Anyone else thinking we pay too much for tyres?

sfichele

Just bought a new set of commuting tyres (Continental Gatorskins £52 a pair) and I can't help but think that compared to car tyres bike tyres in general aren't very good value for money.

A set of branded, hi-end, low profile tyres might have cost me around £350 on my Audi* but would have lasted 50000+ miles, whereas I suspect these bike tyres will struggle to see 2K making them much more expensive per mile.

How much are people paying for commuting tyres and how long are they lasting?


*oh god, I've admitted I owned an Audi - dont worry I've sold it now...

asprilla

50,0000 miles from car tyres? Are you driving Miss Daisy?

Goodyear Eagle F1 GSDs (£150 a corner) used to last around 8,000 miles on my Volvo (but that was 250bhp though the front wheels) and a set of Eagle NCT Run Flats (£500 a corner) are expected to have a life of around 20,000 miles on my BMW. The difference is the hardness of the rubber and the GSDs were the better tyre.

I've never known a car tyre get 50,000 miles.

Anyway, I want bike tyres to be a soft rubber compound because that provides more grip (see Schwalbe Marathon Plus v Conti GP4000s). SMPs will last for ages but are twitchy in the wet and the cold whereas GP4000s' will grip like a limpit but only for around 3,000 miles.

sfichele

I used to commute long distances (half motorway miles) and I only ever changed my tyres twice and did more than 100K. But I was also a fairly conservative driver.

sfichele

If my Conti's survive 3000 miles I'll be quite happy with that.
That means £1 buys me around 57 miles

jeremyrundle

sfichele wrote:

Just bought a new set of commuting tyres (Continental Gatorskins £52 a pair) and I can't help but think that compared to car tyres bike tyres in general aren't very good value for money.

A set of branded, hi-end, low profile tyres might have cost me around £350 on my Audi* but would have lasted 50000+ miles, whereas I suspect these bike tyres will struggle to see 2K making them much more expensive per mile.

How much are people paying for commuting tyres and how long are they lasting?


*oh god, I've admitted I owned an Audi - dont worry I've sold it now...

£350 is that all, dont buy quality ones for a Scenic then and after thirty years I have never known any tyre give 50k, 12k perhaps.

saladdays

How about Schwalbe Marathon Pluses - don't they last 10,000 miles?

neiltb

I got >60,000 miles out of mine, 250bhp, fwd, drive like stirling moss everywhere = 8000 miles.

Marcus_C

Maybe it's something to do with car tyres being made in larger quantities, or is that too obvious?

pastey_boy

im of the opinion that we pay nowhere near enough for tyres. i would happily pay £400 for a pair of cycle tyres. engineers take a car or motorcycle then they shrink it down to the size of a bicycle wheel !!!!!! the utter genius involved in such an endeavour should be rewarded with much higher prices. saddles on the other hand take the pi55.

The Rookie

Asprilla wrote:

I've never known a car tyre get 50,000 miles.

Micheliin XZX's, they didn't wear out, they work hardened, I had a set that had done 36,000 and had 5mm left on the front and 4.5mm left on the rear.

Absolutely lethal in the wet though.

Back on topic, they certainly don't look good value if you compare the amounts of material in each!

Simon

gbsahne001

£52 is too much for a pair; CR has the ultra version for £22 ea, outspoken have them for £19ea, wiggle for 22.5 with the ultra for £19.

shop around, google shopping is your friend

stevec205gti

All depends on your point of view really - the only thing that stops you sliding into oblivion the first time you crank the bike over are two very small contact patches, you've gone out and purchased good quality tyres to ensure this contact patch is as good as possible. Why didn't you go out and by some £4.99 specials from your local market stall??? They'd be hard enough to last, but you'd have poor grip and they'd weigh a tonne slowing you down. You pay for quality - the price of you not trashing your bike by falling off is a decent set of tyres. I'm also pretty certain you could ride your bike in a way to reduce tyre wear - gentle acceleration, gentle braking would ensure longer tyre life, but I'm pretty certain you won't.

