Quoth Jerry Moos:
>Be aware, however, that the IRC "27 x1" sold by Nashbar are really about 22 mm
>wide, not, 25 to 26mm as their nominal size would imply.
This is true.
>The Japanese tire
>makers have a long tradition, going back to the 70's, of marking tires as
>wider than the true width. I think this started as an advertising ploy to
>allow them to claim a lower weight for the same nominal size.
This is also true, but I don't think the blame rests with the
Japanese, rather, with the American importers/trading companies that
marketed these Japanese tires: Avocet, Specialized, Schwinn. They
all played that game in the '70s and into the '80s. Sometime in the
'90s, Specialized "got religion" and re-marked their tires, but
nobody is introducing new models of high-performance 630 mm (27")
tires any more, so nobody wants to spend the money to change the
molds.
>Continental and most other European makers mark tires more accurately.
At the time the "lightness race" was running, Japanese tires were the undisputed quality champs, and the only question for a cyclist who wanted good tires was which Japanese brand to buy.
In recent years, manufacturers in Germany, France and Taiwan have begun to close the gap, though I still consider Japanese tires the best all-in-all, even though they often have misleading markings.
Sheldon "Grew Up On Dunlops" Brown
Newtonville, Massachusetts
+------------------------------------------------------+
| If a man does not keep pace with his companions, |
| perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. |
| Let him step to the music which he hears, |
| however measured or far away. -- Thoreau |
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