Continentals

Do I get points for 3 out of 4 ?

"Qui si parla Campagnolo " <[email hidden]> a écrit dans le message de :
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

leurre-<< Note, that all of these are ACTUAL manufacturers, located
physically in Europe. >><BR><BR>

Vittoria is made entirely in Thailand...

Peter Chisholm
Vecchio's Bicicletteria
1833 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535
http://www.vecchios.com
"Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

Vincent Wilcox said:

Also is it just me or do you need to be Godzilla to fit these tyres,
they have bent two of my tyre levers so far. Ive fitted many tyres in
the past none have been this difficult and I am not looking forward to
the prospect of having to repair a flat in the rain on a cold day!

It's actually very easy: you just first press the Conti tyre to the center
of the rim (the deepest point)using your thumbs. You work your way all
around the rim and then a 8 year old can put it on easily!

Greets, Derk

"Qui si parla Campagnolo " <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

leurre-<< Note, that all of these are ACTUAL manufacturers, located
physically in Europe. >><BR><BR>

Vittoria is made entirely in Thailand...

Well, it could have been worse, he could have also stated that Clement tires
are also made in Europe....here's a link to an excellent description of the
new Clement TT tubular tires (also made in THAILAND):

http://www.yellowjersey.org/tt.html

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Do I get points for 3 out of 4 ?

"Qui si parla Campagnolo " <[email hidden]> a écrit dans le message de :
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

leurre-<< Note, that all of these are ACTUAL manufacturers, located
physically in Europe. >><BR><BR>

Vittoria is made entirely in Thailand...

Peter Chisholm
Vecchio's Bicicletteria
1833 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535
http://www.vecchios.com
"Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

No, at least some Continentals are now made in Thailand. At least the
price reduced at the same time at my LBS. (Top Touring).

They look the same, but mounted easier than the German ones from a few
years ago. Probably just sample variation.

"Bruce Graham" <[email hidden]> a écrit dans le message de :
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Do I get points for 3 out of 4 ?

Quoted message said:

No, at least some

SOME, yes ....

Quoted message said:

Continentals are now made in Thailand. At least the
price reduced at the same time at my LBS. (Top Touring).

Sorry, but I will claim the points - and more. Vittoria has been absent
from its original manufacturing home only around two years.

But the original question was about the sales popularity of major brands
compared to Avocet. My comment stands, that the bands that sell so well,
and are complained of, remain manufacturers, not marketers, branding
concerns, dream weavers. Unless I am also wrong that Avocet does not
manufacture, I think the point is properly made.

The part I was noting, apart from the above, was that there remains a
national preference in Europe. I read that in the US the public debate now
rages over the exportation of a wide range of jobs, primarily in
manufacturing, with computer programming a close second. When you don't
MAKE anything any longer, it's hard to sustain a credible economy. Or
not...

My own complaint is the unitizing of wheels for sale - hard to get those
rims you want to build wheels, as Campy, FIR, FRM, Rigida, etc., are all
pushing the packages and at a very high premium for what you get.
--
Bonne route,

Sandy
Paris FR,

SMMB said:

But the original question was about the sales popularity of major brands
compared to Avocet. My comment stands, that the bands that sell so well,
and are complained of, remain manufacturers, not marketers, branding
concerns, dream weavers.

You did omit "designers". From a quality point-of-view, it doesn't matter
whether the factory is theirs or the job is done by a third party.
Even with "made in Germany" Conti's, the rubber is made by someone
else, as is the casing material. But design specs, and quality
control, do matter. In that respect I cannot understand the
popularity of Continentals. Too many of them blow out at the
sidewalls. Far fewer sidewall failures for other brands, in my
experience. In fact, every single poor schlemiel I have rescued on
a ride with a sidewall cut was riding Continentals. Coincidence?

Also, since as you point out no bike tires have been made in the US for
many years, there is no nationalism issue for me. And I ride Avocets.

Quoted message said:

The part I was noting, apart from the above, was that there remains a
national preference in Europe. I read that in the US the public debate
now rages over the exportation of a wide range of jobs, primarily in
manufacturing, with computer programming a close second.

Well, the current rage is over the exporting of "customer service"
departments to India.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | There is always an easy solution to every human problem - neat,
_`\(,_ | plausible, and wrong. --H.L. Mencken
(_)/ (_) |

"SMMB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

"Bruce Graham" <[email hidden]> a écrit dans le message de :
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Do I get points for 3 out of 4 ?

