I think appealing features for a motor bicycle tire would be:
1. no tire squirm at high speeds (the knobbie tire on the rear is great for country roads and a few muddy spots I have to go through to avoid the freeway/interstate, but tends to "drift" at 30mph. I am running it the proper direction. )
All knobby tires squirm on pavement, sorry. It's just the way the physics of our universe work.
If you ask on motocross forums, many others will tell you that off-road motorcycles that can easily go 75+ MPH off-road are downright frightening at more than 45 MPH on pavement, just due to tire squirm.
2. kevlar tread belt/flat protection
Puncture protection isn't a bad idea, but Spectra is supposed to be better than Kevlar. Kevlar is pretty cheap these days, but it has always had the problem of losing its strength with repeated flexing.
Kevlar can still be used for tire beads because those aren't flexed much--but there's not much reason for that now either.
3. strong sidewalls that do not allow a lot of tire "growth" at high RPMs and do not flex easily so the tire is less likely to pinch at high speeds (30-50) over potholes or bumps, and does not "roll" on the rim in hard corners
This sounds like a couple different issues-\
"tire growth at high speeds"? I've never heard of this. It would certainly be easily possible to make a bicycle tire with a stronger casing, but I don't know what problems would be solved by doing that.
"do not flex easily"? Sounds like an inflation pressure issue, or the need for frame suspension.
"does not 'roll' on the rim in hard corners"? It sounds like you need more air pressure, or wider rims.
Wider rims are a considerable expense, but are usually worth it.
Many MTB's come with rims as narrow as road bike rims these days--even some rather expensive, $2000+ MTBs--and people think that's correct, because "it came that way", and it's not. The ONLY advantage the narrower rims have is that they weigh less. In every other aspect (strength, handling, durability) they are worse.
With WIDE rims you can run lower tire pressures, get better bump absorption and still get improved handling. And they're not that expensive, either: Sun makes some cheaper downhill rims that are pretty wide, much stronger than normal rims and that still allow using rim brakes if that's an issue.
4. recessed tread pattern and pretty hard rubber for long term durability on pavement
(see Maxxis checker tread tires or Nashbar Elevators mtn tires-these roll very nicely on pavement and do quite well off road on dirt)
Slicks do best for pavement, knobbies do best in the mud.
If you try to combine the two you mostly just get a tire that isn't really good for either.
5. Center channels for water clearance (no poop stripe from rain water coming up on the butt and lower back) that continue all the way around the tire (like the Tioga 1.75/1.95 slicks) for low rolling resistance on straightaways.
I'd not heard that the tread made much difference in how much water a tire throws up. A
fender works wonders though.
I had planned on doing the "ribbed" tire tread anyway (that is five ribs all the way across the tire's width) as it's an authentic period tread.
I think a fair price would be $20-30 per tire esp if they were the cofee-sidewall good quality tires like Continental and had the folding bead (great for carrying a spare on long trips)
If you could get Cheng Shin to make them, that might be realistic.
I am a long way from setting prices, but I didn't expect that I would be competing in the bargain-end of the market.
Regarding folding tires: Wal-Mart now sells their $15 tires folded up into fairly small boxes. These tires don't use Kevlar beads, but use several wraps of smaller multi-strand cable, rather than one wrap of single-strand wire. It may be that these cannot be folded up as tightly as Kevlar beads, but they can still be packed pretty small.
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