Sale: Hurricane Ridge with Cosmetic Flaws & FMB Cross Tubulars
Tire manufacture is a bit of a black art. Rubber for the tread is mixed and rolled out in huge sheets like making pies in a giant bakery. The casing fabric is impregnated with a different kind of rubber. Then everything gets assembled by hand, together with puncture-proof layers (on our Endurance and Endurance Plus models) and the beads. The raw tire, still with a completely smooth tread, is baked in a the tire mold. Heat partially melts the tread rubber, and pressure moves it around so it forms the tread pattern.
Each step of the process has its unique challenges. Our knobby and semi-slick tires are especially hard to make. There’s a reason why most gravel tires have small, closely-spaced knobs: Less rubber moving around reduces the risk that the rubber doesn’t quite fill the entire mold, and that some knobs remain only partially formed.
For us, ease of manufacture is secondary to real-world performance. Large knobs are stiffer and don’t flex much, so they roll faster and corner better.
Despite these challenges, there are almost zero rejects when we do quality control on our Rene Herse tires. That’s because our suppliers have many years of experience in making high-performance tires. But sometimes, tires don’t come out of the mold perfectly. Recently, we found a few 700×42 Hurricane Ridge tires that have minor cosmetic flaws. In this case, it’s not the tread—which is perfect—but there are some minor irregularities where the sidewall transitions to the bead area. Most people probably wouldn’t notice this, and function is not affected.
We’re offering these tires at 25% off. We’ve got them in Extralight, Endurance and Endurance Plus casings. The tires carry our full warranty. (However, all sales are final, as with other sale items on the Rene Herse website.) Now’s your chance to get a set of our famed dual-purpose knobbies for significantly less.
We’re also offering our wonderful FMB ‘cross tubulars at 25% off. If you’re racing ‘cross on tubulars or want to convert a classic road bike into a gravel rig, you won’t regret gluing on a set of FMBs. These are the tires pros pay for with their own money…
As lovely as these tubulars are, the reality is that, with tires getting wider, the advantage of tubulars has shrunk—especially when our Rene Herse clinchers have casings that are just as supple. And so we’re discontinuing ‘cross tubulars in our regular program. We’ll still offer them, but only by pre-order before each year’s ‘cross season.
If you’ve been eyeing a set of FMB ‘cross tubulars—or want to stock up for when your current tubulars wear out—now’s your chance! (Super Mud Silks are excepted from the sale, since I’ll put those on my own bike!)
More information:
- 700×42 Hurricane Ridge tires with cosmetic flaws
- FMB tubular tires
