Continentals

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

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

Well, availability is an issue at least here in
Minnesota. Avocet slicks are available in zero bike shops
around here AFAIK- the only place that stocked (Osell's)
them went out of business when the owner retired. The invert-
tread car tire for bikes that Avocet makes is often
available in ones or twos, but that tire is like riding
uphill all day long.

Continentals are available everywhere. IME the Ultra 2000
700 x 28 works very well and lasts as long as an Avocet of
the same size. They seem to mount just fine on an MA2. And
I can get 'em easily, although they *are* $30 which seems
excessive. The usual alternatives are Michelin's
multicolored "silly-ca" rubber tires.

Until Avocet becomes much more dealer-friendly, their
market share will continue to be restricted. Not just
their tires, but their computers as well. I haven't seen
an Avocet computer for sale in a bike shop in years. I'm a
little amazed that the Avocet brass hasn't figured this
out for themselves.

Price counts too. I just ordered from Peter White. I got
folding Ultra 2k's for $28/tire. The Avocets were
$35/tire. Ultimately that was the little bit of tilt Conti
needed for the sale.

I just wore out a pair of Conti Grand Sport tires, which are
no longer made. They seemed to have an excellent lifetime,
and had infrequent flats. They were also 240g for a true 25c
tire -- which is about right for training tires.

I have not yet used the U2k's, but you say they last well,
which I suppose I had anticipated, since the black tread
Grand Prix's have a relatively decent lifetime if one
doesn't cut the sidewall. I presume they didn't entirely
reinvent the wheel, or tire in this case.

I really like the Avocet Carbon 12's -- they are excellent
in pretty much every way (some "pure" race tires are
lighter). That is what is on my racing wheels. For training
or just tooling around, I am a little more price sensitive.
If the sidewalls cut I'll probably conclude the $7/tire
difference was not "worth it." But I have to try...

As for Avocet's distribution and marketing, I think the
company is utterly clueless. Too bad, because the tires
themselves are outstanding.

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

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm not familiar with that size.

20" 1 1/8

Not quite correct. 20 x 1 1/8" is roughly ISO size 451-28.
20 x 1.125" is 406-28. Continental Grand Prix only comes in
the latter size. Schwalbe Stelvio comes in both.

Jeff (getting picky again, I know)

David L. Johnson said:

dvt said:

The price for the new Avocets doesn't seem to be dropping.
Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places.

Quoted message said:

You had mentioned Harris Cyclery later. But they have
several Avocet sizes at $24.95.

Yeah, but I'm still waiting for the order I placed at about
this time last year. My credit card wasn't billed, so I'm
not complaining too much.

Quoted message said:

If you are talking $40, it seems you are looking at kevlar
bead, which I doubt you get with a $25 Conti, either.

I was talking about the *new* Avocets (with or without
Kevlar) for $40. The *old* Avocet FasGrip tires are still
available via Harris at $25, but see the previous paragraph
on that topic.

--
Dave dvt at psu dot edu

Jeff Wills said:

Not quite correct. 20 x 1 1/8" is roughly ISO size 451-28.
20 x 1.125" is 406-28. Continental Grand Prix only comes
in the latter size. Schwalbe Stelvio comes in both.

Jeff (getting picky again, I know)

Ok, but Continental describe their 406-28 as 20" 1 1/8 and
Schwalbe describe both 451-28 and 406-28 as 20" 1 1/8.
Whats going on?

schwalbe.comindex.plOpen ↗
reich=2&produktgruppe=3&produkt=122 conti-conti-Open ↗
online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/bicycle/themes/t-
ires/race/grand_prix/grand_prix_en.html

David L. Johnson said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>The price for the new Avocets doesn't seem to be
>dropping. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places.

"dvt":

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

You had mentioned Harris Cyclery later. But they have
several Avocet sizes at $24.95.

Yeah, but I'm still waiting for the order I placed at
about this time last year. My credit card wasn't billed,
so I'm not complaining too much.

David:

Quoted message said:

I've never had trouble ordering stuff from Sheldon. I get
most of my tires there, as well as a bunch of other stuff.
Good service, good prices, rare parts found, and if it is
out of stock, they let you know.

Thanckx for the plug. Avocet FasGrip tires are great, but
getting them from Avocet is always a major hemorrhoid. They
can only be ordered from Avocet, there are no independent
distributors, so when Avocet is out of 'em, there's no
alternate source. Avocet's high minimum-order levels also
preclude onesies and twosies orders.

We did finally receive a very large shipment last week, and
back orders should have been taken care of by now. Our stock
is pretty good at the moment.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I was talking about the *new* Avocets (with or without
Kevlar) for $40. The *old* Avocet FasGrip tires are still
available via Harris at $25, but see the previous
paragraph on that topic.

I think those are not the old ones. I got what he said
were the last of his "Criterium" stock over a year ago.

Right, the tan-wall tires are now all gone. The new ones are
uglier, but don't seem inferior in any other respect.

Sheldon "Insert Nickname Here" Brown +--------------------------------------------------------
---------+
| This message has been sent to you using recycled
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| after use, | send them along and help conserve these
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| generations. |
+-----------------------------------------------------------
------+ Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts Phone 617-244-
9772 FAX 617-244-1041 harriscyclery.comharriscyclery.comOpen ↗ Hard-to-find
parts shipped Worldwide captainbike.comcaptainbike.comOpen ↗
sheldonbrown.comsheldonbrown.comOpen ↗

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

Quoted message said:

Jeff Wills said:

Not quite correct. 20 x 1 1/8" is roughly ISO size
451-28. 20 x 1.125" is 406-28. Continental Grand Prix
only comes in the latter size. Schwalbe Stelvio comes
in both.

