t2p

the local Aldi has great grocery prices - but always out of Continental tires

bblair

You either ride a hell of a lot, or are a heavy dude.

I ride 4-5000 miles a year and replace my tires yearly just for a refresh.

Rick

[QUOTE][terrymorse Posted: I don't know how people get their tires to last so long. I get maybe 3-4 months on the rear./QUOTE]

When I was in the military many years ago, I wore out tires on my road bike too quick. I purchased a Schwinn Super Le Tour 12. and ran 27X1 3/8" tires. That was quite an improvement. I currently run 2" wide tires on my Co-Motion Pangea Rohloff and my next set of tires sitting in customs for near a week are 2.125" wide. Alee at cyclingabout is bragging about them. They are the Schwalbe Pickup.

KerryIrons

You got a REALLY good price, well below the going rate. You should have bought several. Suggesting that this was a change in the retail price is just wrong.

icemilkcoffee 

And today the MSRP is $81.95. so there has indeed been a $2 inflation.

mstateglfr 

First off, the point of my earlier post was to show that while $36 may have not been the cost of a GP5K tire 3 years ago, the cost wasnt far off from that. I was responding to your post that confidently doubted the claimed cost. It may have been $36 at some point on some site too, who knows. The fact that that a more expensive version at the time(cream sidewall was typically higher cost) was only $41.95 certainly supports the possibility that regular black GP5K tires could have been $36 at some point on some site.
Again though, even if they were never $36, being at $41.95 is not far off.

As for your response to my post, if tha was the MSRP in '21, and if your listed amount is above is the current MSRP, then sure- the MSRP cost has only increased by $2.
But that doesnt really say much since MSRP is not the actual out of pocket cost for a lot of products, tires being one. It is well known that tire prices vary widely between in person inventory and online retailers.
A more useful analysis would be how much the tire cost in '21 based on a 5 minute google search and how much does the tire currently cost based on a 5 minute google search.

If MSRP was $79.95, but you could easily and consistently find the tire for $42 online in '21, then use $42 as the cost back then.
And if MSRP is now $81.95, but you can easily and consistently find the tire for $55 online right now, then use $55 as the cost now.
In that scenario, the tire's price has increased 31% between '21 and now.

As for actual current easily found pricing of a GP5K tire online right now...
Amazon has a 2 pack of GP5 30mm tires for $105, 25mm tires for $119, 28mm for $140, and 32mm for $129.
Merlin has a 2 pack of GP5K tires plus 2 tubes in 25mm or 28mm for $93 which totals $126.24 once shipping is included.
Lordgun has 28 and 32mm GP5K tires for $42-44 which totals $105.51 for 2 tires once shipping is included.

^ thats an average of $60 per tire.

If we compare my 25mm tire purchase in '21 to current 25mm GP5K costs from Amazon, Lordgun and Merlin, a 25mm tire currently averages out at $57.
So using this current average that is based off a few minutes of google searching, a 25mm GP5K is up 35.7% in cost compared to a few years ago.




The real takeaway here- numbers are fun and can often show what someone wants them to show. No surprise.
And the secondary takeaway is that if someone wants 25mm GP5K tires, Lordgun currently has black sidewall for $34.34 and cream sidewalls for $40.58.

bblair

Wow, that was a long explanation. Do you work for a tire company?

mstateglfr 

I don't work for a tire company or in the cycling business. I just recognize that prices have increased in general over the last 3 years, prices often vary greatly depending on type of retailer, and real cost to consumers is often significantly different from MSRP.

Polaris OBark

You went shopping at REI

rekmeyata

Amazon has them for $59

Best time to shop for road bike tires is the 2nd week of September, the day after Thanksgiving, and Black Friday. Last Black Friday I got two pairs of Vittoria tires that normally sold for $80 a piece, I got them for $20, so I bought 2 pair for the price of one tire!

Duragrouch

Well, how many miles per month?