Quoted message said:

No, at least some

SOME, yes ....

Quoted message said:

Continentals are now made in Thailand. At least the
price reduced at the same time at my LBS. (Top Touring).

Sorry, but I will claim the points - and more. Vittoria has been absent
from its original manufacturing home only around two years.

But the original question was about the sales popularity of major brands
compared to Avocet. My comment stands, that the bands that sell so well,
and are complained of, remain manufacturers, not marketers, branding
concerns, dream weavers. Unless I am also wrong that Avocet does not
manufacture, I think the point is properly made.

This is true, Avocet does not manufacture its own tires. It designs
and contracts out the actual built. The older Avocet black with tan
sidewall Fasgrip tires were former made by IRC in Japan. The newer
all-black, "carbon 12" Fasgrip tires are now made in Korea. Despite
the fact that Avocet never manfactured its own tires, at one point,
and especially on this newsgroup, Avocet had a very good share of the
bicycle tire market. Now, compared to other companies like Michelin,
Continental, Vittoria, Hutchinson, Tufo, Veloflex and Vredestein and
others, its share is just about nothing. The same could be said for
its saddles and cyclocomputers. Is this because it doesn't manufacture
its own tires? I doubt it. I think its more just poor marketing and
distribution philosophy.

Quoted message said:

My own complaint is the unitizing of wheels for sale - hard to get those
rims you want to build wheels, as Campy, FIR, FRM, Rigida, etc., are all
pushing the packages and at a very high premium for what you get.

Again, more marketing. The companies you named plus arguably the "king
of boutiques", Mavic have all found that putting together a "boutique
wheelset" is alot more profitable than selling just a rim. I have just
gone thru this same "game" as one of my buddies is builting up a new
bike and bought into and really, really, wanted the Campy Neutron
wheelset. However, the longer he delayed, the higher the price got as
supply got shorter and the euro to US dollar ratio got worse. Now that
the Neutrons supposedly "wholesale" price is something like
$625/retail over $700, he's thinking differently and has now borrowed
one my handbuilt rear wheels (Ritchey OCR rim/Chorus hub/DT db spokes)
to try out....

Quoted message said:

bfd said:

On this newsgroup Avocet has a great reputation, especially their tires.

Avocet tires are made by IRC. If you like Avocet tires, you might
also like other IRC tires.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA

"charles ramsey" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Bill McCready of santana talk about this in the santana catalog the
first continentals he would use on his tandems is called a gatorskin
it has a extra ply with a checker board pattern that you can see on
the outside of the tire. He also uses it on his triples. One thing
about santana is every one of his customers can afford to sue him so
he tends to be consurvative about what he specs. If it works for you
let us know.

The Ultra Gatorskins are hugely controversial. They manage to polarise
users like few other tyres, as attested by user reviews at sites like
Bikemagic and RoadBikeReview, so much so that one well-known and reputable
Conti dealer here refuses to recommend them. It's a shame, they're such a
nice looking tyre.

Ultra Gatorskin:
http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/bicycle/themes/tires/race/ultra_gatorskin/ultra_gatorskin_en.html
Duraskin:
http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/bicycle/general/innovation/duraskin_en.html

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

Derk <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Vincent Wilcox said:

Also is it just me or do you need to be Godzilla to fit these tyres,
they have bent two of my tyre levers so far. Ive fitted many tyres in
the past none have been this difficult and I am not looking forward to
the prospect of having to repair a flat in the rain on a cold day!

It's actually very easy: you just first press the Conti tyre to the center
of the rim (the deepest point)using your thumbs. You work your way all
around the rim and then a 8 year old can put it on easily!

Greets, Derk

Hay Derk
Most tire /rim combinations are as you describe, childs play. However
I believe that you have not experienced the combination some of the
above posters are talking about. Some beads so tight and / or strong,
rims are so shallow, plus the use of velox tape (which is the only
tape, that I know of, to reliably prevent flats on the inside of road
bike tubes) that it makes little difference if the beads are centered.
I strongly suspect that you have rims w/ a deep center, or you're a
Godzilla clone 🙂.

