tyres

I was just pondering on the irony that the most expensive tyres last
the least number of miles, and then got to thinking - is this actually
a valid state of affairs or a marketing issue?

I.e. does a Rennsport/Dragon Corsa/BT010 etc. really cost twice as much
to make as a BT45?

 

I don't think so - I think Flash is closer to the money.

Consider especially tyres that have the same carcass, and just
different grades of rubber - surely it's too much of a coincidence that
the stickier rubber happens to be the more expensive it is?

 

Increased R&D costs of making it stickier in the right way?

Or just general capitalism. Sticky tyres are more fashionable.

 

Probably not in pure manufacturing terms. However, more R&D will have
probably have been done on the performance tyres, and as Ogden says,
the marketing budget will also go there, and it would make the
non-sports tyres uncompetitive if these costs were shared across the
range.

 

development and testing?

 

It must be a *LOT* more expensive to test the non sticky tyres to ensure
they make you crash when you lean over too far.

 

the above is the verbose version of "wibble-flip", presumably.

 

I hadn't really given much thought to R&D costs, mainly because I
assumed all of the tyre manufacturers would constantly be doing
research in any case, as part of their day-to-day business model.

However, I will concede that you are probably correct about the
pricing. I still reckon the sticky tyres are priced up because people
"instinctively" believe that "more expensive" = "better".

 

Well yes, but the cost of R&D has to go on the product somehow.

I'm sure this is also true.

 

I don't know about the tyre industry but in many other industries the
key players spend the most on R&D to keep ahead of the pack who learn
from their efforts.

The perfume business model.

 

This year's cutting edge is next year's cheap model.

 

very high product volume business models spread the cost across the
range; in fact, someone like Microsoft charge more for some products
(say, CMS Server) than others (Windows XP) despite the fact XP cost
several magnitudes more to develop than the Server product.

The tyres on my RGV have about one track-day left in them[1] and I'm
going to try those cheap-o chinese[2]-made ones that Flash put on his
chick-wheels, and that the supermoto crowd seem to rate.

[1] very tempted by 100%'s "79 quid for newbies" offer for Rockingham
National circuit this coming Sunday, but the weather forecast isn't
encouraging.
[2] Maxxis née Cheng Shing.

 

I know of semiconductors that are sold into different product sectors
at different prices simply because those are the prices the respective
markets will accept. The only difference in the chips themselves is the
number on the packaging.

 

We have a product that sold more when we increased the price, as its lower
price meant people perceived it as inferior to more expensive products
(despite a higher spec).

 

But the sales of XP will be several magnitudes higher than CMS server.
But, as I think we both agree, how you spread R&D across a product
range is driven as much by marketing as anything else.

 

so, in short, sticky tyres are a rip-off ;-)

 

What we need are some quality open source linux based tyres.

 

http://www.jthep-antiquities.co.uk/Replicas and Supplies/Supplies/Wooden wheels/Wooden wheels.JPG

The are betas, so the handling characteristics are not all they could be.

Soy.