Awhile back I bought some super-cheap mountain bike tires on closeout from an online retailer. I think I paid something like $5 each for two of them. Great deal, right?
This Spring, I put them on one of my bikes to use for gravel road rides. They worked great — nice grip, seemed to wear reasonably well, and they seemed to help soak up the bumps on my rigid steel frame. I probably have something like 1200 miles on them.
But lately, I’ve been getting a rash of flats. Some were obvious — thorns making their way through the casing being the most common cause. Others were more mysterious, with causes I never could quite track down. I’d patch the tube, air it back up, and move on.
But it got frustrating, with flats seemingly every ride (and sometimes more than once per ride). I don’t mind fixing the occasional flat, but this was starting to annoy me.
Eventually took it in to my local bike shop to ask for advice. I wanted to discuss perhaps moving to a tubeless retrofit system, but the price on kits was kind of a shocker: $110 for two tires. Yikes.
Talking with the tech more, I told him about the great deal I’d gotten on the tires. He just shook his head. “Dude, what did you expect? Those are crappy tires. Even at that price, they probably made money on them.”
I’m not sure if I buy that. Rubber’s rubber, right? What’s the difference?
But anyway, I decided to follow that line of thought, and I put a couple new tires on order — name-brand tires, supposedly with flat protection built in. At something like $30 a pop, they’re not cheap, but if they can cure my flat epidemic, they’ll be worth it.
With new tubes (themselves pretty expensive anymore), I should be good to go. And the configuration of these tires should be better — a smooth-rolling center with knobbies on the sides vs. big knobbies all around. So I expect a slightly better ride, particularly on pavement or hard-pack.
But still, the basic question remains: Is there really that big of a difference between generic and name-brand tires? What’s your experience?
Image courtesy Michel Filion.
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I haven’t had enough experience with mountain bike tires to determine if there is a correlation with cost and quality, but with road tires, there is a fine line… Either the cheap road tires are going to weigh a ton and block things that race tires won’t, or they will laugh at you and flat before you leave your driveway.
I say to be frugal, you must take the time to read, study, or at least take advice from someone you trust; they’re your friends for a reason, no?
P.S. With my Bontrager rims, the system cost me $60 for both, and I LOVE IT. I recently replaced my tires and got to see how many thorns were on the inside, sealed up. There were at least six or seven thorns that punctured through, and were only visible from the inside. Imagine the cost of fifteen or so tubes a season @ $6 or so a pop… or… The setup of the permanent rim strips, and the sealant bottle that will last for three tire changes for $60.
I guess it is all about self education and cost benefit analysis.