I would guess that even in the tiny niche of riders who love combined
road/dirt rides, there are more 700C bikes than 650B out there. While
Jan Heine claims that tires in the 33-44mm range or so handle best in
a 650B size (see BQ Spring 2010, p. 19), I would love to see a light,
supple 38-40/700C tire. Panaracer could come close to this with very
low cost by issuing folding non-TG versions of the 35 and 37mm
Paselas. Anyone here have influence at Panaracer? :) Anyone know if
indeed they sell those versions in Japan?
Gernot
On Aug 16, 5:19 am, Steve Palincsar <palin...@his.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 2010-08-15 at 15:08 -0700, Jim Cloud wrote:
> > Steve,
> > I guess this discussion merits another on the subject of the
> > availability of 700C size tires that are designed around the
> > parameters of the Gran Bois Hetre or Pacenti Pari-Moto (wide
> > [38-42mm], supple sidewalls, lightweight and with fine herringbone
> > tread patterns). Why doesn't anyone make a tire like this? Looking
> > at the availability of 650B tires that have these characteristics is
> > quite enough to make a 700C bike owner jealous!
>
> I don't think there's a market for it.
>
> In the first place, the Hetre and the Pari Moto exist because
> individuals who care ("I" of I's Bicycle, the owner of Grand Bois, and
> Kirk Pacenti) brought them into existence. Nothing like that in 700C.
>
> There's a market of dedicated 650B fans who bought in advance to fund
> the development of the Pari Moto (and, come to mention it, the Saluki,
> Riv's first 650B offering, as well). You don't have that core of
> enthusiasts in the 700C market.
>
> What's more, with 650B it's easy to know and identify the available
> tires. There's no forest of similar looking competitors to navigate
> your way through, as is the case with 700C. There are plenty of wide
> 700s, and no individual could ever make their way through that tangle.
> There's no Consumer Reports of bike tires, either. So if there was a
> diamond out there amongst all the hybrid tires, who would ever know it?
>
> Then there's pricing. The cheap wide 700C tires basically set the price
> the market's willing to pay. Could you sell a tire that costs 2-3 times
> as much as the competition?
>
> Finally, I think the 700C market has the wide sizes pigeonholed as being
> cheap tires for cheap hybrids or super heavy duty tires for heavy duty
> utility bikes. There is no 700C bike that's built like a 650B
> randonneur, why should there be a tire for one?
>
> > Maybe Jan Heine or someone else (Rivendell?) should approach Panaracer
> > or Gran Bois about making a 700C tire with these characteristics. I'm
> > sure there would be a market for this type of tire.
>
> Why should they? Those passionate about wonderful supple fast wide
> tires are in the 650B arena.
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