American Classic

[charliedid]

Reboot starts with tires. Really low price tires, that if good is kind of amazing at $35 retail for tires.

https://www.amclassic.com/collections/gravel

[prototoast]

I've already bought a set of their road tires. Mounted them and set them up tubeless, but haven't taken them for a ride yet.

[AngryScientist]

This is good. the price of good tires has quietly and steadily crept up to a little ridiculous. if you're super passionate about cycling expensive tires might be fine, but it's hard to tell a teenager that it'll cost them 200 bucks to replace their mtb tires with something good.

i hope they are excellent!

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by prototoast

I've already bought a set of their road tires. Mounted them and set them up tubeless, but haven't taken them for a ride yet.

I guess I didn't look close and totally missed the other tires.

Nice

[EB]

Would love to hear more about these tires. Tire prices are indeed out of control - partially for that reason I switched to Specialized mountain bike tires and saved nearly $30 per tire vs Maxxis. I wish these AC tires came in a wider range of sizes, though - a lot of frames can fit 45, but not 50.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by Eli Bingham

Would love to hear more about these tires. Tire prices are indeed out of control - partially for that reason I switched to Specialized mountain bike tires and saved nearly $30 per tire vs Maxxis. I wish these AC tires came in a wider range of sizes, though - a lot of frames can fit 45, but not 50.

Totally agree

Seems to be at least for now completely direct to consumer which explains much of if not all of the cost savings. I and many others like new/fresh tires I cannot lie.

Might be a very smart move.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by charliedid

Totally agree

Seems to be at least for now completely direct to consumer which explains much of if not all of the cost savings. I and many others like new/fresh tires I cannot lie.

Might be a very smart move.

Is it fair to call them direct to consumer when all their orders are fulfilled by Amazon?

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Is it fair to call them direct to consumer when all their orders are fulfilled by Amazon?

Fair point.

Direct in that they are not (it seems) selling to or through the normal bicycle biz supply chain such as QBP, JBI etc. Amazon is acting as a fulfillment operation, still sold by AC

[Mark McM]

It is interesting that the first product of the "new" American Classic is tires when the original American Classic made just about everything except tires. Do we know who is behind the new American Classic? When American Classic shutdown in 2017, founder Bill Shook indicated he was interested in selling the brand. This CyclingTips article indicates that Shook is not directly involved with the new American Classic. It also says that the tires are made in a Taiwan in a factory owned by American Classic. Perhaps a Taiwan based tire/rubber company wanted to get into the bicycle business, and decided to launch their products under a "known" brand name?

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

It is interesting that the first product of the "new" American Classic is tires when the original American Classic made just about everything except tires. Do we know who is behind the new American Classic? When American Classic shutdown in 2017, founder Bill Shook indicated he was interested in selling the brand. This CyclingTips article indicates that Shook is not directly involved with the new American Classic. It also says that the tires are made in a Taiwan in a factory owned by American Classic. Perhaps a Taiwan based tire/rubber company wanted to get into the bicycle business, and decided to launch their products under a "known" brand name?

The tires themselves seem to most resemble Clement/Donnelly tires, which are also made in Taiwan. No idea if there's any ownership linkage.

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

It is interesting that the first product of the "new" American Classic is tires when the original American Classic made just about everything except tires. Do we know who is behind the new American Classic? When American Classic shutdown in 2017, founder Bill Shook indicated he was interested in selling the brand. This CyclingTips article indicates that Shook is not directly involved with the new American Classic. It also says that the tires are made in a Taiwan in a factory owned by American Classic. Perhaps a Taiwan based tire/rubber company wanted to get into the bicycle business, and decided to launch their products under a "known" brand name?

James Huang indicated somewhere else (maybe comments section of that article, maybe Instagram) that one of the former managers at old AC is running new AC, and occasionally consulting with Shook. So still in the "family".

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by prototoast

The tires themselves seem to most resemble Clement/Donnelly tires, which are also made in Taiwan. No idea if there's any ownership linkage.

It's also curious (in this day of globalization) that they are made in Taiwan, but only sold in the US. Maybe they are sold under a different brand label in other countries? Does the American Classic brand carry much weight in the rest of the world?

[YesNdeed]

I just impulse bought a set of the Aggregate tires in the 700x40 size. Looking forward to trying them.

[flying]

The 210gr Timekeeper road tires look interesting
available in 25&28 black or tan walls

[spoonrobot]

I'm too far around the curve to think $35 tires are going to offer the performance I'm looking for, especially after seeing how much they weigh. More skus in the 700cx50 range is great, but almost 700 grams? Woof. The other sizes are similarly porky.

It is extremely interesting that a new brand with 8 new molds and something like 50 skus is able to just pop up overnight, connected direct with Amazon, selling for significantly below competitors. Hopefully some of these will hit Bicycle Rolling Resistance to get an idea of how they stack up.