Modern tires with colors other than black, Bad?

With my limited sample size of tires, it seems to me that tires with tread
colors other than black seem to have poorer shelf life. I have some very old
Avocet Criterium clinchers, over 20 years old that are still very useable. I
also have some 8 year old IRC paperlites plus tires that are still good.
However I have some Continental tires with the gray colored tread that
started cracking in the tread within 5 years, Grandprix 3000 and
Supersonics. The worst were some Hutchinson tires with yellow sidewalls that
cracked without any use in less than 3 years.

My guess is that the old carbon black tires are superior to the newer types
of rubber, like the silca types, in terms of durability and longevity. And
the newer types of tires man advantage is marketing. They probably don't
function better than regular carbon black tires in any functional way.

I know, what am I doing with all of these old tires, don't ask? The answer
is I wasn't very smart!

You have started a tire museum?

On Sun, 08 May 2005 17:58:06 -0700, cel wrote:

With my limited sample size of tires, it seems to me that tires with tread
colors other than black seem to have poorer shelf life. I have some very old
Avocet Criterium clinchers, over 20 years old that are still very useable.

IÂ*just threw away an Avocet Criterium that not only had cracks in the
rubber (fairly common in these tires, cracks along the area between the
sidewall and the "tread"), but had worn out after a disappointing life of
no more than 2000 miles (probably less). Perhaps the new Avocets do not
last as long as the old, tan-sidewall ones.

However I have some Continental tires with the gray colored tread that
started cracking in the tread within 5 years, Grandprix 3000 and
Supersonics. The worst were some Hutchinson tires with yellow sidewalls
that cracked without any use in less than 3 years.

I would not have any experience with tires that old, since I don't have
such long-term stocks. Much depends on how tires are stored.

My guess is that the old carbon black tires are superior to the newer
types of rubber, like the silca types, in terms of durability and
longevity.

They are superior in terms of road grip and wear, but I won't comment
about these other issues.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Accept risk. Accept responsibility. Put a lawyer out of
_`\(,_ | business.
(_)/ (_) |

I do have some parts that should be a bicycle museum, but I don't know if
the tires would qualify. I have some Nuovo Record parts, alloy Simplex LJ
Prestige derailleur, old Cinelli bars and stem etc. Now if I had some
original Specialize Turbo tire, they may qualify for a tire museum, since I
believe Specialize started the trend of clinchers replacing tubular, at
least in the US.


"Monk" wrote in message
oups.com...
You have started a tire museum?

In article ,
says...

IÂ*just threw away an Avocet Criterium that not only had cracks in the
rubber (fairly common in these tires, cracks along the area between the
sidewall and the "tread"), but had worn out after a disappointing life of
no more than 2000 miles (probably less). Perhaps the new Avocets do not
last as long as the old, tan-sidewall ones.

IIRC, the criteriums were some of the thinner thread thickness tires that
avocet made. 2000 miles from a read tire would not be bad at all.

---------------
Alex