Cheap. Agreeable ride. Fair wear life. Good puncture resistance for broken glass and tiny rocks. They mount reasonably easy and come out pretty round without too much fiddling once you air them up. The green & white label printed on it gives the tire a touch of class compared to most cheap 27" tires, that often don't even have a label. Seem to be better them most in this price range.

Cheap. It's one of those fake gumwalls like the others in this price range, all covered in fairly thick rubber but the sides are not black, the moulding between the two colours is inconsistant as you may expect, but it's less bad them most I've seen in this price range.

Quite a few years ago I found a Peugeot in one of my neighbor's trash and ended up really loving that bike, so at some point I went to my bike shop to leaf through the catalog for the best 27" I could find, but just as I arrived the front tire got a hernia and I had to make do with what was on hand... Cheap IRC tires.

Turns out, I like them to the point where I never did look for better tires.

Can't say how much I've ridden them since my Peugeot isn't equipped with a speedometer, but my brake pads are showing wear. The front tire still looks like it's reasonably new, the rear shows it's been well used but still seems to have plenty of life in it. I'd say better then a knobby and less then a touring tire, seems about right.

Luck has a part to play in this, but I've never had a flat so far. Note that I don't have goatheads and there's very little of that truck tire wire stuff, I mostly encounter tiny bits of smashed glass and tiny sharp stones. Many tires seem to grab them in the rubber so they work their way in, but not these. However it's conceivable the tires were a few years old when I got them, so the rubber could have had hardened compared to spanking new ones.

Another thing is, even tho they're cheap and look like cheap tires, but they're better then most bottom basement 27"'s. Also worthy of note is that they ride better them most equivalent cheap 700's I've ridden, by this I mean mostly drag/comfort ratio.

Another thing for me is, my front rim is currently an old steel thing without bead hooks, and I've have had two blowouts. Once was from pumping too hard, the other down a hill... Not fun at all. These have a 90 psi rating, that's 20% higher then average for 27" non hook bead. As a test I've pumped one to ~125psi (the max I could get it to), but usually I ride on 65-70psi at most anyways. This means the tire could heat to nearly three times water's boiling point and that much pressure would still not blow off a cold tire, knowing that certainly adds a comfort zone.

I ended up writing this review because I'm shopping for better tires. Not because I don't like these but rather my Peugeot rides in a way I love so much that I've set out to upgrade everything on it. Since I want it to ride well, this means the best rims I can find as well as the best tires. In 27" there's not that much choice tho, so it makes it easier.


Bottom line:

This is a tire for people who want to get their shipwreck back on the road for as little money as possible, it's not a tire for people who like to ride and appreciate sublties beteween components.

For bike shops, if you're looking for cheap 27"'s to stock since that's what most people want, these seem better then most equivalents and they're not too much of a pita to install, so I'd say go for it.

If you're looking for a new set of tires for your old beloved bike, and given you're even bothering to read a review... Go to your bike shop and order either Panaracer Pasela or Schwalbe Marathon, don't bother with these. Taken into account how much tires affect a bike's personality and how long they last, this is a bad place to save money.

Similar Products Used:

Ridden a bit on misc cheap 27" tires, also on cheap 700's. However, as a bike mechanic I've also seen quite a lot of them.