MyBikeGotStolen

I think you should get the Bell tires and do a long term ride review on them just for the Wal-Mart haters

Allen

They've stood up to the steely gaze of lawyers enough to be sold world wide in Walmarts. I would expect they would be a mid quality tire with middle of the road preformance, and will be able to handle light duty for at least a year or so.

mike

Here is where I am with the WalMart tire thing;

For the price of a Walmart foldable (Bell) at $15.00, you can get a better tire from most of the on-line bike parts places. Keep your eyes on www.nashbar.com

Often, you can get a pretty good tire on sale, sometimes including shipping for $15.00.

My take is that Walmart's buyers goofed on choosing the higher priced Bell foldable tires. All the other big-box stores have the traditional tires for about $7.00 and they do the trick just as well or, IMO better than a Bell foldable.

You know, as far as tires go, just about any tire will work - cheap, old, patched, whatever. However, tires have an incredibly important impact on your riding enjoyment, efficiency, and performance. When you try a really nice tire - designed for a specific need you are looking for, you will quickly appreciate a fine tire.

You can make a poor bicycle seem more like an expensive bicycle just by putting good tires on it. Of all the components you can add to a bicycle and all the money you can put into your machine, none have as much an impact on your ride as the tires.

If you really need new tires, you are lucky because it only happens once every couple of years or more. Take this opportunity to treat yourself to the best tires you can possibly afford. You will long remember the beauty of the ride and soon forget what you paid for it.

Bill Kapaun

I can usually find the Bell "bike path" tires for $8-10 at my local dept. store. They're a 26x1.75.
I thought they were worth the money. Absolutely no problems. I "upgraded" to some skinnier street slicks, so the Bell's have been on my brothers bike for the last year. He only rides 2-3 miles per day, but hasn't had any problems.

rhm

Good, that's what I thought, and I agree. But I find it very difficult to support my LBS. They stock hardly anything I need, though. I have them cut spokes for me, and I occasionally buy a tire, inner tube or some tool, but nine out of ten times they don't have the parts I have the most trouble with --dynamo lighting, internally geared hubs, fenders, whatever. So I'm buying stuff on the internet all the time, and not just from Nashbar. But I'm always ordering something from Nashbar rather than supporting my LBS... and the LBS hates Nashbar.

So: okay! I won't buy my self-sealing innertubes from Wal*Mart or Target, ever again! But ... what about Nashbar?

whatsmyname

That's not true at all - Wal-Mart has a reputation among SE China customs officers for never, ever paying a bribe to have their stuff expedited through customs, and in that respect it is unique. Meanwhile "practically" every other corporation (including one of those named on this thread, whose in-country employee is responsible for this anecdote) pays massive facilitation payments every month. It may well be that Wal-Mart's anti-corruption policy is more to do with saving money than ethics, but in any case paying those bribes is worse than not paying them, and Wal-Mart is a long way from the worst offender.

I'm surprised you also believe that Wal-Mart is actually worse than tobacco companies (whose products actually kill their users, who suppressed medical research and lied about it, and who propped up undemocratic regimes by being complicit in smuggling) or oil companies (for huge environmental damage and sustaining corruption here and abroad).

Wal-Mart is a terrible capitalist institution, and epitomizes some of the worst of globalization, but they're not the worst, just the most visible. Ten years ago it was fashionable to whip McDonald's (rightly). Maybe in another ten years we'll get around to Apple.

bmclaughlin807

You don't ride enough!

I've replaced mine three times since June 1st, 2006. (Well.. that DOESN'T include the piece o' crap I got at the LBS)... I got pretty good mileage out of those tires, too! (The least I got was 2500 miles out of one of them... must have been from a bad batch)

Edit: In case anyone is wondering, I normally use the Forte gt2/k tires, though I've got the Forte 35mm Cross tires on there right now (with just over 2,700 miles at the moment... they came on the bike... getting ready to put some narrower tires on)

I-Like-To-Bike

Maybe sooner if Steve Jobs takes the media flacks off his payroll.

sfcrossrider

FTW!!!

whatsmyname

Free the weed?
**** the world?
Flee this wingding?
Freak the weave?