Hard to remember, but back when I was road biking 35 miles a day, 8 months of the year, so over 7000 miles per year, I think i was getting at least a couple years out of each set, maybe more, I don't recall replacing them that often, and that's with 23s. Over time, I went from skinnys to 28-32 depending on model, which would fit, and those were kevlar belted, not known for suppleness, so I think they were designed for high mileage in terms of tread depth, not racing. Also, about mid-year, I would swap the front and rear tires, and I still do that on my much heavier 20" tires, the shallow minimal tread grooves make it easy to monitor rear versus front wear. Oh and those kevlar tires? $7 each on winter sale from Nashbar, they had great winter sales, especially on rubber. This was 20+ years ago.

slow rollin

I hunt for deals new and used. Gatorskins are what I run or cheaper durable tires since I weigh a lot. Recently found 9 tires for 20 bucks locally and as an experiment we will see how they go.
Nice tires are nice, but you can't really get amazing mileage, amazing comfort, amazing grip, and cheap. I found a comfier seat helps me weather the bumps on thinner tires when I am seated. Still, if I want to peddle seated over rough terrain I ride my mountain bike.

Paul Barnard

I have two sets of GP5000 tires in use right now. I can't remember exactly what I paid for them, but about $40 apiece is what's coming to mind. One set is getting close to end of life. There's no way that I'd buy them for over $50 apiece despite the fact that they are great tires. I just can't do it. I use Ebay extensively when I shop for bike stuff and often find some real bargains. As a consumer, they have passed my upper limit. I can get good quality Goodyear and Bridgestone car tires for that kind of money.

PeteHski

Show me where you can get new, premium quality, performance car tires for $80?

Paul Barnard

I didn't say anything about "premium" or "performance."

Here's what I was saying I could get.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Goodyear-...2&from=/search



Now, I believe I can sense from the tenor of your post where you are trying to go. I'll make a bit of an effort to substantiate my angle.

FAR more raw materials in the car tire
FAR longer lasting car tire
FAR better traction car tire
FAR better puncture protection car tire.

When some of us view it from that angle, it makes it harder to stomach the bicycle tire costing slightly more.

Trakhak

How much do F1-quality tires cost? How long do they last? That's closer to being the appropriate comparison.

I do the vast majority of my riding on 38-mm-wide Michelin Pro-Tek tires. I get easily triple the mileage with those that I see with 25-mm high-performance tires, at about a third the cost. Heavy, yes. Much rolling resistance, yes.

High performance costs money.

PeteHski

So you are basically viewing it from a “more is better” perspective regardless of the application. So on that basis Gatorskins must be way better tyres than GP5000s.

Seriously, comparing puncture protection, traction and mileage of bike vs car tyres is about the dumbest thing I’ve read in ages. How about comparing weight and rolling resistance 😂

bboy314

Look up the concept “economy of scale”. Consider how many car tires vs. bike tires are produced and sold in a given year, and consider that when comparing raw costs.

Paul Barnard

I was simply sharing from my standpoint, and I am sure that of others, why it's hard to stomach a bicycle tire costing as much as a car tire. Some will get, others will try not to. I have no desire to delve into tediousness or pedantry.

Iride01 

I have trouble trying to stomach the idea that when I go to get my new mattress, I'm going to have to pay more than what I just paid last year for a Samsung S3 ultra and a notebook computer added together.

The mattress is coil springs and stuffing with a pretty cover sewn on.

Paul Barnard

That's most assuredly a part of the equation. It's still hard, perhaps from a psychological standpoint, to see the two items side by side and accept that they are made out of like substances and they cost the same.

I wonder if the GP5000 costs twice as much to manufacture as their excellent Contact Urban.

Yan 

Sorry to break it to you but even the most expensive bicycle tire is a mass consumer product. They are recreation sporting goods made to be sold in malls (lol).

Meanwhile there are only 20 F1 drivers in the entire world. Those 20 people are the total user base of all F1 tires made. How many tens of millions of peasants use bicycle tires again?

Pirelli has 70 employees just in their R&D team. F1 tires are in no way comparable to bicycle tires.

Eric F 

You need more bikes, obviously. Gotta spread that mileage out over multiple machines.

Paul Barnard

!!!

Eric F 

Considering how much time per day I spend on my mattress, and how important comfortable sleep is to my physical and mental health, as well as how many years it will last me, I'm of the opinion that money for a good mattress is money well spent. (YMMV)