Car tyres are the same - you pay more for softer compounds, and the harder you drive them the less they last. Bakelite specials are out there giving you zero grip and infinite tyre life. As bit of an aside - I'd owned a 205 gti (i guess my username is a bit of give away) and got through 3 pairs of Eagle F1's on the front, whilst the rears were still looking great after 30k+

sfichele

Yeh could have got them cheaper, but fancied buying from LBS. In fact some places had at for more.

I guess overall the price of bike tyres isn't too bad, but its a case of how long they last. My last commuters, Hutchinson Nitros, were awful and didn't last a year. I'd be pretty loathed to be spending £50+ every 9-10 months so hopefully these will last.

curium

I think it's down to economies of scale - bigger margins are definitely in there also though as it's seen as more of a leisure activity so people will be prepared to spend more also I suspect there are less manufacturers.

Tyres for my motorcycle used to be £200 for the pair (Michelin Pilot Powers) whereas I can put a decent brand on the Focus for £60 each.

Buckled_Rims

About 25k on my Yaris tyres. Don't ask for my old Subaru Impreza aka money bucket machine.

Using Schwalbe Marathons (£30 pair) and so far over 2k miles and still loads of tread left. Possible might reach the 10k miles :shock:

Pep

I think we pay too much for everything. No joke.

thelawnet

Pep wrote:

I think we pay too much for everything. No joke.

Well quite. Moaning about £25 for a tyre - how about £540 for some pedals? http://www.wiggle.co.uk/speedplay-zero- ... am-pedals/ £360 for brake callipers? http://www.wiggle.co.uk/trp-r970-sl-mag ... -calipers/

TommyEss

sfichele wrote:

Just bought a new set of commuting tyres (Continental Gatorskins £52 a pair) and I can't help but think that compared to car tyres bike tyres in general aren't very good value for money.

Well I've just recently moved to Oz, and it's about twice as bad here...

Vittoria Diamante Pro Lights for my track bikes - LBS in Melbourne, $99 per tire - Wiggle price? $45 per tyre, plus free delivery for the pair, since it's over their limit.

Yes, you can buy cheap car tyres cheaper than top end road tyres, but given they're the thing keeping me upright, I don't mind paying a bit more.

gbsahne001

just paid £45 for a pair of hardshell gatorskins

Mr Plum

My experience with bike tyres is that you generally pay for what you get. Cheap tyres seem to be a false economy in that they will have no grip, be weak/venerable to punctures and will ultimately need replacing more often. A Conti GP4000 (for example) would be the polar opposite of this, but you are likely to pay double (or more) the price of said 'cheap' tyre.

I'd personally be happy to pay £40 - £45 for a pair of tyres that I know I'm going to get about a years worth of trouble free riding out of.

fatherted

sfichele wrote:

How much are people paying for commuting tyres and how long are they lasting?

6pds , 3000 miles , 0.002 per mile

dilemna

sfichele wrote:

If my Conti's survive 3000 miles I'll be quite happy with that.
That means £1 buys me around 57 miles

Indeed but how many times will they puncture over this distance?

Bicycle tyres are way over priced for what they are in therms of size, weight and what they do compared to car tyres.

dennisn

Asprilla wrote:

I've never known a car tyre get 50,000 miles.

Glad you're not buying tires for me. I've had more than a few sets last 50 or 60,000
miles in my lifetime.

leehellcat

I have the original Bontrager tyre on the front of my Trek 1.7 still after 3500+ miles. No visits yet, but had to replace the rear because the tyre was full of tiny little holes and kept getting p~'#tures. Got a Schwalbe Marathon plus on their now 'I think', which is a harder tyre, but seems to do the job okay.
I figure anywhere from 3-5k on a bike tyre is pretty good. On my hybrid I found that they because much more prone to visits from the P fairy long before the tread was starting to look worn.
I think the Schwalbe was under £20 fro mmy LBS, so no doubt half that on line, but my LBS is only 300 yards from my house )

On my car I have Bridgestone Duelers. Had 100K out of the rear tyres and 66K out of the fronts on a double cab pickup.
Dont get me wrong, its no racing machine and I dont try to make it one, but it gets me from A to B fairly economically, and can carry over a ton of crap in the boot ))

fizz

GP4000S, whats that about £30 a tyre.

