UK tyre dealers.

Any recommendations for UK tyre dealers?

Looking for cheap as possible - but not quite as cheap as Cheng Shin!

TIA.

 

Heh, heh, in other words, as cheap as possible but no cheaper!

 

I'd be perfectly happy with offers ("fell offers back of a lorry").

So far the only reply from suppliers found by google that I emailed has been
Black circle.

Their cheapest is a Pirelli City Demon 90/90 R18 H(51) at 37.38 + 10.00
delivery, that's less than I paid for the Cheng Shin a year ago - I wonder
what's the catch?!

 

You do realise that uk.rec.motorcycles is that way over there --->

 

Some of the advice I've seen given on UKRM convinced me not to bother asking
there.

 

Your loss. Look, just fucking Google and use the telephone instead of
getting someone here to set up a price comparison site for you.

 

Kind of like missing out on a rattlesnake in the lucky dip

Look, just fucking Google and use the telephone instead of

Did and did - but there's always the chance someone might offer up a gem
that I missed.

So far I've narrowed it down to 6 dealers but the one that quoted the best
price suddenly when I got my card out didn't have any stock of the tyre
they'd offered me, then they started reeling off other tyres at more than
their competitors - going on recommendation tends to weed out this sort of
shyster.

 

That's not necessarily a shyster. Did you ask him to order them and you
would pick them up a week later? What did he say?

Tires, (tyres for you Brits) are one of those consumables where the
manufacturers depend heavily on their dealer chain for a pretty simple
reason - most people don't mount and balance their own tires because
for tubeless tires you really need to have a decent air compressor to
set the bead, and people figure that instead of spending the $150 now
for the compressor and fittings and all, they will spend the $20 to have
the dealer mount the tire. (the fact that 3 sets of tires will pay for the
compressor is, of course, ignored. Pennywise and pound foolish,
naturally)

The manufacturers don't want to piss-off their dealers by allowing
people to buy tires direct, with little markup, off a website somewhere,
then lug them into a dealer expecting to pay the $20 for them to be
installed.

Since not many manufacturers make bike tires, the ones that do
have an unspoken gentlemen's agreement to not undercut each
other's dealer networks on price. The Chinese manufacturers,
being late to the party, don't respect this of course, but so
far the rest of the tire manufacturers have managed to hold the
line against Cheng Shin using a variety of FUD tactics - you yourself
of course have fallen for it hook, line and sinker. The truth is that
Cheng Shin is a huge manufacturer employing 15,000 people
worldwide, and has been in business since the Sixties, and many
of their tire models are better quality and construction than more
expensive ones from the name brands you are used to.

If your not mounting and balancing your own tires on your own
bike, and your insistent on getting the cheapest tire you can find,
your a raving idiot.

If you really must have the cheapest tire you can find then visit
a bike wrecking yard (breaker) they have stacks of tires that
are virtually new, off squid-owned bikes that were crashed with
100 miles on them.

Ted

 

They refused to accept the order until the tyres are in stock, the Indian
call center telephonist suggested that I email and request they let me know
when this happens - so far they have not acknowledged the email. The
practice of offering a product for less than their competitors and being
"temporarily out of stock" when you try to buy one is common elsewhere -
particularly the computer trade where a shop advertises something like
memory at a price too good to be true, they're *always* "temprarily out of
stock" - "but we have these that do the same job at twice the price", they
rely on the customer stumping up out of frustration - I on the other hand
write that traders name down to remind me not to deal with them again.

I have the means to mount my own tyres.

Unfortunately I cannot agree with your gushing praise of Cheng Shin, they
drift badly and I don't thrash the bike at all, they're terrible in the wet
and didn't have all that much tread depth when I unpacked them new - so I
didn't get much mileage before the tread was doen to the legal limit.

Looks like I don't qualify then since I can fit them myself..

Might help if I wanted a back tyre, front tyres on crashed bikes that aren't
messed up are harder to find.

 

Try http://www.sticky-stuff.co.uk

 

In the US this is called "bait and switch" and it is illegal. In fact, not
only can
the customer sue the retailer for fraud, the company
that makes the item being used as the bait can also sue the retailer for
fraud
(because by being out of stock, the retailer is denying them sales and
tarring their name) The usual procedure on this side of the pond is to
report the retailer to the local attorney general.

In the UK it is also illegal, I believe the usual procedure is to report
it to the Advertising Standards Authority.

You should report them. Here's the info for you:

http://www.berr.gov.uk/consumers/fact-sheets/page38036.html

I would hardly categorize my comments on Cheng Shin as "gushing
praise" In the US for example (keeping in mind that many brands
here in the US don't exist in the UK and vis-versa) you can go to a
"price club" such as Sams or Costco and buy Michelin tires, then go
to a local tire dealer and buy Michelin tires, and the tire model of the
Michelin sold at the Costco will be significantly different, with less
tread,
than the model sold at the local dealer. The most famous example of
that were the Firestone Wilderness tires used on Ford Explorers -
the Wilderness tires Firestone made and sold to Ford were temp C
rated, those were the ones that blew out - the Wilderness tires made
and sold to the general public - same make and model and tire size -
were B temp rated and did not blow out.

I have thus learned over the years that you cannot label all tires from
a particular manufacturer as bad or good.

The last time I bought tires for my bike I went to the largest local
motorcycle dealer who had stacks of them on the rack, and I
ordered them from him. Of course, there was a markup - although
small. However, there was no shipping charge so the price came out
as a wash.

Ted

 

No one bothers to report it because trading standards are unable/unwilling
to prove that the item isn't genuinely out of stock.

So the crooked traders just keep on getting away with it.

 

Thanks, but I've already ordered from Black Circles a City Demon for £47 inc
VAT & carriage, that's a brand with a good reputation for only a few quid
more than I paid for a Cheng Shin last time.

 

It is? Never heard of it. And Cheng Shin aren't bad these days.

 

http://www.sticky-stuff.co.uk/index.php?cPath=2_144_156

And Cheng Shin aren't bad these days.

Each to their own I suppose - I bought Cheng Shin last time because they
were the cheapest I could find at the time, and regretted not spending more
ever since. And my riding style doesn't need top tyre performance.

 

This suggests that this was a long time ago.....

 

About a year - which is pretty dismal for the mileage I do.