Widest tire that fits in a Schwinn American frame

[Duffy]

I've been on a couple of sites that say I can purchase 26 X 3.1 rims and tires and that it would fit any standard cruiser frames with no issue. I've never heard "standard" used on any bicycle. Everything is always different it seems. Whats the best way to measure my frame to know if this would fit. I have a men's schwinn American frame with a front springer fork repop.

 

[Bicycle808]

Your Schwinn American is probably a middleweight, which took 26 x 1 3/4" (571x45mm) tires. You're not going to get 3.1" tires in there without frame mods. I've run some balloon tires (26x2.125"/559x55mm) on Schwinn middleweights, pretty easy. You'll want to measure how much room you have between the chainstays about 11" from where the axle sits in the dropout (remember, middleweight Schwinn wheels are s7-sized, and actually larger diameter at the rim); you'll need an 1/8 to 1/4"of clearance on each side, so allow an extra 1/4 to 1/2". Also keep in mind that, if you want to run fatter rubber, you'll have to change the rims, b/c 99.9% of s7 tires are 1 3/4". As for the repop springer, that should easily run balloon tires (26x2.125") and probably fatter; same deal: measure about 11" from the axle, both up-and-down and side-to-side, to see what you can fit....

HTH
Rob

 

[Wildcat]

I've also run 26" x 2.125 on Schwinn middleweights with no problem. They may not clear the fenders though.

 

[honestherman]

I had 2.125 on mine and they hit the fenders Hard... Enough so that it could not even be pushed without damage. Maybe that's how they came up with the Klunker, Having no fenders.

 

[BARTO]

Hmmm, good discussion, I was toying with increasing the tire size of a Columbia middle weight to a 2.125 but thought the chain might contact the tire...I think I'll try it...gotta love that bigger tire!

BARTO

 

[Bicycle808]

Chain prolly won't hit but the tire may rub the stays.... Measure it up before you buy tires....unless you already got'm

 

[BARTO]

Thanks for the tip 808

 

[Duffy]

Thanks for the help guys, I'm not using the original wheels, they were roached out to hell, missing spokes, etc. I had some newer wheels I pulled off another frame that fit nicely. I'm not running fenders so I'm hoping 2.12 works out for me