The wheels and tyres fitted as standard to the Birdy are generally considered one of its weakest points, since the 18 inch size offers a limited choice of tyres, and none of these are regarded as particularly good.
The Birdy was originally supplied as standard with a relatively low pressure (psi) 18 x 1.5 tyre, with fairly high rolling resistance. Currently the standard tyre is a higher pressure (80psi) 18 x 1.5 tyre marked 'Birdy' on the side wall (the actual manufacturers name does not seem to be given. Despite the higher pressure, rolling resistance does not seem much better, and many users report very high rates of wear - some riders getting less than 500 miles from the rear tyre.
In addition to the road tyres described there is a knobbly off-road tyre, but we have not heard any reports of this. It seems reasonable to assume that it will give higher rolling resistance, and so be less suitable for normal road use.
The problems with the standard road tyre have resulted in a number of people fitting other sizes of wheel to the Birdy, so that they can use different tyres, and reports on these are included in these pages.
The following information regarding new tyres and some changes in specifications were posted to the Birdy email list on 9 September 1999 by Thorsten of sprl VELODROOM bvba, Brussels (velodroom@hotmail.com).
With a Birdy Green which we received recently there was the new r+m catalogue for the next season. There will be a new tyre with the following characteristics:
So the rumors have been correct. I have no information regarding the price yet.
Some bike specifications have changed:
The rest stays more or less the same.
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Last updated: 24 December 2001