Which is a good reliable brand for a 26 1 3/8 EA3 tire?

[Lassar]

I am looking to buy 2 cheap 26 1 3/8 EA3 ISO 590 tires.

What is a good reliable brand for this ?

[DaveM]

Good, reliable and cheap is a tough combination to find in most things.
But Kenda makes decent tires. Scwalbe, Michelin, & Continental are better quality brands in general.
I try to avoid Cheng Shin tires as they tend to be real bottom of the barrel.

[RobAR]

Dave gave you some good info on brands but, unfortunately, most of the suppliers that your LBS is likely to buy from do not carry the really Good Stuff due to the relative obscurity / popularity of the size. Most suppliers will probably still offer the Panaracer Randonnee, though, for a Quality tire. Might be best in this instance to shop online (wash my mouth out with soap).

Pssst - hey Dave... can you keep a secret? Kenda, Maxxis and CST are the 'Big Three' and make some serious stuff when paid to do so. Believe it or not, not all Conti's are "Handmade In Germany". One of the above produces them to Conti's specs. Can you guess which one?

[DaveM]

(05-01-2012, 10:19 PM)RobAR Wrote:  hey Dave... can you keep a secret?

I hear what you're saying. I'm not a brand loyalist in general and am confident the big asian manufacturers make good stuff when they want to. But the OP asked for "good brands" so I felt the need to give him something since it's tough for the unexperienced to judge quality beyond price or brand.

Yeah, I've seen some cheapo conti's too. But none that weren't at least as good as the best cheng shin.

[nfmisso]

(05-01-2012, 08:09 AM)Lassar Wrote:  I am looking to buy 2 cheap 26 1 3/8 EA3 ISO 590 tires.

What is a good reliable brand for this ?

Bell (kevlar) available at Wal-mart.

[1FJEF]

Would this work?

[nfmisso]

(05-26-2012, 07:18 AM)1FJEF Wrote:  Would this work?

yes; more expensive than the Bell

[nfmisso]

(07-10-2012, 11:20 AM)Addison8100 Wrote:  Quality is most important thing in this regard.
Michelin...better quality brands in general.

Michelin is a brand to AVOID in bike tires - had one that the tread came apart in a couple hundred miles, only a couple months old.

Never had anything like that happen with the Bell brand tires, nor Kenda or Panaracer.

Also had a Continental severely damaged by road debris.

And one Bell that got a ¼" nick out of the tread.

Based on my experience over the past four years, my tire preferences are: Kenda, Bell and Panaracer - depending only on price and availability.

[Joe_W]

Well, anecdotal evidence... I can come up with some of that, too...

I had only one flat with a Conti GrandPrix4000S so far (and I didn't really find the culprit, probably some small sand grains damaging the latex tube?), one flat with Michelin Lithion (1cm piece of metal) and none with the Schwalbe Blizzard (but those are non-racing, heavy duty road tyres, mine are now covered with cuts and nicks). Off road: I had Schwalbe's CX pro damaged by I don't know what, there was a deep cut in the tyre where it then came apart.

So: Your mileage will vary. In general for commuting I would pick a tyre with better protection, for racing I would use one that rolls light and still offers protection. No sense in having a flat (the Lithion went flat on the bike leg of a sprint distance tri), it'll cost more time fixing that one than you lose by using a slightly heavier tyre (same with your commute: a flat on the road in the rain is not nice when you're late for a meeting).

So from my point of view, the big brands offer very decent tyres for a wide range of applications. Just be sure to consider first what you really need (eg. protection) and then pick one. Maybe check some tests of bike magazines, though they are sometimes weird in what they like or dislike about tyres...

[RobAR]

If I may, I would like to interject a thought or three here.

While I do not dismiss the 'quality' aspect of any tire, tube, liner, etc., or anyones choice of combinations thereof;
there is one little Fact Of Life that simply can not be dismissed.
If one rides a bicycle, one WILL get flats. No if's, and's or but's. It's a given. That's why we carry tubes, levers, pumps, etc. And learn to DIY.

As I partake of both Road and MTB, I can assure everyone that the following has rang true for me for well over the last 20 years! An extreme example but, intended to "keep a long story short".

I may go 1, 4 or 7 months, on Three Different Bikes, without a single flat.
Then, one fine day, I have three flats on One off-road ride! Same bike!
One was, perhaps, from a cactus. Another from a thorn. One may be from my own carelessness of not unweighting at a rock lip and pinch-flatting. Just "Luck Of The Draw". The short straw thing.

As Joe stated,"Just be sure to consider first what you really need (eg. protection) and then pick one."
Heck.. on my fave bikes, I've been known to swap tires if I expect it to rain before my next ride.

Of course, not everyone will get that technical but, it just shows that there are no tires out there that are true Do It All and Do It All Well!

Sorry about that long-winded reply! But it's true!

Rob

[Joe_W]

Amen to that! I guess tyre selection is discussed almost as "religiously" as chain cleaning, though I must say that this board is about the nicest places to have this kind of discussion, most of us are quite polite (most of the time). If you consider the "racer" boards *shudder* djihads on Campagnolo vs. Shimano vs. SRAM...

And as Rob said: you can and will have flats. Only way to avoid this is not riding... there was this guy, Norman Stadler, the first German to win Ironman Hawaii I think. He got three flats in one race, after the third he threw his bike in the ditch, cursing: fakkink! enozer fledd tieyea [excuse my transcription of a very heavy German accent..]