Tires for vintage roadbike

[GeorgeET]

I have a 1985 Fuji Del Rey and will need tires next season. According to info original tires were SCCR 2000 in 27X1 1/8. Could not find these.

http://classicfuji.com/1985_20_DelRey_Page.htm

It has 27X1 1/8 wheels. Current tire is 27X 1 1/4 so thats the size I like a bit more smoother ride than 1 1/8.

Here are some I found . I am a easy rider so no hardcore $$$$ stuff.

Preferably Japanese or European tires not Chinese or Taiwan.

Here are some I am considering. Any recommendations from this group Anyone know which are not made in China or Taiwan? Any other I should look at?

Panaracer Pasela , Vittoria, Kenda K35

http://www.biketiresdirect.com/search/27in-road-tires

http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/SubCategory_10053_10052_200527_-1_200276_200327

[KC-Steve]

He-he, is there a question in there somewhere? or are you just letting us know what your plans are?

On the other hand, I think most people know what kind of tire they need. My road conditions are different than yours. My riding habits are different, yada-yada-yada. I can't or shouldn't really impose my own choice on you, but the brands look fine to me. BTW, isn't Kenda Chinese?

And Amazon has few that are priced appropriately.

Steve

[GeorgeET]

OK KC I have added the question marks for the punctuation challenged people. :-)))

No idea where Kenda is made thats why I am asking. I know Cheng Shin is Chinese.

[KC-Steve]

Good for you! Thanks, in this day and age of political correctness. Never thought it would ever work to my own advantage!

I just looked up Kenda and it isn't mainland China, it's Taiwan, probably better than Chinese in my opinion.
http://www.kenda.com.tw/eng/index.htm

Steve

[Bill]

I will say I got some Kenda road tires for a MTB 26" and they made quite a difference. Really do not have anything bad to say about them so I guess they are durable. As Forest Gump said, "That's all I got to say about that!".

[xerxes]

I quite like Schwalbe tyres and Continental have a good reputation too:

http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/shop.sfxp

http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/default.html

[Bill]

(07-28-2010, 09:15 PM)xerxes Wrote:  I quite like Schwalbe tyres and Continental have a good reputation too:

http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/shop.sfxp

http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/default.html

Wow interesting read on company history! I see now why Continental Tires are so expensive, they are German engineered. Schwalbe would be my other choice, because they are English engineered. Then dwindles down to cheap made Chinese recycled bubble gum stuff. Yes I know I just bought a couple of the just mentioned stuff.

[KC-Steve]

Everyone should consider the "opportunity costs" and "substitution" (ECON 101) when evaluating a purchase of tires.

In other words, the person who buys a tire for professional competition needs and desires the highest quality tire, and should be willing to pay top dollar. On the other hand, someone who rides occasionally strictly for pleasure would be better off buying a low-priced tire and putting the "saved" money into other things. Those are the extremes but we all have our own needs and desires as well as other places put hard-earned money that expands our quality of life.

So each person is going to have different choices that others may or may not agree with. It really boils down to being a matter of personal choice and economics.

This thread might be better used to focus on what tires are truly junk. And add your experience as to why it is junk - no inexperienced opinions.

Steve

[xerxes]

(07-29-2010, 07:46 AM)Bill Wrote:  Schwalbe would be my other choice, because they are English engineered.

Both Schwalbe and Continental are German. I don't think there are any English bicycle tyre manufacturers at the moment. I believe Dunlop is still an English company, but they don't make bicycle tyres and I doubt the car tyres they produce are actually made in the UK.

In the past, where something was made meant something, but things have radically changed in the past few decades and I no longer think where something is made gives any indication of the quality of design, workmanship or materials.

Global companies set up manufacturing plants all over the world, wherever labour costs, financial, political and legislative circumstances suit. They invest vast sums of money in infrastructure, plant, machinery and training in order to produce something in a location that allows them to keep the per unit cost to an absolute minimum. It might be due to low labour costs or more lax legislation regarding the handling of hazardous products and waste. You can have factories producing well designed, top quality goods in countries where half the population don't even have ready access to clean water whilst making a total mess of the local environment, so they can make things cheaper and sell them in more markets.

