Getting things into proportion?

Question

Is it me or is there some anomoly when i see a 27 x 1 1/4 racer tyre on Ebay for £70, when i can pay less than that for a top quality car tyre for a mk Vauxhall Astra. Same with brakes. Pads are £60 for a mountain bike - same for Astra £40 for 4.

Answer 1

Depends on the tire.  

I pay $10-12 for everyday tires for my everyday MTB,  $20 for Michelin road tires for the spoked training wheels on my tri-bike.

On the other hand, I put top end Continental tubulars (650x19) on my carbon fiber racing wheels at more than $100 per.   When a few seconds difference is enough to put me on the podium, yes, they're worth it.

Note that there are no current bikes using 27x1 1/4 tires.   The price premium there is most likely because its a short production run for vintage bikes, or those are 30 year old tires that have been stashed somewhere and someone is trying to make a buck (okay, a pound) on scarcity.

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Edit: To make it a little simpler, bikes are like bikinis.   You always pay more for less, because you need a lot more precision when you have less material to work with.

Answer 2

Depends on what you are looking for, you can get 27 x 11/4"  tyres from about £8 and disc pads from about £15. But there are many different styles and shape of pad, so.

Don,t buy on e-bay unless you know what you are buying

Answer 3

What you need to consider is how much it would cost to make the Astra ready for competition or just chav it up a bit, as this would be a fairer comparison.

The other responders (answerers?) are right in saying that you also need to decide if the marginal performance benefit of bling components is worth the increased cost. Unless you are competing at a high level, it's unlikely.

Then again, they do look pretty... :)

Answer 4

Those parts are what I refer to as "moron parts". If you are a moron, you buy those parts. If not, you buy reasonably priced parts, as the difference in quality is not worth the price increase.