Jan, I think you may possibly have received some cheapo or improperly stored Barums, or I just had some really good luck back then perhaps.
I rode them quite a bit during the '70s in college on my everyday bike (which was also my only bike... this was before I built up the $7.50 thrift-store commuter....), and found them to be reasonably durable and dirt cheap (I seem to remember something like $8 each for a 260-gram cotton racing tire at the Zucchini Bike Shop in Beloit, Wisconsin). The only other thing I remember about them is that they were a really tight fit and difficult to get mounted when brand new unless you pre-stretched them for a few days first.
Anyone have any NOS Barum Kriterium PBWs for sale?
Greg "one-quarter Czech" Parker Ann Arbor, MI USA
> Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2003 11:03:16 -0800
> From: "Janis Johnson" <picabo58@earthlink.net>
> To: "Classic Rendezvous" <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Subject: RE: [CR]Bicycle brand nicknames
>
> At the 1981 World Track Cycling Championships in Brno, Czechoslovakia
> I traded a very cool Brooklyn wool jersey to a Czech sprinter for four
> Barum sew-up tires. Fast forward to me riding up the Gavia Pass in Italy
> two weeks later, and KA-BLOOOOOOOM! That Barum tire...she BLEW!
> Then the other one..and another one. Then the last remaining tire.
> All four in one day. That's when I swore off Czech tubulars.
>
> When I arrived Stateside, my wise boyfriend at the time, PJ, informed me of
> Barum's
> reputation and their nickname. That Czech dude is probably still chuckling
> over that
> trade he made with the stoopid American girl.
>
> Jan Johnson
> Portola Valley, CA