Geax Laczem Inverted Mezcal Tread Pattern Tire

Quality dual purpose treaded tire at a reasonable price; the construction should give good durability. Would recommend for urban and light trail use.

Perfect. These tires are cheap here on amazon, too expensive at a bike store.

I'm definitely happy with these. Lightweight with very little rolling resistance of any kind. Excellent commuter tire for the price.

I am using this tire at about 90 lb as it is rated at 87 maximum and when used over 110 lb came off my rim. (The pressure rating was hard to see on the sidewall.) At 90 it works great for chasing $2,000 carbon fiber racing bicycles with my 3 speed beach crusier on flat paved roads.

it is not as fast as I thought it would be.

Terrible, received wrong size twice.

You may be confused by the title of this review. I don't blame you. However, it's exactly how I feel about these tires. There's a lot to like about the Geax Laczem tire.First, these tires are incredibly inexpensive. Right now they are being sold online for about half of the price I paid. If fact the price now is so low that you have to think there's a catch. However if you buy these tires you're going to be pleasantly surprised at how much of a bargain they are.Geax isn't exactly a household name in cycling products so you'd be forgiven in thinking that this a low quality brand. Geax is actually owned by Vittoria, which is a classic Italian cycling marque. They know a few things about tires. So why would Vittoria sell tires as Geax? Well Geax is made in Thailand and therefore Vittoria can take advantage of lower production costs and a huge asian market without a downgrade to the boutique name and reputation of the parent company.Vittoria's expertise shows in the composition of this tire. At 450 grams it's fairly light for a tire aimed at fast touring/urban commuting. The tread is slick with just the right amount of grooves to maintain control in wet conditions. I've ridden these tires in an inch of snow (yes, snow), rain, below zero cold, tropical heat and I've been very impressed with the grip of the rubber compound.I have about 1500 miles on these tires and they are still going. Now there's significant tread wear, more than I would expect for the mileage but they are still rideable. I think this is a clue to the rubber composition. It's definitely a softer compound that wears faster in the heat. But that's also the reason it's so grippy in most conditions.The sidewall says the max pressure is 85 psi. I got curious to see how much pressure they could actually take and if the rolling resistance would be reduced at a higher pressure. I pumped them up to 100 psi and to my surprise they not only handled the extra pressure, they became more responsive and felt more efficient. "Faster" is what people say about tires when they get up to speed quickly and take less energy to hold them there. Dare I say, these tires are fast? At 100 psi they are pretty fast.Consider this: Continental Grand Prix 26 tires are considered fast tires. They are rated for higher pressures and are at least 100 grams lighter per tire. Yet now, the Geax Laczem can be found online for about a third of the price of the Continentals. That's pretty crazy.So they offer good performance, they are fairly durable, and they are not crazy heavy. What's not to like?Discovering all of these things comes at a price. You will not be able to mount this tire without a tire jack tool. These tires are not just difficult to fit, they are impossible to fit by hand. I know all the tricks - they didn't work. I still needed them, but I could not get the last bit of bead over the rim without a tool.As a result I was/am haunted at the idea that I would have a flat far from home and not be able to get the tire off of the rim. I just kept my fingers crossed that I would not have a flat...then it happened. I hit a pothole and got a pinch flat.Luckily it was close to home and I just walked my bike. I had to work up the motivation to change the tube. I was still traumatized by how difficult it was to mount the Geax Laczem and now I had to remove it, put a tube in and mount it again.Long story short, I broke a tire lever (plastic) trying to get the bead unseated from the rim just to get started on the tube replacement. It was no easy feat getting the tire off and getting it back on was only slightly easier than the first time. I'm guessing the bead stretched a little bit with use. I still needed a tire jack to get it on the rim.So while these would be great training/touring/commuting tires, I would never buy them again. The next time I have to get them off my rims will be the last time. It's such a pity because they are good tires. Someone at Vittoria/Geax needs to take a look at the production line and sort this out. They would sell tons of these tires if they only could be fitted without super-human effort. Oh and I'm not using some exotic rims. I'm using Velocity Aeroheat 26 rims. They are pretty common. Until this issue is fixed I cannot recommend the Geax Laczem. These are indeed the best tires you should not buy. P.S.It appears there is a new version of this tire that is branded as "Vittoria Laczem". Perhaps the rim fitment issues are fixed. I'm not sure I'm willing to find out. Once bitten and all that.