I just pulled the exploded tube out of the trash. Come to find out, it's a 700 x 23/25c! My LBS put those in there when I asked him about my rim strip problem. He replaced the strip with the good stuff, but I bet he put that 23/25c in there because he didn't have schrader's in my size! Not a big deal for the 28c tires, but the 35c's were probably too much of a size difference.

My next concern is valve length. The valve he put in there was 46mm long. I'm wondering if these 32mm would work https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kenda-700-x-...item19dc4485fc

Your rims look like a fairly deep V, you might need the extra length. Only way to tell is to stuff the broken tube valve in the hole and see how far you can get it to poke out. If it looks like you can afford to lose 14mm, then yes, but if you can find 46 I'd do that. Or, if you're mail ordering, maybe just buy a set of "presta savers" and stay with your prestas. I think it's easier to find presta's with long valves.

That's what I did. I could have spent $25 on two new schrader 700x35s with 48mm stems, or just spend $5 on a pair of presta savers. So I'll put those on my presta tubes, and I'll know that if I have a flat, I can just go to walmart and get another presta tube for $5 and use my presta saver on it.

Took my bike for an 8 mile ride today on the new Kenda 35c tires. Here's the ride report (and I have ridden on them some other days on various road qualities).

They are noticeably slower than the 28c's. They don't glide as well. I was running higher pressure in the 28c's too, about 85psi. I'm running 65psi in the Kenda's. I might bump that up and experiment some, but I think the added width is adding to the slowness, because I remember running 65 in the 28c's and not feeling as slow.

But that's where the negative ends. They feel much more safe and stable. The bike doesn't get caught in parallel cracks in the road and scare me as much. Traction feels better. I can slowly go up curbs and not feel like I'm tearing the bike up. The tires feel like they give the bike a much less abusive ride, and they fit my road conditions much better than the 28c's, and they aren't horribly slow. As far as my comfort level, they are still far from feeling like a cadillac. The road is still bumpy and uncomfortable, but the tires do seem to take the edge off. I'm satisfied with the purchase.

When I got back from my ride I saw that my presta savers had quickly arrived in the mail. I dismounted the wheels and took off the tires again. As I suspected, the valve won't go far enough through the rim with the adapter on to get the bike pump seated on the valve. I had to pull pretty hard on them before, so I'm sure they were herniating through the hole some, because that's what allowed me to pull enough length through the hole to get the pump on the valve. The saver doesn't allow that, so the valves are indeed too short at 36mm. So I just ordered four Kenda 35-43c tubes with 48mm presta valves. So the saga continues.

I'm not going to bother putting the wheels back on the bike with faulty tubes, so I'm just gonna decommission it until the new tubes come at the end of the week. Sad.

Screw walmart. They never have what I want. But oddly enough, if I buy something online assuming walmart won't have it (like some wahl hair clippers and attachment set), BOOM, there it is in the aisle at Walmart two days later for the same price.

I replaced the 700x25 tires on my cheap $200 fixie with some CST 700x38 city tires. The bike is slow but I feel like I can roll over anything.

Trust me when I say this: the bike stuff at Walmart is crap. In the past year I've bought a number of bike accessories from Walmart, and EVERY single one ended up being crap except for the saddle bag on my MTB. It's a little small but it's held up. I've bought a floor pump, gloves, bar ends, light set, patch kit - all of it crap. It's really not worth the time or money messing with that stuff.

It's good to hear everything is (almost) working out for you! Sometimes it takes a little fiddling with things like valve stem length to get everything just right. I have to warn you that your tube exploding problem was most likely caused by user error. Chalk this up to a learning experience. Sometimes it's painstaking, but once I have the tube and tire mounted, I put a couple pumps of air in and go around the whole thing making sure the tube is not pinched between the tire bead and rim. This makes all the difference and I haven't had a blowout like you described since.

As for the new fatter tires being slow: This has been hashed out and argued repeatedly on forums. These threads and articles on tire width fascinate me and if you like that kind of thing then definitely give them a read. There are a lot of variables that are for you, and you alone, that effect how fast you are traveling. The thing that really stands out to me is perceived speed. Many people think a new wider tire slows them down because they are not feeling all the bumps and road irregularities. These people then actually compare speeds on a bike computer or gps and realize they are similar to their old slimmer tire speeds. But really, who knows, your new tires could be slower, or they could just feel slower. What really matters is they are more comfortable and hopefully they let you enjoy your bike more!

As another side note: If I were you, I would try these at about 40-45psi up front and 50-55psi in the rear. Tire pressure is another thing that takes some playing around with to get just right. I like to use a tire pressure calculator online to get in the ballpark and then make minor adjustments till it feels perfect. It always surprises me how some tires feel completely different with only a 5-10psi swing.

Thank you very much for the input. I just saw that the tires were rated for 50-85psi, so I tried to fall somewhere in the middle. But I used a calculator and saw that I can/should go lower than that (same psi's you recommended), which will make me even more comfy.

I don't doubt the tube explosion was user error. I got reckless.

And I don't doubt walmart stuff is cheap. The tubes were an impulse buy and an unwillingness to accept defeat at 10:30 on a weeknight. I got a bicycle bell from there - not too worried about its quality. It works. I also got a water bottle and cage there that I'm happy with. I got some chain lube I'm happy with too. But I wouldn't buy any important parts from them.