On Aug 15, 3:19 pm, Steve Palincsar <[email protected]> wrote:
>

> There's no Consumer Reports of bike tires, either.  So if there was a
> diamond out there amongst all the hybrid tires, who would ever know it?

Well, I think that Jan Heine has done a pretty good job of testing
bicycle tires and this has certainly led to a greater demand for 700C
tires like the Gran Bois Cypres 30mm (which Vintage Bicycles also
sells).

> Then there's pricing.  The cheap wide 700C tires basically set the price
> the market's willing to pay.  Could you sell a tire that costs 2-3 times
> as much as the competition?

Again, the Gran Bois 700C Cypres tires are selling for $58.00 from
Vintage Bicycle and others.  The demand for these tires, while
limited, certainly exists.  I know several dedicated cyclists who ride
these tires and they definitely attribute almost magical qualities to
the Cypres (I haven't tried them myself, but I'm considering them in
lieu of the Jack Browns).


> There is no 700C bike that's built like a 650B
> randonneur, why should there be a tire for one?

The Boulder Bicycle randonneur bicycle is produced in sizes from 51cm
to 61cm for either 650B or 700C tire sizes.  I believe, from any of my
reference material (which included some Rene Herse brochures) that
650B tire size wasn't traditionally the size of tire that was used by
French Randonneurs, they were generally 700C size.  The 650B was the
size that French constructeur builders primarily used for "Camping"
models.

> Why should they?  Those passionate about wonderful supple fast wide
> tires are in the 650B arena.

I suspect that the availability of the 650B size tire in the wide
sizes has something to do with their origin in Japan, and the Japanese
infatuation with French bicycles.  This demand is geared to
domestically produced cycles in a range of frame sizes that would
rarely exceed 56cm that are ideally suited for a 650B tire size.

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