Jeff (getting picky again, I know)

Ok, but Continental describe their 406-28 as 20" 1 1/8 and
Schwalbe describe both 451-28 and 406-28 as 20" 1 1/8.
Whats going on?

schwalbe.comindex.plOpen ↗
bereich=2&produktgruppe=3&produkt=122 conti-conti-Open ↗
online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/bicycle/themes-
/tires/race/grand_prix/grand_prix_en.html

Disagreements about nomenclature is what's going on. See ht-
tp://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire_sizing.html#fractiondecimal
Continental's 100% wrong. Schwalbe's only 50% wrong. Now do
you know why I like the ISO/ETRTO tire size designations?

Jeff

David L. Johnson said:

On Thu, 06 May 2004 08:42:44 -0400, dvt wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

David L. Johnson said:

You had mentioned Harris Cyclery later. But they have
several Avocet sizes at $24.95.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Yeah, but I'm still waiting for the order I placed at
about this time last year. My credit card wasn't billed,
so I'm not complaining too much.

Quoted message said:

I've never had trouble ordering stuff from Sheldon. I get
most of my tires there, as well as a bunch of other stuff.
Good service, good prices, rare parts found, and if it is
out of stock, they let you know.

I agree with much of that. I suspect my experience was an
anomaly. There's another thread on this forum regarding
blacklisted domains; I guess it's possible that something of
that nature occured with my messages.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I was talking about the *new* Avocets (with or without
Kevlar) for $40. The *old* Avocet FasGrip tires are still
available via Harris at $25, but see the previous
paragraph on that topic.

Quoted message said:

I think those are not the old ones. I got what he said
were the last of his "Criterium" stock over a year ago.

I just read it again. I think you are correct, David, and I
was wrong. Sheldon, if you're still looking at this thread,
I was confused because this line appears next to the 700x25C
non-Kevlar Avocet: "The newer production is all black, older
production has tan sidewalls." (URL:
sheldonbrown.com622.htmlOpen ↗) I had
(apparently incorrectly) interpreted this to mean that the
non-Kevlar Avocets were the old version with tan sidewalls.

Summary: I guess I should try again this year. At $25 a pop,
it looks like a reasonable price on a good tire.

Thanks to both of you for helping me out.

--
Dave dvt at psu dot edu

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

Quoted message said:

David L. Johnson said:

On Thu, 06 May 2004 08:42:44 -0400, dvt wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

David L. Johnson wrote:
>You had mentioned Harris Cyclery later. But they have
>several Avocet sizes at $24.95.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Yeah, but I'm still waiting for the order I placed at
about this time last year. My credit card wasn't billed,
so I'm not complaining too

much.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I've never had trouble ordering stuff from Sheldon. I
get most of my tires there, as well as a bunch of other
stuff. Good service, good prices, rare parts found, and
if it is out of stock, they let you know.

I agree with much of that. I suspect my experience was an
anomaly. There's another thread on this forum regarding
blacklisted domains; I guess it's possible that something
of that nature occured with my

messages.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I was talking about the *new* Avocets (with or without
Kevlar) for $40. The *old* Avocet FasGrip tires are
still available via Harris at $25, but see the previous
paragraph on that topic.

Quoted message said:

I think those are not the old ones. I got what he said
were the last of his "Criterium" stock over a year ago.

I just read it again. I think you are correct, David, and
I was wrong. Sheldon, if you're still looking at this
thread, I was confused because this line appears next to
the 700x25C non-Kevlar Avocet: "The newer production is
all black, older production has tan sidewalls." (URL:
sheldonbrown.com622.htmlOpen ↗) I had
(apparently incorrectly) interpreted this to mean that the
non-Kevlar Avocets were the old version with tan
sidewalls.

Summary: I guess I should try again this year. At $25 a
pop, it looks like a reasonable price on a good tire.

If you're looking for the older 700x28 (actually measure 24-
26mm wide) Avocet Fasgrip 20 tires (black with tan
sidewalls), it appears that he White has the Road 20 for $23
($27 if you want Kevlar) here:

peterwhitecycles.comroadtires.htmOpen ↗

Sheldon Brown said:

Right, the tan-wall tires are now all gone. The new ones
are uglier, but don't seem inferior in any other respect.

When I lived in Central Texas, my main beef with Avocets was
the tan wall, which would quickly grow crispy and dandruffy
from UV damage. Even when I was putting in regular 300-mile
weeks, most times I had to replace tires (any tires) was
because the sidewalls were fraying.

It frustrated me that it took so long for manufacturers to
add some UV protection in the form of black pigment. Since
that time, though, I have bever seen a black skinwall
ruined from sidewall exposure alone. You may consider them
ugly, but I think they look a lot better than a leprous
tan skinwall.

I like the clean profile that black skinwalls give a bike,
and I especially like the Euro-market kind with a reflective
sidwall stripe. The unpigmented kind of tire always struck
me as unfinished-looking. I like to see bare metal and bare
wood, but somehow bare latex and nylon don't convey the same
purity to me.

Chalo Colina