Sorry about the rant, not really bicycle related.

[KC-Steve]

With the junk tire experience in mind, I don't have enough experience with tire purchases to say anything other than I avoided buying some NOS tires from an LBS sale where they were clearing their shelves. I didn't buy any because the tires were all old and tires degrade even sitting on the shelves. But the prices were quite attractive. Most were just $3 a piece, but the money is wasted if they don't last more than a couple of years.

Good "rant" Xerxes.

Steve

[GeorgeET]

""""Global companies set up manufacturing plants all over the world, wherever labour costs, financial, political and legislative circumstances suit. They invest vast sums of money in infrastructure, plant, machinery and training in order to produce something in a location that allows them to keep the per unit cost to an absolute minimum. It might be due to low labour costs or more lax legislation regarding the handling of hazardous products and waste. You can have factories producing well designed, top quality goods in countries where half the population don't even have ready access to clean water whilst making a total mess of the local environment, so they can make things cheaper and sell them in more markets.

Sorry about the rant, not really bicycle related.
Xeroxes"""

Yes it is as our costs are up.

Xerxes, you are buying the BS company line that they are forced to take work abroad to be competitive. Thats total BS. The prices are still high and only thing that changed is the management salaries with CEO's and cohorts making millions while closing down home factories and putting workers out of work..
AND the product when not supervised all the time gets messed with and degraded to make local foreign managers more profit. Its all about maximizing profit. YE we the people loose.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
AS per tires I looked into Schwalbe and they are very heavy, Panarecers surprisingly got bad reviews everywhere I looked as did the Continentals I looked at.

The brand that got best reviews, for the tires I considered, was Vitteria, but made in Thailand. Cant win.
My Motorcycle tires are Bridgestone and they are still made in Japan. Mitchelin, Metzler, are made all over. AND ye, I consider where made very much.

[xerxes]

Quote:Xerxes, you are buying the BS company line that they are forced to take work abroad to be competitive.

Absolutely not, I know it's all about profit. The problem, as I understand it, is that the the financial markets are all about speculation and unless a companies turnover and profits grow, year on year, the markets loses confidence and the companies lose liquidity. Whereas in the real world, infinite and continual growth just isn't possible.

The financial markets are all about making as much return on an investments in as short a time as possible. The markets have little or no concern for how that effects the way companies are run further down the line, and in turn how that effects the people and the communities working for those companies.

We as consumers, are of course partly to blame, we all like a bargain, but these days, to some extent, it's can difficult to know exactly how some products are produced and where they and all the components were sourced. I know when I buy a cheap shirt that it was probably made by someone, possibly a child, on a subsistence wage in some terrible sweat shop half way around the globe. The trouble is, if I buy an expensive shirt, the chances are it's made in the same sweat shop, with a different label sown into the collar, and the extra money is going to the retailer or brand owner etc., not the people that made it.

It's depressing and I wonder where it will all end.

Anyhow, back to tyres, yes some of the Schwalbe tyres are a bit weighty, but they are very durable and puncture proof. I've got a few different sets, all with some form puncture protection and I can't remember ever getting a puncture in any of them.

[GeorgeET]

Yep its the wall street BS conspiracy. Its all about con shell games to take our money for themselves. Rich get richer poor get poorer. Witness todays economic collapse .They are just big time crooks. Ye its depressing and we are screwed.

As per competition theories they died a 100 years ago when local companies became global monopolies. We have to buy from them or go live in a cave.
End of my rant over and out.

Last time I bragged about never getting a flat I hit a box of staples on the road on the way home and got dozens of flats all at one time. :-))

[KC-Steve]

Nawww, you guys and your conspiracy theories. It's all about demand. If we become educated consumers, then companies will produce what we want to buy. Don't buy a tire because it is made in X country, or has X brand name on it. Buy it because of quality AND price. Report the junk products and why they are junk. Things will change.

But I guess we will always have a few guys that want to replace ceramic bearings with new ceramic bearings no matter what anyone tells them.

Steve