Tire Prices

[realshelby]

It has always rubbed me wrong that good motorcycle tires are $225 a set and up. I used to buy my beloved T-30 Bridgestones for the RT for that price delivered. American Moto Tire was my source for years. They seem to have been bought out and went straight downhill in pricing and web page operation.

 

Last couple sets of tires were up in price, but I did get a rebate card.

 

Been looking for 110/80/19 and 150/70/17 Battleax Adventure A41 tires as a Christmas gift for my Son. Best pricing online was about $285 a set....and now online places are wanting to charge sales tax on top of that. I can order these exact tires from Visor Shop in the UK, including shipping, for about $300. Does that sound like US sellers are screwing us? Or is it something else?

 

I have really good connections with Suzuki from my clutch basket business. Usually order OEM parts from them. Just ordered these tires through that dealer for about what I would have paid the place in the UK.

 

The Manager and I talked about what's up with pricing. He said he heard it was the trade tariffs that went into effect. Well, I had him price a set of Dunlop Roadsmart 3's. I ran these on the RT before the T-31's. They say "Made in USA" on them. Sure enough, the price on these was much less than I paid for the Bridgestones!

 

So, is our trade tariff spat actually making the price increase?

[mrzoom]

Good question!! Tyre prices always seem to be higher this time of year. The rebates come in the spring which helps.

My last set of Michelin's had the front tyre made in Spain and the rear was made somewhere in South East Asia, go figure.

 

On top of this what "new and improved" tyres are we going to see in 2019??

Anyone hear anything at the MC shows???

Will the Road 5 in GT be available?? Michelin certainly is proud of their tyres.

I really like the Dunlops as a good value for the price I paid in 2018 but who knows what next year will bring.

Wish I could get more miles out of any tyre.

 

Oh goody... a tyre thread with tariffs too.

[longjohn]

Michelin had a booth at the m/c show and I picked up a pair of pr 4 gt's for 350 after rebate cards from cycle gear. Unluckily the one near me doesn't do mounting. Grrrr.

[Paul De]

Gas and oil pricing should track crude pricing more closely which is down now, but the special chemical industry not so much. Not sure of the all the cost drivers in the rest of the world, but butadiene, a main ingredient in the making of synthetic rubber, and a major part of the formula in a tire these days was hit with US imposed tariffs this fall so all tires from Asia will be more expensive as the butadiene comes from crackers in China.

 

Regardless of the source of butadiene all producers of tires will take the opportunity follow the tariff driven cost increase to improve profitability in the US and too a lesser degree globally. Moderating oil prices may help some but that will not be seen for a quarter or two as cracked fractions going into refined chemicals pricing lag crude pricing and may not even track it as the industry often takes crackers out of production and the specialty chemical guys magically take capacity off line for "maintenance" to cut supply and support the higher pricing when there is a surplus of crude driving costs down. Share holders love it end product purchasers grumble!

 

It likely is that Road Smart pricing that Real Shelby was quoted was for tires made pre tariff. Given that a big competitor has higher pricing now Dunlop would have a share holder revolt if management didn't capture the added value.

 

 

Edited November 29, 2018 by Paul De