Why are bike tyres so expensive?

[tim-b]

The recently replaced rear was on the car from new

Tyres that are over 10 years old can be an MoT fail on age alone. The rear tyres on your Corsa don't come into this category, however, consider replacing any older tyre whether wear dictates or not

[Nearholmer]

In late summer 2021, I had to replace three tyres on my car to pass the MOT, despite none of them being anything like worn to the limit, because they were effectively perished (you could see oodles of little tiny cracks in the sidewalls), despite being no more than c3 years old. “Good quality” tyres, not cheap ones they were too.

Cause? Car use in 2020/2021 was truly minimal, and I always park in the same spot, so the blasted things had been basking in the sun day after day. The one that wasn’t perished was the front LHS, which is shaded by a hedge!

The chap at the tyre place said that tyres actually last longer if “exercised”, and that post-lockdowns he’d seen more perished tyres than in the rest of the time he’d worked there.

[rareposter]

The chap at the tyre place said that tyres actually last longer if “exercised”, and that post-lockdowns he’d seen more perished tyres than in the rest of the time he’d worked there.

Happens on bike tyres too. One of the shops I used to work in had a predictable spike in bikes being brought in for service just before the annual London - Brighton charity ride. Many of the folk doing it were the type to drag a bike out the shed where it has sat unused for a year and almost inevitably the cheap tyres on there would be perished.

Every year, we'd get to that point and be like "right, next week we'll have loads of folk bringing in bikes covered in cobwebs and with sticky cables, rusted chains and perished tyres..."

All inevitably asking for free or discounted service because they were "doing it for charity".

[TrevA]

The recently replaced rear was on the car from new

Tyres that are over 10 years old can be an MoT fail on age alone. The rear tyres on your Corsa don't come into this category, however, consider replacing any older tyre whether wear dictates or not

Nearly all new tyres now. Oldest one is 2 years old.

[TrevA]

I didn’t mind paying £20-25 for a new bike tyre, but getting on for £40 now is pushing it a bit. That’s for a Gatorskin, not a super-duper racing tyre, so I’ve started to look round for something a bit cheaper. My last purchase was a Durano Double Defense, that was £26 from Halfords.

[axel_knutt]

The reason I've never taken much interest in tyres is that it would take half a lifetime to wear out enough to make an informed decision, by which time they'll all be obsolete anyway. Unless you're proposing to buy a load to test, and throw away most of them unused. I was happy with my Marathon HS368s, but they were long since discontinued by the time I needed more.

[Mike Sales]

I wonder how many bikes are ridden enough to need their tyres replacing?
Many are left in the shed when they get a puncture, or a wheel gets bent on a kerb, and never did many miles anyway.
The replacement market must be mainly enthusiasts, many of whom are prepared to pay a high price for treats for their precious bike, which was probably rather more expensive than a BSO.
There are cheap, lumpish tyres. I remember seeing some in Wilkos.

[foxyrider]

but are bike tyres really expensive? Its unfair to compare with automotive products which, compared to the modern bike tyre, are stone age!

I can remember paying out best bit of £20 for race tyres back in the '70's, according to the Bank of England that's over £100 today, £60 for a GP5000 is a bargain by comparison! A five quid Michelin World Tour that i used on my winter bike should be @ £25 today, you can get the modern version for as little as £2 today, even at full price they are only £16! The cost of inner tubes has risen ahead of inflation, a basic butyl tube shouldn't be more than a fiver but my 24" tubes can be a tenner each,

As for longevity, i used to get through a pair of World Tours each year, they probably did @ 3500 miles (i was but a mere strippling doing 5000 a year total!) I've had GP4000's last that long with considerably less rubber. The Schwalbe One on the front of my bike has done @ 4000 miles despite being a skinny 23 on 24", its outlived 2 rears so far, at @ £40 a pop that seems like reasonable value. The last truly cheap tyres i used on the same bike @ £7 each, same width and similar appearance, died in under 500 miles, so if i'd stayed with using them that would be £56 and no doubt a bunch of punctures too.

[simonhill]

I.loved my Marathon Supremes but they are discontinued and when available are something like £60 each. Crazy price for a tyre that can be rendered useless by sidewall damage (done twice).

