Avocet Tires

Avocet USA is a company that designs and markets parts and accessories for bicycles. It is the outgrowth of a company based in Palo Alto, California that gained its early reputation in the bicycle parts mail-order business. Avocet was established as an autonomous organization and its product line has expanded from saddles to include cycling computers, tires, bottle cages and pedal accessories. Incidentally, Avocet is an English, not French (though derived from the french "avocette"), proper name of a wading bird family with long legs and webbed feet. The word has a long "O" and a hard "T". The Cross series is Avocet's tire for ATB and Hybrid bikes. They are made in Japan for Avocet by IRC (Inouye Rubber Company). It's intended for off road or pavement use. The Cross tires are made in three 26" widths and we also sell one 700c width. In each of these widths, the tire is available with and without an added Kevlar belt to help prevent tire penetration and tube puncture. The Kevlar belted models are the "K" series. All eight models of the Cross tire come with a Skin sidewall only, and only with a steel bead. Unlike other tires that have tread or tread blocks rising from the casing/tread stock surface, the Cross tire uses an extra thick tread stock with two Zig-Zag grooves down its surface, forming what Avocet refers to as "Invertedª" tread. With the grooves cut away, all the remaining upper surface is considered "tread". This Zig-Zag pattern is the same on all sizes of the Cross tire, it is merely "enlarged" to fill the width proportionately on the wider Cross versions. We found all eight models of the Cross tires to have a tread stock rubber hardness of 71/A.

Cross 26 x 1.25 $ Price in Catalog
Cross K 26 x 1.25 - Kevlar $ Price in Catalog
Cross 26 x 1.5 $ Price in Catalog
Cross K 26 x 1.5 - Kevlar $ Price in Catalog
Cross 26 x 1.9 $ Price in Catalog
Cross K 26 x 1.9 - Kevlar $ Price in Catalog
Cross 700 x 32c $ Price in Catalog
Cross K 700 x 32c - Kevlar $ Price in Catalog

Avocet has several road tires made for them by IRC in Japan. They refer to them as FasGrip Road tires and have them grouped as 20, K20 or 30 series tires. All of the tires in these have a smooth also known as "slick" tread, meaning that their is no raised or recessed tread, nor sipes molded into the tread. Although each of these tire series are available in both 700c and 27" diameters we are going to address only the narrow 700c diameters which comprise the majority tire sales within these tire families. Within each of these tire families specific names are used to indicate that the tire has a specific tread thickness. The Time Trial name reveals the tires tread thickness to be 1mm, the Criterium name means that it has a 1.25mm tread thickness while the name Road in the tire title means it has a 1.5mm tread thickness.

The FasGrip 20 is the basic model of Avocet's slick road tires. It has a steel wire bead with a Skin sidewall and Black tread rubber. This slick tire is available through us in three sizes, the Time Trial 20 which 700 x 20c, the Criterium 20 which is 700 x 25c, and the Road 20 which is 700 x 28c. Again the tire name gives a reference to the tread thickness of the tire. The tread rubber hardness couldn't be accurately measured because it is too thin, for more specifics, including total tire thickness, please use the 700c tire table.

Time Trial 20 - 700 x 20c $ Price in Catalog
Criterium 20 - 700 x 25c $ Price in Catalog
Road 20 - 700 x 28c $ Price in Catalog

The FasGrip K20 is a variation of the 20 series tires, adding a Kevlar fabric belt below the tire tread. The Kevlar belt helps resist through the tread punctures or cuts that will disable your tube. Like the 20 series, the K20 has a Skin sidewall, steel bead and Black tread rubber. This slick tire is available through us in three sizes, the Time Trial K20 which 700 x 20c, the Criterium K20 which is 700 x 25c, and the Road K20 which is 700 x 28c. Again the tire name gives a reference to the tread thickness of the tire. The tread rubber hardness couldn't be accurately measured because it's too thin, for more specifics, including total tire thickness, please use the 700c tire table.

Time Trial K20 - 700 x 20c $ Price in Catalog
Criterium K20 - 700 x 25c $ Price in Catalog
Road K20 - 700 x 28c $ Price in Catalog

The FasGrip 30 is a Kevlar beaded variation on the FasGrip 20 tire. The Kevlar bead permits the tire to be folded while reducing the its overall weight. Like the previous models, these tires have a Skin sidewall and a Black slick tread. These folding tires are sold in a box which is labeled "designed & manufactured by Avocet Inc.", because we know IRC to be the manufacturer of the tire, we called Avocet for a clarification.They confirmed that the statement is related to the box the tire comes in - not the contents of the box, so it seems that Avocet is also the cardboard box manufacturing business. We sell the FasGrip 30 tires in the two most popular models, the Time Trial 30 which is 700 x 20c and the Criterium 30 which is sized 700 x 25c. Remember, the tire name gives a reference to the tread thickness of the tire. The tread rubber hardness couldn't be accurately measured because it's too thin, for more specifics, including total tire thickness, please use the 700c tire table.

Time Trial 30 - 700 x 20c $ Price in Catalog
Criterium 30 - 700 x 25c $ Price in Catalog