Last tyre I bought for my motorbike, cost near as dammit £150 for the rear tyre on its own.

the GP4000S outlasted the motorcycle tyre in terms of distance, ergo, tyres for ones pedal bike arent that expensive.

Well in my book anyway.

jeremyrundle

If you think bike tyres are expensive for what you get I have just replaced ONE windscreen wiper on my Scenic £28, my decent bike tyres are only £20 each, a bargain.

jeremyrundle

dilemna wrote:

sfichele wrote:

If my Conti's survive 3000 miles I'll be quite happy with that.
That means £1 buys me around 57 miles

Indeed but how many times will they puncture over this distance?

Bicycle tyres are way over priced for what they are in therms of size, weight and what they do compared to car tyres.

I don't know, depends on if the tyres you buy for your car are cheap :roll: the tyres for my car are £120 each :!:, for my bike £20 so not bad at all.

simon_e

Comparing bicycle tyres with cheap car tyres is missing the point. You're asking it to do a different job, for starters, and not comparing like with like. Same applies to motorcycle tyres, it's a totally different product. Rubber for my old Polo is £35/wheel but for most newish bigger cars you're looking at at least £70 each. Don't even ask about costs and rear tyre life for motorcycles!

You can get useable bicycle tyres for £15-£20 a pair, decent ones for £25-£30 but top brand tyres with particular features - a decent puncture belted allrounder, superlight race spec or a tyre built for laden round-the-world touring - won't come cheap. Folding tyres cost more than wire bead too.

I had read too many complaints about Gatorskins so bought Bontrager Race Lite Hardcase instead. I've done over 3,000miles on my pair and there's still life left in them. They are still <£15 each online in sizes up to 32mm. I put 4,000 miles on my first pair of City Jets (£16 a pair, delivered) before giving them away. I've now bought another pair, £18 delivered to my door.

One thing that I really don't understand is the price of sunglasses: why are one-size plastic specs for cycling so bloody expensive?!

rolf_f

Simon E wrote:

You can get useable bicycle tyres for £15-£20 a pair, decent ones for £25-£30 but top brand tyres with particular features - a decent puncture belted allrounder, superlight race spec or a tyre built for laden round-the-world touring - won't come cheap. Folding tyres cost more than wire bead too.

I think your prices are a bit pessimistic. You can get a pair of Schwalbe Ultremos online for less than £50 a pair. I'd count those as about as top brand as you can get.

£10 buys me a Schwalbe Delta Cruiser which will do a few thousand puncture protected miles as well. I've probably done over 5000 on my fat City Jets and they show no signs of needing replacing soon. They were about £30 a pair irrc.

simon_e

Rolf F wrote:

I think your prices are a bit pessimistic.

How? The prices I mentioned are for tyres that are available or those I bought myself. I didn't make them up.

Premium tyres like Marathon Plus, Ultremos, Pro 3 Race, GP4000 etc can often be found for around £50-£60/pair, which is still quite a bit more than middling / training tyres like Rubino Pro or the standard Schwalbe Marathon.

Like any other market, I'm sure pricing (RRP) will factor in R&D costs and marketing/pricing strategy vs competing products as well as actual cost of production.

rolf_f

Simon E wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

I think your prices are a bit pessimistic.

How? The prices I mentioned are for tyres that are available or those I bought myself. I didn't make them up.

Premium tyres like Marathon Plus, Ultremos, Pro 3 Race, GP4000 etc can often be found for around £50-£60/pair, which is still quite a bit more than middling / training tyres like Rubino Pro or the standard Schwalbe Marathon.

Like any other market, I'm sure pricing (RRP) will factor in R&D costs and marketing/pricing strategy vs competing products as well as actual cost of production.

Not saying you didn't make the prices up - but you can do better than that fairly easily on the net. I think I paid £46 the pair for my Ultremos which is in the price bracket you put middle of the road tyres. Ultimately, you can get commuting tyres that have great puncture protection and aren't too heavy for anywhere between £10 and £20 each which isn't too bad. This sort of tyre is the sort that can be compared to the normal commuter car tyre. Not sure how much those cost nowadays but I pay less than £50 for car tyres but that's because I don't have silly low profile wheels on my car!