Re: Tirearchy

• Author: JJW (---.by.alphared.com)
• Verified User: jjw
• Date Posted: 05-05-08 20:41

I don’t do essays, well, not on purpose anyway, but I do have some tire information. The best tire on the market for ordinary riding is the Michelin Gazelle, nothing else even comes close. These things never wear out, and are damn near puncture resistant. They work great wet or dry. I have them on both my Puchs. The only thing they would not be good for is if you need a performance type tire, and if you use those kind of tires, you have to accept that they wear fast and are easily punctured. The worst general purpose tire, and it is horrible, is the Sava tires that come with a new Tomos. I was actually able to stick a wooden toothpick through one of them. The best tire I have found so far for the Tomos standard rim (2.25×16) is the Kenda. it is not as good as the Gazelle, but light years ahead of the Sava. Unfortunately, the Gazelle does come in a size that fits Tomos. The hot tip for those with a Tomos with cast wheels that use the 2.25×16 tire, no matter what kind of tires you are using, is to use 20×2.125 heavy duty puncture resistant bicycle tubes. These are a perfect fit for the Tomos tire/wheel, and while some would say don’t use a bicycle tube in a moped because real moped tubes are much heavier duty, in fact, exactly the opposite is true. The puncture resistant bicycle tubes from a bike shop are much heavier duty than what are sold as moped tubes, and when used with the thick Tomos cast wheel, the rubber stem is not a problem, as the hole where the stem goes through the wheel is thick enough to protect the stem, and hold it straight. These tubes, combined with Kenda tires (you can get those from www.denniskirk.com), are about the best thing you can do to prevent flats on a Tomos. As for the people who say you can’t use bicycle tubes in a moped, they have obviously never seen the tubes I’m talking about. Unfortunately, they only come in the size to fit Tomos, and any other bike that uses 2.25×16 tires. IMO, the Savas are about the same as using a bicycle TIRE on a moped, a definite no-no. Damn, looks like I wrote an essay after all.