What exactly are we paying for that makes up the enormous difference
in cost/mile between car tires and bicycle tires?
I recently replaced four car tires for about 200 dollars after about
three years. Sometimes I get a glass cut in bicycle tire and only get
one ride!, more typically I might get four months or about 2000 miles.
Even with a *budget* $20 tire this ends up costing me about twice as
much as the automobile tires for the same period. To make bike tires
last longer would require more material and cost performance due to
weight and feel less responsive, but it's kinda funny that the current
highest performance tires have even less material so should be cheaper
in some sense but cost more. Maybe it's just me but I can't tell any
difference between most road tires when riding except for the weight
differences.