Originally Posted by
kergin
Tires are not an investment. No consumable item can be considered an investment. Investments tend to grow in value over time. Try and sell your used tire for more than you paid new.
Why? Because the manufacturer told you it was the "highest quality" and threw a price on it?
QBP != reality. QBP's pricing reflects an agreement between the manufacturer, QBP, and the retailer, that $$ is what we can reasonably charge for item X. It has almost nothing to do with what the item is actually worth or costs to make. They will charge what the market will bear, and if adjusting the market's sense of what is bearable includes slapping a "premium" or "racing" or other such nonsense sticker on the box, then they do it.
On QBP: I'm referring to the prices that an LBS charges.. not price of production. I'm saying that markup at the retail store isn't much.
Highest Quality: not because the manufacturer said that they were the best.. but because I ride the hell out of them about 25 miles a day through city streets and have never gotten a flat.. when i see similarly priced kevlar reinforced tires come into my shop all of the time with slices right through to the tube... from people who don't ride 1/10th of how much I ride.
Investment: I mean investment in terms of value to the consumer... These tires are incredibly valuable to me and are the only one's that I truly trust enough to ride every single day. I find extreme value in being able to NEVER worry about a flat.. I think it's ridiculous that people carry patch kits and extra tubes with them because the thought of having a flat never even crosses my mind when I am rolling on my 4000s. Also, it most likely is a sort of investment in the number of tubes I didn't to buy because I don't flat.
Chill out, brah.