So here’s the skinny folks… I wanted 2 pairs of white porcs, one set for my Dogs Bolx and 1 set for my Nishiki alien, couldn’t find any, so reached out to a tire manufacturer in China. They said they would make them for me but with a moq (minimum order quantity)
So next step is to get the design I wanted - took every photo I could find and took a trip to China to the factory. There we sat in a weird boardroom for the day and worked with their designer and was able to get an almost perfect replica from photos, almost but not 100% exact. Then we waited while the mold was produced. Mass produced tires have up to 30 molds, we had one, which meant production was going to be slow. Remember, this is because I wanted 2 pairs of tires.
Roll forward a few months and samples arrive, not the lightest tire of course, but I’m pretty stoked because they are pretty similar to what I remember from 30 years ago. By this time I’ve made a little simple website and asked people to sign up for more information. No money has been paid to me, and I’m paying for all of this on my own dime.
Eventually the tires are all produced, and it’s time to ship them, right as the wonderful new tariffs hit us. Oh well!
By now there’s a small buzz and I’m getting emails from people asking about them, so I divert a bunch of tires to the uk where they will ship for uk and European shipments.
Weirdly, the tires arrive in Uk and my shop on the same day writhing an hour, so I launch the ‘buy now’ page - and holy cow!!
Uk inventory sells out within an hour so I start shipping uk and euro shipments from utah, and yes, it costs more, so I have to up the price, now remember, I’m not forcing anyone to buy these tires, people have free will!! But the sales keep flooding in. I have to divert one full time employee to simply bundling tires and adding shipping labels to try and keep up with the sales.
-Yes, they weigh 1000g. If you don’t like the weight, don’t complain, and don’t buy them.
-Yes they cost money to buy and ship, if you don’t like the price, it’s pretty simple, don’t buy them!
-Yes they’re made in China, with a wire bead and no branding, if you don’t like that …guess what…don’t buy them
I’ve got my 2 pairs for what I needed, I’m sharing the joy of something nostalgic for many people.
For those of you who have purchased, thank you so much, your helping offset the hundreds of hours it takes to get a single tire into production, (as well as the cost) and we appreciate you guys.
For the naysayers who want to complain about the details, try turning that negative energy into something positive, and do something good for someone. Or just simply move on.
For those who are interested, we’ve still got plenty of inventory left in the USA, and Monday we will resume shipping.
Thank you to all.
