777funk

i have a bunch of old road bikes with rotting/flaking gumwalls on them. Is there a good way to find tires for a little less? Seems like the cheapest I see on ebay is $20 shipped. I'd like to buy 5-10 at a little less if possible. It's adding up to retread these old bikes.

dmark 

That's about as cheap as they get; here are quality 27" for that price. (20% off if new customer) My stash of $6 Nashbar 27's has run out.
https://www.westernbikeworks.com/pro...-4-tire?sg=500
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...thread-12.html

ThermionicScott 

Are they all regular riders? No sense in buying new tires for a bike you're just going to hang up again.

777funk

It just happens that my favorite of them has one bad tire. But I'd like to keep a couple extra on hand for down the road.

And... I have 2 or 3 bikes I really like. Thus WANTing to keep them in the rotation. NEED? only one and maybe one spare for guests. But... family members etc. Good to have parts and spare tires on hand.

veganbikes

Doesn't sound like you really like them. If you are looking at bottom of the barrel tires. I wouldn't be cheap tires on a bike I actually wish to ride often, cheap tires are there as quick stop gap or for a complete emergency not on a bike I like. I want a good ride and tires are a massive part of that.

777funk

I guess I don't know better enough to know a difference. All my bike tires are around $20 (CST, other brands I don't know) and the existing good tire on that bike is a Bell and all ride just fine (for me). The bad tire has a rotting gum wall. I do know enough to know this is a problem (innertube is starting to have a hernia).

Phil_gretz

Good tires make a noticeable difference in ride quality. At 27", your choices are more limited. I have enjoyed Panaracer Pasela road tires for number of years. The tour guard (TG) variant, or whatever designation is may have now, doesn't feel much less lively. The problem is the pliable sidewall which cuts easily, ruining the tire.

AliExpress has CST or equivalent 27 x 1 1/4 tires at ~$17.50 to ~18.50 delivered, but you'll have to wait for 90 days give or take.

ARider2

I don't see why folks don't check their local bike shop. My LBS has 27" CSTs for $18 per tire or a little less than the poster has found on the internet.

veganbikes

Good tires will make a huge difference in the ride of a bike. That is the whole reason for nicer tires. They may be more supple or maybe more puncture protectant and might also have great grip or certain other features. Bell is a helmet maker primarily I think the stuff found in Wally-Mart is probably branded product to give them illusion of some quality. Certainly in an emergency if I need a tire and am nowhere near a bike shop or for some reason that bike shop is out of any tire that will work and I need to get moving I would buy as a stop gap but I would much rather have a quality tire.

Schwalbe, Continental, Panaracer and Vittoria all make quality tires in 27" and probably most of them are going to be puncture protection oriented they will be much better rubber than the low end stuff.

SurferRosa

I'd rather pay $10 more per tire and get one online that I actually enjoy riding [Panaracer Pasela].

777funk

Old thread but as the OP, I will revive it.

Thanks for the suggestions! I tried a Panaracer Pasela when replacing a 27" x 1 1/4" on my favorite Sears Puch road bike and it rides better than ever, very smooth without wobble and low rolling resistance. It's pretty sticky rubber. I really like that. They do feel thin on the side walls. But I don't think that will hurt anything.

88ss

Now yesterday I went for a thirty mile ride on a set of 32mm Kenda blackwall 27" tires. They can be bought in pairs off Ebay etc. for much less than a lot of trendy tire brands. I had not ridden the tires much this year because I was busy riding some bikes with Specialized brand tires, so I was pleasantly surprised at how fabulously these tires felt, they were very shock-absorbing. Also they are very flat resistant as I have put thousands of miles on 27" Kenda tires over the last few years both with blackwalls and tan-wall, and have not had any more problems with punctures than I have had with expensive Pacela or Continental tires. Do stay away from the Bell brand tires. I have also had good luck with Cheng-Chin brand tires on one of my 27" bikes. You will not regret the Kenda blackwall ride and reliability nor it's bargain price. I have put a few thousand miles on a pair of Pacela pro-tite tires too, and there is nothing wrong with them, but they are pricey compared with the Kenda tires, and I don't think they ride as nicely as the blackwall Kenda I rode yesterday.

Vintage Schwinn

bikesmiths (EBAY # 371189689258 ) had two KENDA K-35 (32-630) 27 x 1 1/4 TIRES including two innertubes and two rim strips for $22.35 + $10.35 shipping = $32.70 total

bikesmiths had that ebay listing on Oct 7th, I have not been on ebay since then. bikesmiths did have pricing which bettered everyone else by at least $0.35 on all forms of the KENDA K-35 (32-630) 27 x 1 1/4 wire bead tires, whether or not in just a single tire in either gumwall or blackwall.
bikesmiths did have a printed statement within those Ebay listings that they make it a point not to "gouge" customers on shipping costs as perhaps a few others seem to do.


trailthis (on Ebay) also seemed to have very good prices.






..................Hey if you don't own a forty pound Varsity or Schwinn Suburban from the Seventies that perhaps is the typical customer market for the K-35, from those same vendors mentioned above, you can find other 27" tires that you might find more appropriate for a true lightweight ten speed or twelve speed from the sixties, seventies and very early eighties
The k-35 is perfect for old heavy Schwinns and other thirty-something pound department store ten speeds of the Seventies and anything from Columbia, Huffy, Ross, Murray, VISTA, Iverson, AMF, the common low-rent Raleighs and low-rent Peugeots, and anything without drop bars (upright tourist configuration & spring saddle seat ).
If you have a reason to try to ride your ten speed as fast as your feet can fly, than you likely will want to choose lighter, more sporting rubber, e.g. Panasonic Panaselas,...etc

squirtdad

27 inch is obsolete and getting harder to find quality tires.

you will notice a difference between no name bottom end tires and even a just a bit better

bike tires direct have 27 starting rom 17.49 for a vittoria

https://www.biketiresdirect.com/sear...o=i&fltr=48977

88ss

I agree that there are more choices for 700c rims, but the riders of 27" bikes are not riding fast enough to have their tire choice make speed a factor in their choice of brands. The main thing they need to consider is that the tire is resistant to flatting from punctures and pinches, and the Kendas have that. I am sure that a super-expensive tire like a Continental Gatorskin hardshell will be more durable than a Kenda, but unless someone is touring many miles on trips or constantly riding over broken glass and jagged broken concrete roads, they will be fine with the Kenda in riding around their town. I have put thousands of miles on both Kenda and Pacela tires with equal reliability, and I have noticed no ride or speed advantage for the Pacela tires. If I want to go really fast on rare occasion then I get on a bike with skinny 700c tires.

squirtdad

How about "declining standard: ?

Ironfish653

27” has always been the realm of the casual, recreational bike/cyclist

There’s a few choices, probably not really much fewer than there were, back in the day.
A couple of choices of wheels, a few more, better tires, but it’s all “adequate, but not excellent “ Pretty much like it was then, too.

The frustration comes when someone gets a fitness bug, hauls their old ten-speed out from three decades in the attic and wants to “upgrade it” or make it like a new bike