Also for many, many happy years I used a 35mm Michelin touring tire. I
think it had "Hi" in its name. Some time in the '90s they
discontinued it. It looked like something one would have seen on a
bike in a Western Auto store.(boy do I date myself w/ that remark.)
Definitely not a high tech look, but god was it a great touring tire.
I imanigne some on this ng have used & loved this tire also. If so,
what is the best (or even better?) replacement have you found?

Tnx John

"Donald Gillies" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

bfd said:

On this newsgroup Avocet has a great reputation, especially their

tires.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Avocet tires are made by IRC. If you like Avocet tires, you might
also like other IRC tires.

Make that "were made by IRC". Avocet *new* carbon 12, all-black fasgrip
tires are now made in Korea.

Matt O'Toole said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Do you have thick rim tape and box section rims like Mavic MA2?
Some Continentals do tend to be a bit tight and require a knack
(my experience is with their touring tyres but I have read other
peoples reports also). If you needed a lot of force to mount the
tyre maybe you damaged it then.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The rims are Alex DA16 and I am using Velox rim tape. I could
mount the previous Schwalbe Marathon slicks with very little
effort. The GPs seem to take me about 5-10minutes with equal
amounts of levering/swearing. I cant see the levers lasting
another session.

Quoted message said:

I used to have this problem with some Conti Avenue slicks on my MTB.
Getting a flat was a half hour ordeal, usually involving blood loss.
Fast tires, but too much of a pain to deal with, so I got rid of
them.

Quoted message said:

I also once helped a fellow cyclist having similar troubles w/ some
Conti road tires.

Quoted message said:

This seems to be a common complaint. Sidewall cuts and fabric
coming apart seems to be a problem with Contis too. So why do
people keep buying them?

I have listened to people tell these stories for at least 20 years and
wonder why people buy these tires that have low TPI, brown sidewalls
that hide this fact, seem to be hard to mount and are, more often than
any other tire, reported to have sidewall failures.

How does Continental have such a following? I don't get it. What's
the appeal? There are other well known brands on the market, none of
which are regularly mentioned as being hard to mount and suffering
side wall ruptures. Most of these tires also cost less.

Jobst Brandt
[email hidden]

anonymous said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On this newsgroup Avocet has a great reputation, especially their tires.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Avocet tires are made by IRC. If you like Avocet tires, you might
also like other IRC tires.

Quoted message said:

Make that "were made by IRC". Avocet *new* carbon 12, all-black
fasgrip tires are now made in Korea.

Call that offshore for IRC. They are still IRC tires.

Jobst Brandt
[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

I have listened to people tell these stories for at least 20 years and
wonder why people buy these tires that have low TPI,

They are advertised as being 285tpi, is that low?

Quoted message said:

How does Continental have such a following? I don't get it. What's
the appeal? There are other well known brands on the market, none of

They were the only tyre I could find at the size I wanted made with
carbon black (28-406). I also had the Schwalbe Stelvio's recommended but
they seem to be silica based dual compound efforts. I was none too
impressed with the pair of Marathon slicks I had before the continentals
which were also dual compound.

Carbon black tyres seem to be quite rare, the only ones I know of are
Michelin Carbon, the infamous Grand Prixs and Avocet (unavailable here).
I have a pair of Michelins and I am happy with these but they are
unavailable in 406. Any others I have missed?

Quoted message said:

which are regularly mentioned as being hard to mount and suffering
side wall ruptures. Most of these tires also cost less.

I won't get them again although relatively they are cheap at 15ukp.
However I am limited in my options. Does anyone have any other
recommendations in the 406-28 size?

Vincent Wilcox said:

daveornee said:

I regularly use Continental Grand Prix tires. I have never had trouble
fitting them on the rims by hand.... no tools at all. However, I use a
pair of levers to take them off.

Ive fitted quite a few different types of tyre, wire bead,
kevlar bead but these Continentals are ludicrous. Do you eat
alot of spinach?

I think Continental are getting a bit unreliable in this respect. The last
GP300 I had - 23mm, kevlar bead - I could not fit even with tyre levers.
I've never had any difficulty with any tyre fitting before.
--
David Damerell <[email hidden]> Distortion Field!

Daniel Wilcox said:

Quoted message said:

I have listened to people tell these stories for at least 20 years
and wonder why people buy these tires that have low TPI,

Quoted message said:

They are advertised as being 285TPI, is that low?

