Changing first road bike tire

[maxrodgers]

Hello everyone,

I bought my first ever road bike a few weeks ago, it's a 1980s Dawes Galaxy. Had a bit of a disaster this evening when cycling in low light I hit a raised part in the road and my front tire is now flat. I've chained my bike up safely and had to walk several miles home in the dark.
I am now shopping online for a quick replacement tire until I can get it to the bike shop to get something better. I know that my bike had 27" written on the tires so I'm guessing I need 27" tires. Do these old road bikes have inner tubes? And if so are they sized the same way? i.e should I search for 27" inner tubes? Does the width matter or is any width ok?

A picture of the bike is attached if it helps (please excuse the pedals, they are a temporary measure).



I have looked at the sheldon brown page about it but I am unable to make any measurements of my bike rim currently so I'm just looking for gut feeling guesswork from you. Being a Dawes from the 80s I'm sure it has pretty typical retro bike specifications.
Here is a tire I'm looking at, would it do?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Impac-Schwalb ... 2ecd1c76c9

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[47p2]

Tyres will be 27 x 1" 1/4 so any 700c 19-25 innertube should fit. Always a good idea to carry a spare tube with you...and a pump

 

[BobToo]

It's definitely a 630 tyre you need and, as the seller advises, the width is flexible. I think the ones on your bike will be Michelin World Tour 27 x 1 1/4 with translucent wall http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mich ... -prod20463 because I can't think of another tan wall 27" tyre that's currently available.

I'm not sure if you can still get 27" tubes but a 700C (622x2 tube will fit no problem, you might find that a tube listed as 27" is in fact a 700C. The width isn't that important but it's as well to get the right size if you have the choice. Make sure it's a Presta valve.

Unless the tyre is actually damaged you should be fine with just a new tube, or even just patching the old one. Before fitting the tube run your fingers (carefully of course) around the inside of the tyre to make sure there's nothing sticking through. To avoid pinch punctures in the future invest in a track pump, it's difficult to get the tyre hard enough without one.

 

[Midlife]

Puncture repair kit?

Shaun

 

[maxrodgers]

Re:

Thanks to everyone who replied. The 700c tube fit no problem and I am now back in business. The tire was absolutely fine so there was no need to change it.

Cheers

Max

 

[twosheds]

Lovely looking bike, is it in unrestored condition?

-----
Bruce

 

[maxrodgers]

Re:

Yes as far as I'm aware. I certainly haven't done anything to it yet and I don't think the chap I bought it off had. There isn't much I think needs doing. At some stage I will clean and relube everything and I wouldn't mind raising the brake levers a tad as it's uncomfortable to ride on the hoods where they are (not that there are hoods as such on it). It needs new bar tape as what it has is very thin and poorly applied. The cage around one of the pedals it came with sort of sheared off on one ride so I hastily replaced them with the ugly things you can see on it currently but am hoping to get a nice set of old lyotards or similar to take their place.