Originally Posted by
JohnDThompson
I guess I'm showing my age, but all black sidewalls remind me too much of the nasty, thick, heavy K-mart tires BITD. The best tires had thin, supple, tan colored sidewalls.
I know modern tires shouldn't be characterized in this way, but it's still the first thing I think when I see a bike with all-black sidewall tires.
I must be showing my age too.
Yeah, BITD only cheap heavy utility tires were all black. Every serious cycling enthusiast associated them with cheap bikes. Performance bikes
always had skinwall tires -- no exceptions. Therefore, if the goal is to restore a vintage bike to a period correct look, skinwalls are the only option.
That being so, I have to say that modern blackwalls have grown on me. I don't really miss the dirty stained sidewalls that skinwalls inevitably get after the first couple rides. The extra UV protection doesn't hurt either.
BITD skinwalls were used because of the way sew ups were made. The casings were fabric with a thin coating of liquid latex. The black rubber treads were glued on separately. They needed to be black because the tread rubber had carbon in it for long wear. The sidewalls did not need this. When lightweight clinchers came out, they were constructed similarly and had therefore had the same skinwall look. Nowadays it seems that most tires are constructed in full sized injection molds, and to make the sides a different color is a fashion choice rather than an artifact of their construction method.