I don't know how they are counting that but that number is higher than
the best silk track tires I have seen, ones with sidewalls barely
thicker than a sheet of bond paper. The 285 must be an accounting trick
by which the individual fibers of a thread are counted.

Consider that that is 0.0035" per thread (1/285). Liar liar pants on
fire or some similar response is appropriate. The Continental tires I
have seen have coarser threads than the kite string on toy kits.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

How does Continental have such a following? I don't get it.
What's the appeal? There are other well known brands on the
market, none of

Quoted message said:

They were the only tyre I could find at the size I wanted made with
carbon black (28-406). I also had the Schwalbe Stelvio's recommended
but they seem to be silica based dual compound efforts. I was none
too impressed with the pair of Marathon slicks I had before the
Continentals which were also dual compound.

Fashion rules. Color is in!

Quoted message said:

Carbon black tyres seem to be quite rare, the only ones I know of
are Michelin Carbon, the infamous Grand Prixs and Avocet
(unavailable here). I have a pair of Michelins and I am happy with
these but they are unavailable in 406. Any others I have missed?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

which are regularly mentioned as being hard to mount and suffering
side wall ruptures. Most of these tires also cost less.

Quoted message said:

I won't get them again although relatively they are cheap at 15ukp.
However I am limited in my options. Does anyone have any other
recommendations in the 406-28 size?

I'm not familiar with that size.

Jobst Brandt
[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Consider that that is 0.0035" per thread (1/285). Liar liar pants on
fire or some similar response is appropriate. The Continental tires I
have seen have coarser threads than the kite string on toy kits.

Ok, I was wondering why some tyres were around 65 - 127tpi and the
continentals so high, there GP 3000s are 430tpi. They must use the same
people who assign hi-fi amplifier wattage ratings, 380W PPODLS (Peak
Power Output in Direct Lightning Strike)...

Quoted message said:

Fashion rules. Color is in!

But black is always in fashion!

Quoted message said:

I'm not familiar with that size.

20" 1 1/8

David Damerell said:

Vincent Wilcox said:

daveornee said:

I regularly use Continental Grand Prix tires. I have never had trouble
fitting them on the rims by hand.... no tools at all. However, I use a
pair of levers to take them off.

Ive fitted quite a few different types of tyre, wire bead,
kevlar bead but these Continentals are ludicrous. Do you eat
alot of spinach?

I think Continental are getting a bit unreliable in this respect. The last
GP300 I had - 23mm, kevlar bead - I could not fit even with tyre levers.
I've never had any difficulty with any tyre fitting before.

Hi,

The Conti fit may well depend on the wheel rim that you are mounting
it on.

I did mount a couple of GP 3000s on my Campag Scirroco wheels with no
undue difficulty. I did use irons and did mount the tire first
without a tube to stretch it out a bit and then added the tube. Yes
this was a bit of extra work but what the heck I've been using them as
my racing tires/wheels since the end of Feb without any incidents.

Mounting Michelins on my Shimano RD 540 wheels used as training
wheels, now that was a struggle! Even after 6 months when I fix a flat
I wonder if i'll get the tire back on

Regards
Wayne

"Daniel Wilcox" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Consider that that is 0.0035" per thread (1/285). Liar liar pants on
fire or some similar response is appropriate. The Continental tires
I have seen have coarser threads than the kite string on toy kits.

Ok, I was wondering why some tyres were around 65 - 127tpi and the
continentals so high, there GP 3000s are 430tpi. They must use the
same people who assign hi-fi amplifier wattage ratings, 380W PPODLS
(Peak Power Output in Direct Lightning Strike)...

Conti count the number of threads per layer and add them up.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

Quoted message said:

How does Continental have such a following? I don't get it. What's
the appeal? There are other well known brands on the market, none of
which are regularly mentioned as being hard to mount and suffering
side wall ruptures. Most of these tires also cost less.

Despite the frequent rumblings on this newsgroup, I can't find many
low-cost, decent quality tyres at my LBS. Once upon a time I bought
Avocets from Sheldon since my LBS was unwilling to do business with
Avocet. Since the advent of "Carbon-12" and the higher prices at Avocet,
I haven't found a suitable replacement. Any suggestions?

I rode the Avocet Duro (28-622) for general purpose and commuting, and I
used the Avocet Criterium (23-622) on my race bike. Note that my
dimensions are smaller than the advertised dimensions since Avocet
seemed to exaggerate the tyre size back in the old days.

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu