no, they're not that bad. they fit OK, they're fairly round, they just flat way too easily for me (but that's in comparison to kevlar belted stuff, which they just aren't). and the sidewall damage is partly due to road damage (dropped the back wheel into a one inch wide groove on the road), but the last one may have been from the thing living rolled up under my seat for a year or so... so i guess that's not fair thing to blame on them either. just never had much luck with them: i repaired a couple of them, though, both of the ones that eventually died from sidewall damage, so i suppose they last long enough tread-wise.