Goodyear is the latest automotive manufacturer to make inroads into the cycling market. The tire manufacturer is rolling out a full line of bicycle tires for road, mountain, gravel and commuter bikes.
The future of transportation
Goodyear is striving to reposition itself as a "mobility company." This is a common refrain we've heard from many automotive companies in recent years.
"The bicycle is becoming a larger part of the transportation equation," says Luke Musselman, president of Goodyear's new bicycle division.
It's a forward-thinking strategy to meet the changing transportation needs of consumers. In the case of Goodyear, it also hearkens to the company's origins.
The first product Goodyear produced was a bicycle tire, developed in 1898.
Goodyear's new cycling line was developed in conjunction with tire design company Rubber Kinetics. From the start, the brand is offering a wide range of tires in progressive sizes and with an emphasis on tubeless-compatibility, or as Goodyear calls it, "Tubeless Complete."
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These tires are designed to seal or without sealant, and without the additional butyl layer that weighed down early generations of UST tubeless tires.
Goodyear cycling tires
Eagle All-Season
The Eagle All-Season is an everyday road tire intended to provide good grip in a variety of conditions. It has a reinforced casing to improve flat resistance.
Tubeless Complete
Sizes available: 700x25, 28, 30, 32
Pricing: $70
Peak
The Peak is the fast and light tread in Goodyear's mountain bike tire collection. It has low, wide-set knobs, somewhat reminiscent of Maxxis' Ardent Race, but with additional siping.
Goodyear offers the Peak in a "Premium" and a higher TPI "Ultimate" casing. We don't have exact thread counts for the different levels of casings at present.
Tubeless Complete
Sizes available: 27.5x2.25, 29x2.25
Pricing: $60 (Premium), $70 (Ultimate)
Escape
The Escape is positioned as the all-purpose trail tire in the mountain bike family. The tread pattern consists of a row of square blocks with directional siping and a round profile.
Like the Peak, it is available in Premium and Ultimate levels, but adds the "EN" designation to signify reinforced casings on the 2.6in-wide 27.5 and 29in versions.
Rounding out the mountain bike tire line is the Newton series. These are Goodyear's tires for aggressive trail, enduro and downhill. As a result of the broad use of the tread patterns, these tires come in the reinforced EN casing as well as a full dual-ply DH casing.
In addition to these casing options, Goodyear offers two different compounds: Dynamic R/T and the slower-rebounding Dynamic RS/T compound.
The Newton ST has taller, reinforced knobs for use as a front tire
The Newton ST has taller, reinforced knobs than the Newton. The "ST" in the name is for "steer", designating that it's intended to be used as a front tire to the standard Newton.
Tubeless Complete
Sizes available: 27.5x2.4, 27.5x2.6, 29x4, 29x2.6
Pricing: $70 (Newton / Newton ST EN Premium R/T), $80 (Newton / Newton ST EN Ultimate R/T), $90 (Newton / Newton ST EN Ultimate RS/T), $70 (Newton /Newton ST DH Premium R/T), $80 (Newton /Newton ST DH Ultimate R/T), $90 (Newton /Newton ST DH Ultimate RS/T)
County
The County is a hybrid tread, with a smooth rolling centre with knurling and shoulder blocks.
Tubeless Complete
Sizes available: 700x35
Pricing: $60 (Premium), $70 (Ultimate)
Connector
This is the Gravel tread in the collection. The Connector features a tightly-packed strip of angular blocks through the centre that transitions to widely-spaced transition and edge knobs. Given the rough nature of gravel, the Connector has a reinforced casing.
Tubeless Complete
Sizes available: 700x40
Pricing: $60 (Premium), $70 (Ultimate)
Transit Speed
This fast-rolling city tire is available with three different versions. The S3:Shell has 3mm of belting under the tread. The Secure version offers even more flat protection with 5mm of belting under the tread and reinforced sidewalls.
The Tubeless Complete is the only variant of the Transit Speed with a folding bead.
The Transit Tour builds on the Transit Speed's additional siping for improved traction and better performance in wet conditions. It also is available in S3:Shell, Secure and Tubeless Complete versions.
Sizes available: 650x50, 700x35, 40, 50
Pricing: $40 (Transit Tour S3:Shell), $50 (Transit Tour Secure), $60 (Transit Tour Tubeless Complete)
What's missing?
For starters, we still don't have official weights, or UK or Australian pricing. (We'll update this article if it becomes available.)
It's also telling that there's no love for 26-inch wheels in the mountain bike tire line. Additionally, there are no 650b options in the County and Connector lines.
This is just the start of Goodyear's cycling tire line, so we're sure to see more sizes and tread patterns in the coming months and years.
Stay tuned for reviews of Goodyear's mountain, gravel and road tires.
