"SMS" wrote in message
...
I was out on a ride today with the spousal unit and two child units,
and daughter-unit blew a tire. I did a temporary fix with two (2)
dollar bills and proceeded to a nearby Performance Bike Shop. Got her a
Ritchey Tom Slick 26" x 1.4" which was $18 (less an 11% off promotion
they were having, so it was about $16). It's been a while since I
bought a tire on the spur of the moment, and was kind of surprised that
the prices are so high. On the Performance web site they have the
Panaracer Urban Max for $20, but while the picture shows 26" x 1.75"
the drop down menu shows 26" x 1.25".

A combination of absurd increases in several chemicals used in bicycle
tires did things in. A veritable perfect storm. I had this exact
conversation last week with Al Clark, the guy at Trek in charge of
all-things tires. He's been in the business for years and hasn't seen
anything like it, not even the run-up in commodity prices just prior to
the recession. The price you got it for was really good, all things
considered. If they have more, buy more. I can't touch it; I'm operating
off recently-purchased inventory (those tires turn relatively quickly).

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com