Agreed the Elans were not up to par. The also flatted very easily. The Japanese company Silver Star (on Fujis and original supplier to Specialized) made an excellent high performance clincher during this time period.
Joe Bender-Zanoni
Whitneyville, CT
> Wow, fun. Can I safely use these tyres?
NO!
Michelin Elan tires were unsafe at any speed, especially the first generation. These were the first mass produced tires that tried to offer sewup like performance in a clincher tire and rim.
The problem with the Elans was in their construction. They had a casing made of a very red thin nylon hairnet like material with very thick gum rubber sidewalls. The hairnet just wasn't robust enough!
The original versions were listed as 700x19c and 27x3/4". They tried to offer sewup like performance via a small cross section tire run at high (for 1975) tire pressure. I think that they were rated at 100 psi but the sidewalls frequently blew out at 90 psi. The failure point was usually where the tread met the sidewall. We had them blowing up on bikes sitting in our show room and even on several occasions while initially inflating these tires.
They had a thick rubber bead molded into the sidewall that fit into the lips in the Module E rims. Elans frequently blew off of rims without these retainer lips.
Because of the ~2mm thick rubber sidewalls they had a heavy, dead ride.
After a few months we stopped selling Elans and let the other shops in the neighborhood deal with the problems.
Later version Elans were listed at 25-622 (700x25c) or 25-630 (27"x1").
In early 1976 Wolber introduced their W20 series tires with a casing made of high thread count "long staple Egyptian cotton". These 700x20c tires were lighter and much stronger than the Elans and the rest is history.
Also in 1976 Rigida introduced a similar rim to the Module E rims called the 1320 and Super Champion brought out their Gentleman series rims.
The real advantage of these style rims was in the ~20mm width, the same as most sewup rims. This allowed a cyclist to change from clinchers to sewups and back without having to adjust their brakes.
I have a set of 25-622 Elans that came on a mid 70s bike that I bought last year. They "looked" in almost new condition so I rode them on an easy ~30 mile CR ride at 90 psi. I had a folding clincher as a spare. After the ride they were showing signs of cracking at the tread/sidewall seam. They're wall hangers now.
Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA
John Siemsen wrote:
> "...mated to rims with only a Mavic transfer, looking like non-annodized original "E"s. And shod with...Michelin Elan tyres! Very dusty and dirty, but looking unused."
>
> Wow, fun. Can I safely use these tyres?
>
> John Siemsen
> Portland, Oregon