Weight weenies should not read the following frightening passage:
"In 1891 the racing board of the League of American Wheelmen was still
fighting the pneumatic [bicycle tire], and racers who used 'balloon'
tires had to stand a heavy handicap. It was the deeds of Nancy Hanks
in a 'bike' sulky [wire-wheel harness-racing carriage--horses led the
way!] that really taught Americans the virtues of the pneumatic tire.
The business increased very rapidly when it did begin, and in 1891 the
American consumption of rubber for bicycle tires was estimated at
1,000,000 pounds, including all types. The weight of bicycle tires
then averaged about 4 pounds [8,800 grams!], whereas racing tires
later came to weigh as many ounces [550 grams]. In 1892 the estimate
for American tires was 2,000,000 pounds of rubber, the tires averaging
about 5 pounds apiece [11,000 grams]. The American tire business was
still small, however, as compared with that in Great Britain, where
there were nearly 1,200 bicycle factories running, and some tire
factories were using 15,000 pounds of rubber a week [780,000 pounds
yearly]."
--"Pneumatic Tires," Henry Pearson, 1922, p. 648 [of 1,323 pages]
A little background:
Dunlop patented the inflatable tire in December 1888.
Here's one estimate of what happened to the tire world:
1890 1891 1894
Solid 98.6% 29.1% 0.04%
Cushion* 0.6% 54.2% 3.3%
Pneumatic 1.2% 14.0% 89.5%
http://i18.tinypic.com/7wsyw79.jpg
*very thick hollow-center tires, not inflatable
At first, I wondered if the long passage above arrived at 4 and 5
pound tire weights by confusing solid and cushion tires with
pneumatics.
But early pneumatics were quite accurately called hose-pipe tires,
often being tread applied to a 2-inch-wide multi-ply body that was
hard to distinguish from a thick garden hose.
Here's a rare passage that mentions tire weight:
"The weight of a pair of regulation 1 5/8 in. tires is about 4 1/2
pounds."
--page 78, "The Modern Bicycle and its accessories," 1898
That was in 1898, after several years of intense improvement had
lightened and narrowed tires, so a single 2 inch (or better) early
pneumatic from 1891 might well have weighed 4 or even 5 pounds by
itself.
Carl Fogel