Dear Mountain Bike Tire Maker
My name is RL Policar, a husky man, a mountain biking man, a downhill riding man and a buffet eating man. A few would even consider me a MAN’s MAN. But not in a male loves male thing, but more of an inspiration to other men.
Anyhow, I am writing this letter to you to ask that you WHY IN THE WORLD ARE BICYCLE TIRES AS EXPENSIVE OR IN SOME CASES MORE EXPENSIVE THAN CAR TIRES!!!!!!
It’s not like bike tires use more rubber…NO! The largest bicycle tires most people would use is a 2.6….but why in the world does one tire cost me 2 buffet meals at Red Rock Casino?
Did you know that the cost of tires on my bike is 14% of the price of my freeride/DH frame!!!! I just don’t get it. Its not like bike tires are bullet proof, dude, I just got a flat not too long ago, a sissy thorn punctured your super expensive rubber! What’s up with that!
So I had this SUPER GREAT idea, ready? What if you guys RETREAD bicycle tires?
Since its a retread, the price should be lower. All you have to do is have consumers “recycle” old tires and you retread the old casings into new tires….They do it for cars, I don’t see why you can’t do it for bike tires. What? I’m just saying…
Thank you,
RL Policar
Inspiration to All Husky Mountain Bikers
MtnBikeRiders.com
I agree with you on this one 100%. $50-60 bucks for some tires is exorbitant.
WORD.
The problem is that we buy them. The fact that we all want the “Good” tires because they work better and not the tires that come on Huffy’s allows this to happen. But does a $60 tire perform 3X better than a $20 one???
Well put. Mark up on tires must be really high especially when LBS’s (online or brick building) can sell these at 20%-30%-40% off and still make a profit.
MrC,
Unfortunately $20 don’t perform as well as the $50 counterparts. when I worked at an LBS, my cost for Bontrager XR Jones was somewhere around $12, but retail was $35…
While I agree that bike tires are frighteningly expensive (and probably overpriced), they are totally different than car/truck tires. It’s no less complex to make them…in fact, it’s probably a bit tougher as tolerances are tighter. The base fabrics, kevlar beads and rubber compounds (chemical composition and durometer) are far more exotic and expensive than car tires, too.