My son Bryan & I just finished installing a fresh set of all white Wards Riversides (from Stan Lucas) on the '15 Touring last night. I'll give a report as to their durability in the months to come
ps: The old Universal "smoothies" still have a lot of life left in them and may end up on my next project... not sure yet.
How much did they cost?
30 x 3 $212 each
30 x 3 1/2 $219 each...
About $60 more each than black tires
Out the door with tax $939.58 for the set. I picked them up in person, so no shipping
Mighty stiff price, but they sure are pretty. It will be interesting to see how long they last. Do you have a way to keep track of miles?
Bill, what did you use for tubes? I just gotback from a tour tour today where I had to change tires 5 times. The new tubes are really poorly made. They tend to leak air between stem metal and rubber. The stem vulcanizing (rubber stem) leaves the tube too thin on the outer edge of the stem pad... it pops holes there, or the stem rips out. Punctures at random spots appear.
When you cement a patch it might work, or you might see it pull away from the tube, or bubble up, and leak air.
When you contact the vendor they send out more bad tubes to replace the bad tubes, no questions asked. It seems that the problem is across vendors and related to the product supplied from whatever source on the other side of the world they are using. It seems to be a combination of poor materials, poor workmanship and poor quality control.
If anyone has found a source for good quality reliable tubes which can be run for more than one day or 100 miles without failing I would love to hear about it... right now I'm looking to get 3 or 4 (would want a bunch, but the word is that if you store the currently available tubes on the shelf for a year or two, even bagged and sealed up) you can expect holes wherever they were folded.
TH
Terry... if my (ailing) memory serves me right, last spring when I bought new tires and tubes for the rear end of my TT firetruck, from Universal Tire out of Hershey PA, the tubes said "made in USA" right on the tube. And they were thick feeling and heavy. Of course, these were 600x20's, so they'd be heavier than others. Just a thought.
A friend on the tour quoted a vendor saying that "no one has made tubes in the U.S.A. in twenty years". He was referring to the 30X3 and 30X3.5 flavor though.
I'll try and contact Universal.
Thanks, TH
Terry: I re-used the old 40+ year old tubes with brass stems... they hold air, the new ones are cr*p.
Steve: I haven't tried to use my speedometer but will estimate miles & try to keep track of wear. Yes, they are expensive, but only $60 each more than black tires... that's how I'm justifying it
I may get some of my investment back if I sell the Universals. I cleaned them up today & they are still in great shape. I have a few folks behind the scenes asking about them...
I finally took it out for a drive tonight. Drives great! Here's a shot of the car before the tread got dirty for the first time
By the way, my old Universals did find a new home on a '14 Runabout.
I'd like to know more about the Universal tubes. It may be worthwhile to order a set. I just bought one from Lucas, and I believe it was made in India. What puzzles me is it says it will fit 30X3 and 30X 3 1/2!