Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Road bike tire icons - the universal language


After a recent descent down highway 84 (why the hell was that video made? "Loook, dey don even hav to pedal!), I got the road bike home and discovered a nice gash in the sidewall. Now, I've heard these can be patched with a dollar bill, power bar wrapper, or a specially made Park Tire Boot, but I decided that prevention was worth a pound of cure so I began tire shopping and was thoroughly confused. Does "Aramid Tek" mean that there's a kevlar bead, a kevlar belt, or the tire was designed by a guy named Aram? What's with all the wacky tread designs on road tires? Do they need tread? Luckily, I discovered Michelin. Fair price, and the features are printed right on the packaging in easy to understand, universal icons. Long mileage? Check. Puncture resistance? Check. I grabbed the package and checked out.

If only pregnancy tests could be so easy to understand.

6 comments:

-d said...

Plus, you get the universal symbol of "friendly white fat ghost looking guy that means good tires". Or is that the Stay Puft marshmallow man. Now I'm confused...

Damn these universal symbols... Who you gonna call?

-p said...

That's Bib. I bet he's on wikipedia.

Ominotigre said...

I use those on my fixed. Been over tons of glass with no punctures.
Plus, a stylish red stripe that makes me go faster.

-p said...

Yes, I also feel that stripes on my tires make me go faster. That's why I had to have the gray stripe. I'm sure that I would have had many more options had I considered an all black tire.

Thanks for the confirmation on the puncture resistance!

Ominotigre said...

I don't know if you read new comments on ancient posts, but...
A year later, I'm still riding on those same tires with barely any tread wear aside from a few surface nicks (yeah I don't skid stop on my fixed gear, color me rebel), and zero punctures -- that's right, not a single sliver of the perennial Key West bike lane/road/shoulder glass has made it through in a year and a half of regular use.
Pretty fantastic tires for the price if you ask me.

-p said...

I'm hundreds of miles into them and really think they're good. So good, I bought another just like it the other day.