Swiss Condor Tires

Detailed information about the pre-1995 Swiss Army bicycles is scarce on the web, at least in english. I wanted to know what size tires the bicycle used, to see if it was possible to purchase them in the United States. Stefan Schäfter is a former Swiss militiaman, and he has written one of the only articles about these bicycles that appears online in english. He writes:

The original Militarvelo tyres were produced by a company called Maloya using a bead system dating back to the end of the 19th century. They stopped production years ago. You can buy a Chinese Maloya clone, but the rubber feels like cheap plastic.

Andrew Muzi of Yellow Jersey, Ltd., a bicycle shop in Madison, Wisconsin, was kind enough to write to me to explain the Swiss Condor tire situation in detail:

That bike, like most of its era, uses true 'clinchers' ( the tire has no wire edge, it wraps fully around the tube and locks under the rim edge). It's a 26x1.5 clincher.Modern MTB series tires have wire edges and are 'demountable wire ons', not clinchers. The diameter is different. Please also note the commonly available Chinese 1.5 clincher tires are several mm smaller than the Swiss ones, and cannot interchange. The 1946 issue machine also uses 3/16" roller chain. Other equipment is generally standard to modern bikes.

Not very encouraging, but useful information. Yellow Jersey carries a variety of excellent European-style utility bicycles, from Kettlers to Birias. They even carry the archaic Eastman roadster bicycles, Indian-made clones of the venerable Raleigh DL-1.