26" Tan/Amber Wall Tires?

[geddy1972]

does anyone know of some cheap tan wall 26 inch tyres ?

i cannot justify spending stupidly expensive prices for tyres just because they have tan walls and everyone seems to think its the latest thing to have on your retro mountain bike.

 

[KayOs]

does anyone know of some cheap tan wall 26 inch tyres ?

i cannot justify spending stupidly expensive prices for tyres just because they have tan walls and everyone seems to think its the latest thing to have on your retro mountain bike.

Take a look at Vee Tires. I bought some Mission MPCs a while ago and they were around 20€ each. Their Crown Gem also looks nice and is around 20€.

 

[Carge]

Baldy’s on eBay

 

[Tommy27]

Further to the idea of dried out sidewall refurbishment. I picked up a nice set of green Wildgrippers today, front sidewalls are mint, rear sidwalls were very dried out, sorry, didn't take a before photo but trust me, they were pretty dry, not as bad as the Mega bites above though.

I did my best to clean up the green rubber and not having any dubbin to moisten the dried up side walls, decided to try proofide instead (Brooks saddle cream for those unfamiliar). I think it worked like a charm, time will tell I guess.

Pictures of the bike they went on and close ups:

View attachment 809409
View attachment 809410
View attachment 809411

How did this hold up?

 

[Canuckbiker]

How did this hold up?

Sorry for the delayed reply, this held up reasonably well but there was need to reapply now and then as it would absorb and look better but would then slowly dry out again, I was lucky enough to locate a better condition rear tire last year to replace it

 

[Retrorockit]

I have the Rene Herse Rat Trap Pass 26" tan slicks. I bought them for every other reason except tan sidewalls. The happen to look nice on the retro XC bike. Fast rolling, light weight, and smooth ride in that order. Much better than the Scwhalbe Kojaks I had before.

 

[Tommy27]

How have you found their puncture resistance?

I had some standard casing 32mm for the road, they were fast for that, but take them on gravel path and the sidewalls would just go.

I've avoided the Ultradynamico Mars 26, for fear of the same.

 

[Retrorockit]

I use them on a street XC Softftail. Mostly on bike paths in parks. So flats aren't a big concern there. That's why I got brave enough to try the Extralights. My urban riding is on an ebike. But running the 2.3 width probably would help with sidewall damage too. For flat resistance I run tubeless sealant inside the tubes. The biggest problem I had was Vittorio latex tubes failed on day 1 both tubes. So I'm back to heavy butyl tubes for now, losing some of the lightweight benefits. But RH is supporting 26" with high end race tires ( and heavier options too). Whether that suits your purpose or not is up to you. I tried TPU tubes also, but the sealant didn't want to stick to them. easy to see since the RH tubes were transparent. So I'm up in the air about the flat prevention for these.

 

[Retrorockit]

I just did some shopping for this and found Michelin Air Comp 26" latex tubes with Schrader valves up to 2.2" size. The RH tires are 2.15 measured. I had to buy them from "over there". I will add some Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex foaming tubeless sealant. This may get faster rolling, and good flat prevention too. This trick has worked well for the Ebike as far as no flats goes. The sealant should help with the Latex tube air loss issue since it can seal the tire on it's own. With good sealing in the tubes I started taking weight out of the tires on the Ebike too. No more flat prevention layers.
BTW the RH Extralights are considered the worst tires for tubeless conversion. Lots of sealant needed, and blow offs if the rim isn't "just so".

 

[Black_puma]

Here´s some history on the Smoke tire from Mr. OnZa himself

https://velobase.com/ViewBrand.aspx?BrandID=781b63f6-5aaf-4b7c-a290-78b9904cefa1&From=T
Not sure if it was supposed to be a rear only tire, but in the beginning (1990?) there simply was no front specific Panaracer tire. They promoted the Porcupine (front) and Smoke (rear) as "the winning combination".

As to the original question: IMHO the Panaracer Smoke/Dart are the only faithfully vintage looking tires. Maybe the Rider T1 also. To my eye all other tires (Schwalbe, Vee Tire Mission, Rene Herse) have a much to tall skinwall and thus are easily identified as non- vintage. That being said, I really don´t like the Smoke/Darts for actual riding, not so much because of weight, but drag.

It´s really a shame, I wish Ritchey would make a skinwall Megabite or Specialized a Ground Control again.

I have original Smoke and Darts on my '92 Bravado and I was rather impressed with how they roll compared to others I have tried. Very light weight but still good on climbing. Best thing was I only paid £15 for the pair on eBay! Trying to find another pair like that for spares would be a much bigger challenge. I have just bought a pair of black Ritchey MegaBites for my '91 Avalanche because I couldn't find amber walled MegaBites without spending a fortune.