Needed to replace front on tour and bought a good looking Chinese tyre. Similar to Marathon Green guard. 600 Baht (£15). Later bought second for damaged rear and happily running these. (Chaoyang Kestrel 1.5"). Front has done over 6,000 Kms and showing little sign of wear.

These tyres aren't as 'nice' as the Supremes, but look tough, so good durability for touring, OK ride quality at lowish pressure and £90 cheaper a pair than Supremes.

[SwiftyDoesIt]

£55 = Budget car tre for a 14/15" tyre
£8 Budget bike tyre https://www.merlincycles.com/vittoria-z ... 86946.html

So the comparison is approx Seven times more for the car tyre.
And no way will you be getting 30k from a budget tyre, you'll get more than 3k from the Zaffiro and the Conti Gatorskin.
I get 3000 miles from a soft compound Vittoria Hyper on the rear of a bike that I carry heavy loads on regularly and I'm 95kg wet through.

When I ran a car, the bare minimum cost for approx 3,000 miles (6.5 years ago) was £800, that's with no service but some parts like oil/oil filter, MOT/Ins/VED and the fuel.
the cost of running the car now would be £1200. Every other MOT I might need a CV joint gator or other parts, at some point tyres £65 ish.
I just bought a very decent light, cost me £25, pads are £1.50 pair for Fibrax, tyres in a year £50-60ish (£40 on gatorskins is at a shop right?) new 10sp chain £16, let's say half a cassette a year another £16, chainring wear cost £7, ancillaries £10, the light will last 5 years minimum of hard labour, so call it £120 all in.
No contest comparing running a motor to a bike IMHO.

[Carlton green]

For what you get pushbike tyres are relatively expensive when compared with car tyres, and like others I guess that that is down to the volume of sales. Other than buy carefully there’s not much one can do about their purchase price. The tyres that I currently use on my bike - very happily so and made by a well respected brand - are circa £12 each, plus delivery, from SJS.

No contest comparing running a motor to a bike IMHO.

Yes, cars are very clearly much dearer to run. Setting aside the costs in the post above a small amount of - soon gone - car fuel (petrol) costs me more than a replacement bike tyre. I don’t have a contest between running a bike and a (small) car, both have their uses; whilst trying to control the costs I also accept the costs and am grateful that my modest income allows me to run both. Life without (what is felt to be) adequate personal transport is sapping and limiting.

Whatever, this is thread drift, we’d better return to the original post.

[rogerzilla]

The recently replaced rear was on the car from new

Tyres that are over 10 years old can be an MoT fail on age alone.

Not on passenger cars. Whether this is right or wrong is another matter.

[fastpedaller]

The recently replaced rear was on the car from new

Tyres that are over 10 years old can be an MoT fail on age alone.

Not on passenger cars. Whether this is right or wrong is another matter.

I'm pretty sure they can't be failed on age, however if they are cracked at all (common with age) then they can be failed, but it does depend on the tester's opinion. I'm always puzzled why the publicity campaigns about car safety only ever mention tread depth..... maybe because for most people the tres wear out before they crack?

[tim-b]

Tyres that are over 10 years old can be an MoT fail on age alone.

Not on passenger cars. Whether this is right or wrong is another matter.

I'm pretty sure they can't be failed on age, however if they are cracked at all (common with age) then they can be failed, but it does depend on the tester's opinion. I'm always puzzled why the publicity campaigns about car safety only ever mention tread depth..... maybe because for most people the tres wear out before they crack?

Yes, tyres can and do fail on age alone...

The check of tyre age applies to all vehicles with more than 8 passenger seats, other than vehicles of historical interest.
Tyres over ten years old at the time of test must be failed if they are on:

• any front steered axle
  any rear axle of a minibus with a single wheel fitment.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspect ... tion-5-2-3

You'll note that I specifically said, "The rear tyres on your Corsa don't come into this category, however, consider replacing any older tyre whether wear dictates or not"

[mattheus]

You can get very good value for money out of bike tyres if you’re not looking for some aspect of “high performance”, whether that be speed, or off-road capability, or something else.

Yes,

The starter question is comparing apples for cars with pears for bikes. You can easily buy tyres for a fiver (and someone's mentioned £2 for a chinese buy!): the tyres we are mostly talking about here are closer to the equivalent of racing car tyres.

Standard road car tyres are much heavier, less grippy, and more draggy than race tyres.

Somebody call Pirelli and ask how much they sell F1 tyres for!