TYRES, The price of!

Is it just me who is very surprised by the near scandalous PRICE of most MTB tyres?
An average quality MTB tyre is £35 (500 grams +)
An average budget MTB tyre is £18 (500 grams +)
Yes ok there are some cheaper ones at some bike shops/web sites.
And the amount of rubber in these tyres is not alot, even a 2.3 width 26" tyre feels pretty light at 850grams+.
Surely MTB tyre manufacturers are just setting prices (CONCEPT: YOU LIKE IT, YOU BUY IT, or GET SOMETHING CHEAPER!) on what customers will pay, rather then a comfortable profit margin.
Well the obvious comparison that can be made is CAR TYRES:
A BUDGET CAR TYRE fitted including balancing and vat is £35+
A car tyre has a significant more rubber (10 times the amount) in each tyre, when compared with MTB tyres. OK, a car tyre will have a metal matrix/mesh grid in it as well.
Recently many of the MTB tyre manufacturers have commented that the price of MTB TYRES is due to the cost of rubber!
Yeah I don't think so:
MTB TYRE average weight = 0.750 kg's
CAR TYRE average weight = 7.50 kg's
So to generalise MTB tyres used approx 10% (Or 1/10 th) of the rubber that is used in CAR tyres.
Or
To state it the other way round, CAR TYRES use 10 TIMES the amount of rubber that MTB tyres use.
Or
To state it another way, MTB TYRE RUBBER + 900% = CAR TYRE RUBBER
(0.75 KG's + 900% = 7.5 KG's)
I realise that MTB TYRE MANUFACTURERS will have some ridiculous semi plausible excuse for this, such as MTB TYRES are a different compound that just happens to cost more.... Yeah right, NOT.
An average quality MTB tyre is £35 (500 grams +)
An average budget MTB tyre is £18 (500 grams +)
Yes ok there are some cheaper ones at some bike shops/web sites.
And the amount of rubber in these tyres is not alot, even a 2.3 width 26" tyre feels pretty light at 850grams+.
Surely MTB tyre manufacturers are just setting prices (CONCEPT: YOU LIKE IT, YOU BUY IT, or GET SOMETHING CHEAPER!) on what customers will pay, rather then a comfortable profit margin.
Well the obvious comparison that can be made is CAR TYRES:
A BUDGET CAR TYRE fitted including balancing and vat is £35+
A car tyre has a significant more rubber (10 times the amount) in each tyre, when compared with MTB tyres. OK, a car tyre will have a metal matrix/mesh grid in it as well.
Recently many of the MTB tyre manufacturers have commented that the price of MTB TYRES is due to the cost of rubber!
Yeah I don't think so:
MTB TYRE average weight = 0.750 kg's
CAR TYRE average weight = 7.50 kg's
So to generalise MTB tyres used approx 10% (Or 1/10 th) of the rubber that is used in CAR tyres.
Or
To state it the other way round, CAR TYRES use 10 TIMES the amount of rubber that MTB tyres use.
Or
To state it another way, MTB TYRE RUBBER + 900% = CAR TYRE RUBBER
(0.75 KG's + 900% = 7.5 KG's)
I realise that MTB TYRE MANUFACTURERS will have some ridiculous semi plausible excuse for this, such as MTB TYRES are a different compound that just happens to cost more.... Yeah right, NOT.
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Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
Lok at top end racing tyres, they costs more than 10 times what an expensive MTB tyre does.
The £35 car tyre is comparable to the cheapest plasticky-est kids bike tyre that Halfords sell.
"As I said last time, it won't happen again."
Like a lot of hobbies though isn't it...
Errrm, yup, and your point? That's pretty much the way businesses work in non-communist countries
The cost an item is based on what people are willing to spend on it, not how much material you end up with
And as Bails said, when you are paying £50 for a bike tyre, you are (paying too much, but in theory) paying for the very best in design and technology, tread patterns, weight saving, complex compounds and so on. Were you to buy an equivalent car tyre, you'd be looking at a lot more than £50.
You could say the same thing about bikes in general:
"what are bike manufacturers thinking selling bikes for £5k, I can buy a car for that"
I'll give you an E- for thought process. You really must try harder.
F*cking Fast 29er
Rapid Rose Roady
Bionicon Beast
Rockhopper Communter
Interesting to know what typical profit margins on MTB tyres are though: they do seem a little expensive for what you get. Maybe I could start a company......
the price difference is not conected to change in wheel size............. how does that work
And where do those b*****ds get off charging more money for lighter bikes? There's obviously far less material in them.
