grangerknives

Hello All,

It is new tire time, as have worn through the outer rubber and the poly-belts of my tires. I would like some advice of which brands are better. I probably can't afford the very best. But I am wise enough to know that I certainly cannot afford to buy the cheapest either. I need a 26 X 2.125. I thought of Michelin, but they don't make that size. I thought of Goodyear, but their 26's "fit" multiple widths (1.75 - 2.125), per their packaging, as seen on the internet.

I did look thru the other categories for this subject and was unable to find it. I hope you can help.

Sincere thanks,
Paul

ThermionicScott 

Goodyear -- are you asking about motorcycle tires? This is a bicycle forum.

techsensei

All brands have their fans. I couldn't say which is better. I personally like Avocet, but they've been out-of-business for years (I buy good used ones when I can find them!). Names that get bandied about often as being good include Panaracer, Schwalbe, Continental, Michelin, Specialized. There are others as well.

Your bike can fit many different sizes; it does not have to be 2.125 in with width. You can install narrower if you want the bike a little lighter and faster, or wider for more traction and comfort. What kind of bike is it?

jefnvk

I presume this is a mountain bike. If you are using it mainly on pavement as a commuter, I have used the Kenda K193 Kwest (smooth pattern, actually modeled off a motorcycle tire, also had it on my Honda ) which I really liked, tough and smooth rolling. I switched those up to the Forte Gotham when I moved to using the bike more on clay and limestone trails, bit more aggressive tread to counteract slickness when wet, and a bit narrower too. Both were infinitely nicer to ride on than knobby MTB tires. Neither were expensive, got the Kendas from a local sporting good chain for like $11, and the Fortes were $12 IIRC.

indyfabz

Pirelli.

PepeM

Hoosier.

techsensei

The World's largest retailer Walmart carries Goodyear-branded bicycle tires and tubes. Who knows if they really do make them or if they are just rebranded Cheng-Shin, Kenda, etc.

ThermionicScott 

Well, I'll be!

grangerknives

Sorry I should have specified. I ride about 95% of the time on streets and sidewalks.

grangerknives

Although I couldn't find anything on a Goodyear website about their tires, I found a lot of press heralding their return to bike tire manufacturing. But you're right. Who really knows who makes what. I was a GE appliance tech for a couple decades and it blew my mind how much the manufacturers bought and sold to one another, then re-branded.

RonH

Schwalbe, Continental, Panaracer, etc. Since you ride on the street any tire with a kevlar belt to protect against cuts and punctures should be good.

jefnvk

A vote to stick with something smooth treads, then. Simply amazing how much going from knobbies to smooth tread improves a MTB on pavement, even if you don't take down the width at the same time (always liked the cushion the Kendas provided at 1.95").

techsensei

Press releases are like that. Whatever the case, I doubt you'll find Goodyear bicycle tires in any independent bike shop. That doesn't mean much though, other than they haven't convinced any distributor to stock them ... who wants to compete with Walmart?

The Kenda Kwest mentioned above are decent budget tires; we stock the 26 x 1.5 at the co-op for people who want their mountain bike to roll more like a hybrid.

ltxi

Conti....

canklecat

Bike Tires Direct has Michelins in 26" and 1.4" (Wild Run'R slicks) to 1.75" widths (Country Rock all around tread) for around $15 or less apiece. Both get good reviews from folks wanting something pavement friendly for their mountain bikes. I can see why -- I briefly road a bike with knobbies just around a parking lot a few days ago and wouldn't want to ride those more than a mile. Felt like half my effort was going into tread squirm.

dedhed

Goodyear Returns to Bicycle Tires - Bloomberg

jefnvk

"Chinese-manufactured, Goodyear-approved replacement tires"

So in other words, they'll be the exact same thing as my Fortes, some Cheng Shens with a Goodyear sticker stuck over the CS branding.

Homebrew01

Consider a smooth tread, and narrower, such as 26 x 1.75 or so.

grangerknives

I really appreciate all your good advice very much!

grangerknives

No wonder they had nothing to say about it on their website! They have nothing to do with it... Deception. Renting out one's good name for a few bucks spoils one's good name.

OldTryGuy

No different then the multitude of frames manufactured by Giant for bicycle companies throughout the world. You don't get to be as big as Giant by selling a single branded bike line.

I-Like-To-Bike

I bought Goodyear brand tires at a Goodyear Tire Store in Philadelphia the last time I bought tires (maybe about 1975) for my old Schwinn balloon tired (26 x 2.125") knee action bike. They were still good when I sold that bike in 1997.

MRT2

So many to choose from. If you are riding mostly pavement, 26 x 1.5 to 2.0 is fine. Go with a smooth tread. You can find adequate tires from about $20 to $30 a piece.

A few brands, models that come to mind are the Kenda Kwest, Panaracer Ribmos, Geax Street Runners, Michelin City, Schwalbe Marathon Plus. Other brands that are known for quality are Continental, Specialized, Vittoria (Geax is owned by them). This is far from an exhaustive list. You could even look for budget choices, like Nashbar, which will sometimes offer their house brand tires at a good price.

Based on what I read about Good Year bike tires, I would stay away from them except in an emergency situation, like maybe you had a catastrophic tire failure just outside a Wal Mart and the nearest bike shop is a hundred miles away.

Your decision how much you want to spend. Something like the Schwalbe is expensive but close to bulletproof. Might be overkill for what you want to do, but might be worth it if you are going on an unsupported cross country tour. Kenda or Geax are decent budget tires and should last a number of years without trouble but won't be as resistant to punctures as the Schwalbe. Panaracer is somewhere in between.

grangerknives

I ended up buying a Schwalbe Big Apple 26 Inch Performance Line Tire. It is a 26 x 2.35
I went wide because the tire description mentioned that it was E-Bike ready, as mine is an e-bike.
And it is rated up to 300 lbs. As I weigh about 250 and carry a backpack that weighs about 35 lbs, as well as sometimes picking up cargo while I'm out, I figured that weight rating would be a good thing.

Thanks very much for all your advice. Because of you, I shopped only the brands mentioned & I shopped at biketiresdirect-com. That was good because they were having a sale and I saved over $10 on tyre and tube.

Greatfully yours,
Paul

rekmeyata

What I can't figure out is why a company like Goodyear who makes really good car and truck tires would want to make schity bicycle tires? You would think they would go the same direction as Conti and Michelin who make quality bicycle and car tires, and keep their image intact. But that's just me, I guess I'm silly for thinking that way.