# TOC tire color?



## rusty_apache (Mar 21, 2018)

Tomorrow I’m taking delivery of a Century Marathon found right here on the CABE.
I’m about to order up a pair of Robert Dean 28”s for it and cannot decide between red or white. 
I assume both colors are appropriate for TOC bicycles but which was more widely used?
 Opinions?


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## bricycle (Mar 21, 2018)

Black more widely used.
white was basically only used prior to knowledge of graphite, which makes rubber wear longer, and possibly during WW1 when Graphite was needed for the war effort (also end of 30's early 40's "WW2" when Red was used.. no Graphite)
Only Red TOC's I've ever seen were the kool Two-Tone White/Red treads


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## bricycle (Mar 21, 2018)

rusty_apache said:


> Tomorrow I’m taking delivery of a Century Marathon found right here on the CABE.
> I’m about to order up a pair of Robert Dean 28”s for it and cannot decide between red or white.
> I assume both colors are appropriate for TOC bicycles but which was more widely used?
> Opinions?



 if it has to be one or the other pick white.
Red only really came into it's own in the "tens" not before TOC.


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## rusty_apache (Mar 21, 2018)

Definitely. 
One of each would look silly!
Thanks for helping me with this nagging uncertainty. 
Incidentally your short bulldog grips really look great on the National. Thanks again!


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## gben (Mar 21, 2018)

This should be a pretty easy question to answer by simply looking at the tons of old literature and period photos. White tires had zinc-oxide in them as an additive to improve wearing characteristics, later tires had lamp-black carbon in them for the same reason.

      If you look at the Pierce serial-number thread it shows a Pierce display at a large show in 1914 and all it's bikes still had white tires, and they had white tires in earlier advertising material shown in that thread too. After WWI black tires seemed to show up more often. One article said that during WWII white-wall tire production was stopped, maybe the zinc-oxide was a strategic material.

     Also red-tires were common early on because iron-oxide was used, and we have seen early blue tires too, but I do not know what made them blue.

     In early black and white photography, red or blue tires may show up as being white or black or grey depending on the film.

     If I had a common brand-name bike I would simply look up some old literature for it, if I could not find any I would just go with what the literature of other similar brands showed.

    So the first question is how old is that Century Marathon bike? And then is there any period literature for it?


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## GiovanniLiCalsi (Mar 22, 2018)

I use Robert Dean smooth white tread and regular tread tires on TOC. Nothing says TOC better than white tires, especially contrasting with a dark colored frame.
The red and white tires can be stained with tea and coffee, for an antique finish.


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## GiovanniLiCalsi (Mar 22, 2018)




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## rusty_apache (Mar 22, 2018)

Wow!
Thanks for all the information! I’m out in the sticks with bad reception so surfing the internet for brochures is really time consuming. 

 I have found very little information on Century bicycles so far. 
I did order white Robert Deans yesterday. The Century Marathon should arrive this afternoon.


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## Rusty McNickel (Mar 22, 2018)

According to catalogs, '98 & '99 Victor Overmans were dispatched from the factory with red tires.


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## removed (Mar 28, 2018)

bricycle said:


> Black more widely used.
> white was basically only used prior to knowledge of graphite, which makes rubber wear longer, and possibly during WW1 when Graphite was needed for the war effort (also end of 30's early 40's "WW2" when Red was used.. no Graphite)
> Only Red TOC's I've ever seen were the kool Two-Tone White/Red treads




I just got my pair of blacks for my Cleveland from Bob Dean and I'm happy.  They are soft rubber and will open up collect dirt. I would think white would be a nightmare.  He has all 3 colors at this time


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## GiovanniLiCalsi (Mar 28, 2018)

CRIPPLE said:


> I just got my pair of blacks for my Cleveland from Bob Dean and I'm happy.  They are soft rubber and will open up collect dirt. I would think white would be a nightmare.  He has all 3 colors at this time




Robert Dean’s White tires are made from a very high quality rubber, using titanium powder.
Doesn’t get that dirty.


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## rusty_apache (Nov 18, 2018)

GiovanniLiCalsi said:


> Robert Dean’s White tires are made from a very high quality rubber, using titanium powder.
> Doesn’t get that dirty.



A little bit of an update on those white Robert Deans. I ended up gluing them to the Wasp rims and recently rode it around Camp Ben McCollough where they became very muddy. After a cleaning they are stained to a perfect patina and held up flawlessly under less than ideal conditions.
I’m planning to get another set in red for the original rims on the Marathon very soon!


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## Brian R. (Nov 18, 2018)

Looks great! For comparison, here is a c.1910 bike I bought that still had its original white tires. They're not bright white but a sort of greyish cream; 100 year old dirt on them.


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