Sizzle-Chest

for the win

cerewa

I had a kevlar-belted bontrager race lite tire and I was not impressed. The rubber separated from the casing long, long before i would have worn the rubber through. I also had one nail puncture and a substantial number of punctures from small shards of glass and pieces of wire. Mind you, I didn't have quite as many flats as I would have expected had I used a regular (no kevlar casing) road tire.

unkchunk

Correction, make that one flat. Thanks a lot guys for not warning me about tempting fate. I'm not responding to any more tire posts.

mtnbk3000

i have two slick bell tires and a 1.9 front tire, they are a pain to get off the tire

gosmsgo

Not surprised your a teacher.

News to liberal D bag. He asked you to stick to the topic so why dont you just do it.

Lazerus_Shade

I think the general answer on this is if you have to question the quality on every thing you buy at a specific place then it is probally for a reason. I for one would avoid purchasing anything from any store with as bad a reputation as wal mart. At any rate when i comes right down to it the best way to determine if you are buying from the right place is to ask them this question. If the can't answer or the employee looks uncomfortable in asnwering they have said more than words can tell. If you are not confident in the info that employee gives you then chances are good there is something wrong with the tire.

Sizzle-Chest

Gosmsgo, this is a good start, but you need to develop your ideas. You argue that Sizzle-Chest is a liberal ****** bag. Now, you need to support that claim with some evidence. There are also a number of mechanical errors and sentence fragments that you need to address. Please redo. D-

gosmsgo

sherpa93

Whats a Walmart?

Pepper Grinder

I have a set of 27" x 1.25" Bell tires from Walmart on my bicycle right now. I've used them for a few weeks, no problems.

Keep in mind I'm a cheap ******* riding a cheap hi-ten steel road bike with rusty components, so my idea of 'no problems' might not be yours.

The tire works for me, it's that simple.

tt1106

I bought the same ones from Wal-mart, despite the fact that it is everything wrong with our society. So far, no problems. I have a bunch of trainer mileage on them and some road time. They haven't been off road except for gravel. For the money, they perform like you'd expect. They're noisy, like MTB tires, but a pretty smooth ride.
Not to pile on, but I find NOTHING wrong with Wal-mart. Yes, they force little guys out of business, yes they don't pay their employees full benefits.
That's the beauty of capitalism.
Look around, most American cars aren't even American. Is that the fault of cheap competitors or the high cost of doing business in this country.
our society is full of greed, I find it remarkeable that people single out Wal-mart as some kind of landmark of everything that's wrong with society.
What's wrong with society is our greed and lust for a good deal and consumables.
Ps. What's wrong with this country is REALLY our elected officials and our lack of faith in them.
Wal-mart is an easy target, but the documentary didn't mention the millions of dollars Wal-mart gives to charities and local communities each year.
Oh well, Ride on.

MyBikeGotStolen

This has to be the best quote I have seen in a while, permission the use it for my sig line? haha

Scorer75

Nashbar has some cheap tires that I've used for commuting and they have been excellent.

I got Kevlar belted IRC Metro's in both 26" x 1.5" amd 2.0" for less than $15 each.

ilikebikes

I use MAXXIS Hookworms, kinda big, 26x2.5, but they last forever! Ive had mine for about two years and I swear they show no wear! I use them because they can take the abuse of riding through pothole in an emergency, and they absorb alot of the pressure when coming off high curbs and such, I dont know how they would perform in the winter as I have yet to venture into that realm, not to mention that they are a bigger tire and the have practically no tread for the snow, Ive been told that a thin tire with good tread is a must for winter riding, but, in defense of the "practically no tread" statement, I can tell you they have way more than enough grip for riding dry or wet in the non winter months I paid $40.00 each tire! but heres a link to a spot where they sell the same darn tire for $29.00 each! https://www.jensonusa.com/store/sub/148-Tires.aspx

Niles H.

These are great tires.