Evil Sovereign
Santa Cruz Heckler (gone)
On One Inbred (gone)
Ragley Mmmbop (gone)
Have a nice day, bleeding ulcers and all.
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Parktools
And FWIW the mark up on tyres is no more than the mark up on anything else in the bike world.
I got Nobby Nics for £22 recently
1 example: Michelin
I think it's because the pursuit is largely 20-40 year old guys who have jobs and "spare" cash to lavish on their hobby. The marketing guys and magazines etc are is constantly pushing the small technical advances convincing people they need The Best whatever-it-is they are about to buy. I guess that's how people end up spending £160 on a hydration pack. I can't be because it does it's job 4x better than a £40 job.
Tyres don't seem to me to be the worst offenders. You can get reasonable deals if you don't set your heart on a specific tyre and shop around. I got a set of Continental X-Kings for £25 recently. Almost as light as Race Kings but grippier for where I ride and don't seem to wear down on the road to the forest quite so fast. Seems like good value to me.
You don't need to spend loads of cash to enjoy yourself riding. I don't think there is a remotely linear relationship between money spent and pleasure obtained (apart from with brasses of course).
Economies of scale, look it up.
You mean something like these in 255/35/18? http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/Performan ... /2117/7205
Congratulations on the most pointless rant I've read since one of the Crudities had his dust caps stolen...
Perhaps you should take up a sport you can afford... like paper airplane flying.. Wait.. have you seen the price of a ream of A4 paper? Again, maybe a little "too rich" for your blood..
The Shaker
http://www.blackcircles.com/tyres/brands/toyo/r888-2g
The OP's rant seems to circle about how much rubber you get for your money when it's all said and done, which is evidently ill thought out ! Tyres are THE biggest single item on an otherwise sorted bike which can be changed to have massive effects, everything from weight to drag to cornering feel to wet/dry weather grip to puncture resistance to wear rate can all be affected in one fell swoop !
£50 to transform a sketchy riding bike into a confident handling one which can therefore be enjoyed much more is about the best value upgrade you could probably make to your bike !
Stuff costs money. Deal with it.
Also, compare the price of race/high end spec bike tyres (£120/pair max) to mega spec road tyres or racing slicks IIRC a veyrons tyres will cost you £26,000, every 2500 miles. As will 4 racing slicks, which will give you 1 or 200 miles. yes they may have twice the amont of rubber as regular road cars due to the size of the wheels, but a set of road tyres aint £13,000! not to mention how long they last!
Deviate Guide
Specialized Sequoia Elite
Pivot Mach 429SL
Trek Madone 5.2 Di2
Salsa Mukluk Carbon
Specialized Turbo Levo Expert 29er
TYRES is the comparison being made.
Also I think because, as customers we don't have to replace MTB TYRES often, hence we pay whatever it is.
I believe MTB TYRE MANUFACTURERS have set the prices of MTB TYRES because of the relative LONGEVITY of MTB TYRES.
But this LONGEVITY depends on the HARDNESS of the rubber compound, which certainly won't make much cost difference in the manufacturing process between SOFT COMPOUND TYRES and HARD COMPOUND TYRES.
I won't what the average profit % margin is on MTB TYRES?
But as consumers for many things, we don't know what the profit % margin is on products we buy. The same could be said for MTB's, perhaps they make a FLIPPING FORTUNE.
TYRES is the comparison being made.
Also I think because, as customers we don't have to replace MTB TYRES often, hence we pay whatever it is. good for you
I believe MTB TYRE MANUFACTURERS have set the prices of MTB TYRES because of the relative LONGEVITY of MTB TYRES. whats with all the caps?
But this LONGEVITY depends on the HARDNESS of the rubber compound, which certainly won't make much cost difference in the manufacturing process between SOFT COMPOUND TYRES and HARD COMPOUND TYRES. So are the makers screwing us with soft compound tyres? No, as they have higher grip levels.
I won't what the average profit % margin is on MTB TYRES? As a conservative estimate there will be 50% margin from beginning to end excluding VAT 20% for the LBS, 10% for distributor and 20% for the manufacturer. Believe me when I say these are not excessive margins
But as consumers for many things, we don't know what the profit % margin is on products we buy. The same could be said for MTB's, perhaps they make a FLIPPING FORTUNE. A business? Trying to make money? These crooks must be stopped!!!
Deviate Guide
Specialized Sequoia Elite
Pivot Mach 429SL
Trek Madone 5.2 Di2
Salsa Mukluk Carbon
Specialized Turbo Levo Expert 29er