Retro Black Wall (Shock, Horror ... lol) Tyres ?

[Titiritero]

All the in-house produced tires from Trek in the early nineties already had black walls (Matrix Cliffhanger, Matrix Z-Axis, etc.). Nothing outstanding, but they did the job.

Porcupines had great grip at the cost of ultra-fast wear. I bought one and one month later had to go back to the shop to get a new tire as the Onza was completely worn out.

 

[firedfromthecircus]

Re: Re:

my ''rule of thumb'' is, if it has vbrakes, then blackwalls are kosher.

Blackwalls were out long before v-brakes. The Onza Porcupine was available as a blackwall in 1990.

 

[Rampage]

Re:

I found the original Porc tyres terrible.
A waste of 1.5 weeks of paper round money.

 

[under the radar]

Re:

I know blackwall tires were around before v brakes,I had some black smokes in 91, but IMO they just look fugly on pre 95 bikes...it can be done but it takes just the right spec to make black walls look "right"

 

[legrandefromage]

I like riding my bikes these days and would rather have something that works. Very few of the old designs actually work, combine that with availability and you end up with a bike waiting for tyres for a potential very long time.

 

[WD Pro]

Exactly - availabilty, and 'new rubber' is why I would be happy with repops

I would also be happy with 'modern' if I could remove the graphics off the sidewall - has anyone actually done this successfully ?

WD

 

[firedfromthecircus]

Not me, but somewhere in the road forum I think there are instructions for doing it. Acetone was the key ingredient I believe.

 

[firedfromthecircus]

Found the post.

acetone works wonders on tyre logos.

Check out Bikesnob's blog entry here:
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.co.uk/2014/ ... -only.html

Using cotton buds dipped in acetone he went from this:

Via this:

to this

but I am sure you could go for the 'full hollywood' and remove all the letters

 

[24pouces]

Re:

Kona or Specialized used black walls tires very early.
The Kona A and B (or Traction and Reaction) are very cool tires

 

[chrisv40]

Re:

Ive been very impressed with a pair of kenda kinetics that came on a bike i recently bought.

Subtle graphics, not ridiculously heavy, front/rear specific and cheap as chips.