fork and 25c tires (85 PSI front) sends less vibrations through my hands and arms than does my alu MTB with steel fork and 1.5" tires with 40 PSI in the front. The difference is immediately noticeable. Both bikes also have aluminum stems and bars.

Somewhere there should be a sticker that gives the rim's width. If not,you can just remove the tire and measure the inner distance between the beads(the inside part of the rim). This is a car wheel,but it gives you an idea of where to measure:


POW as in,you hit it really hard,or the rim is damaged?

I just rebuilt/upgraded one of these Tourist I picked up for free. The only really crappy parts were the bottom bracket, cranks and wheelset (at your weight these shouldn't be a big problem). You probably shouldn't put a ton of money into this bike but it is definitely better than most big box store offerings. That said, the reason I grabbed this bike is because it has a bunch of tire clearance. I think you could easily fit 40mm tires with fenders or even 42mm without. This bike is pretty stiff, but if you only weigh 130 and put on some 35mm tires on it (at an appropriate psi), it would be a very smooth ride. 35mm will absolutely fit on the stock rims with no problems. Larger decent quality tires will not make you noticeably slower on rough roads like you describe. Hope this helps!

As a side note for a commuter, this frame is odd because it has lower rear rack mounts but none on the top of the seat stays. I easily fixed this with one of the seatpost clamps with built in rack mounts. This provides a much more solid and better looking rack mount than p-clips. If you will be putting a rack on there, this is the way to go!

I noticed that too, when I went to install my rack. Drops have mount holes for everything... But no rack braze-ons. Weird.

Thanks guys. It turned out the order cancellation didn't work so I got the 35mm tires anyway! I haven't put them on yet, but I'm going to

All right! sarahbruce gives an encouraging report that 35 should fit easily. Put 'em on, pump 'em up, take 'em for a ride and take some clearance pics and report back!

You gotta rock your weight from back to front, so that when each wheel impacts, it's relatively unloaded. Of course you can only do practically do this up to a certain max speed.

Welp, I put the tires on last night, but it got a little dramatic. It's weird; it seems like life is more complicated than it used to be. I can remember being 10 years old and swapping out stuff on my BMX bike all the time like it was nothing. But putting these tires on this bike was a 3 hour fiasco.

Dismounted the front wheel, let out the air, and pried the tire off. I have changed a tube in this tire before and it seemed easy. I had a bit of a harder time getting the tire off this time but not that big of a deal. I put on the new 35c tire with the same tube (I'm guessing it was a 28C tube + or - a little. I aired it up a tad and massaged it and made sure the bead was set right, and let the air back out to get it through the V brake. I believe I aired it up with the air compressor and all was well. So I moved on to the rear wheel. I don't have a repair stand, so I had to finagle the chain and wheel off with the bike laid over on a weight lifting bench. Got it off, got the tire off, got the new one on, then put it on the bike and got the chain back on. I didn't massage it as carefully this time, and I aired it up with the air compressor. A few seconds later I noticed the whole tube herniated outside of the rim and looked like a big large intestine. So I tried to find the tire gauge to let the air out, but a second later... POOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW. Inner tube shreds flew around and it sounded like a gun went off (this is at 9:30pm by the way).

I had a spare tube that was 28c that I discarded on the shelf because it was a presta valve and I didn't want to bother with it. I have a presta chuck now, so I tried it out. Put it all on the bike, and it did the same dang thing - herniated, even with being careful and massaging it. So it was 10:00 by this point. I was pissed and decided to drive to walmart and look for a 700c tire for a 35. Went to the walmart by my house, and they had the price tag, but they were sold out. So then I said screw it and drove across town to another walmart. They had 700x35/40 tubes only with presta valves, and my bike came with schrader valve tubes. So I bought the Prestas anyway. Got home, put one in the rear wheel, and it worked fine. The valve seems a little short coming out of the hole, but it's manageable. I took the front wheel and tire back off and put the other new presta 700x35c tube in it so the front and rear would match.

By now the bike was covered in grease from me fighting with getting the chain on off on off a few times without having a repair stand. So cleaned the whole bike, then took it for a test ride. But a brake pad was dragging on the tire from me messing with it so much, so I had to readjust the rear brakes.

But the tires feel like a drastic improvement! They were easy to slide on the rim which means they seem to be a bit of a loose fit, and I had the herniation problems. So while they seem like they fit fine now that they're seated well and aired up, I can see how their size is questionable for this rim width.

They don't look overly large at all.

Be very careful with those presta valves,it'll be easy to tear them free from the tube since they're floating in those schrader holes.

Yikes! What a (mis)adventure!

I can't see tire in the middle pic, but otherwise they look quite natural and well-fitting. You've got scads of room in the fork still, presumably plenty of clearance in the stays as well. And they don't look balloony on the rims at all.

Re presta in schraeder holes (is that how you ended up?) This can lead to explosive, unpatchable tube failure around the valve due to bulging through the oversize hole. I have heard they make little adapter nuts to fill that gap.

I recommend you buy a replacement schraeder tube, keep it with you on the bike at all times, as well as levers and any other tools you might need, and ride it like it is for as long as the tube that is in there lasts. When it fails, put in the schraeder tube and throw the presta away.

Or if you want to save yourself an on-the-road failure in the future, make some time to swap it out at home -- once you are ready to repeat this whole debacle again! But in the meantime, if you have presta in a schraeder hole, make sure you have a spare standing by asap.

So I don't see a ride report -- are you out rolling around now? Luxuriating in pillowy softness I hope!

The middle picture is from the perspective of the hub looking up at the rim. You can see the kenda sidewall logo on each side of the tire. They do bulge out from the narrow width of the rim a noticeable amount, but it doesn't look alarming.

Geez. I probably shouldn't have been so impatient. I should have held out for schrader tubes, but they seem to be a little harder to find in the 700c tize. I didn't think about them bulging around the hole. I don't see what good an adapter nut would do because that screws on the tip of the valve on the metal part. It looks like I have two actual holes - one on the inner rim where the inner tube is, then there's the upper part of the rim (they look like aero rims) and another hole. The valve jiggles in there a little bit but I have that silver nut there to keep it stable. I just wonder about the rubber part near the hole in the inner rim. Ugh. Looks like I WILL be going through the same debacle again.

I'm about to go ride, but I'm not sure how much I'll enjoy it knowing there's a ticking time bomb in both of my wheels

Oh, I'm a noob. I thought that silver nut was for the outside, but that's actually supposed to go inside the rim, correct? And that protects the rubber from herniating into the schrader hole?

nono, everybody throws away the nuts and plastic caps. Apparently they are to protect the tube from its valve in shipping (coincidentally, my very first post on BF was kind of about this!)

Apparently the thing you want is called a "Presta Saver", here's a thread on it. It's like a bushing.

Bah. If I'm gonna go to all the trouble of buying something else and taking the tires off again, I may as well just buy schrader tubes and do it right.

Ah I get it. Never seen a pic from that perspective before! Looks fine to me.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Assuming you don't have expensive boutique lightweight racing tubes, it should take I would guess hundreds or at least tens of miles to abrade itself. You can certainly take it around the block for a test ride!

You can also probably get a long way by making yourself a protective rubber washer by snipping up some of your exploded tube with scissors. Another idea (from feedback to my very first post), use a paper hole puncher to put a hole in the middle of a feathered tube patch, and use that as a washer. Also, use a washer -- if you have one that fits around the presta, and inside the rim. May need to grind off the edges.