Anyone remember Panracer Smoke and Dart tyres?- fancy the modern equivalent-

As fred title, does anyone make a dual compound modern version?- maybe HR 2 on the back? but not sure

WTB Velociraptor is similar, with a front/rear specific version.

Check on Retrobike and you will probably be able to find some recent production Smoke/Darts for sale.

They still make them them. 8)

Aye but not the 2.2 Dart…which was the daddy of front tyres.

fancy the modern equivalent

That’ll be whatever of the current crop of tyre that works (almost all do these days) that’s been marketed well and caught the zeitgeist?

I’ve hardly used a single tyre in the modern era that isn’t miles better than my smoke/dart combo. (Conti OEM-spec tyres can claim that dubious honour though)

I use the Velociraptors ‘cos I bought a load cheap years ago and they last forever. Actually not too bad in the mud if pumped up v hard.

I don’t recall the Dart and Smoke being that good to be honest.

I used to run Ground Controls which I think were very well thought of at the time.

Dart & Smoke Magic (in Biscuit)? Stuff of legends, they were.

Minion & High Roller 2.35s a modern equivalent I’d say.

How many of us really find the limits of our tyres?

High Roller in mud ? Doesn’t work for me. Conti Barons my current mud favourite (on the best bike, the aforementioned WTBs on the hack).

That takes me back! Around the time of the white Porcupine, Spesh Ground Control and the like. Happy (fully rigid) days 🙂

gonetothehills – Member
That takes me back! Around the time of the white Porcupine, Spesh Ground Control and the like. Happy (fully rigid) days

Not to mention Farmer Johns 8)

I think the smoke was pretty decent out back, and the big dart wasn’t bad at all. Kind of tempted to try them again!

Better than a Ritchey z max though
Also of the same era the alpha and omega bites. The only bite I remember mine had were snake bite. Similarly the panaracer trail dusters.

Modern equivalent no idea – some slicks?

The memories! 🙂

What’s to remember? Mate of mine is still running an original Dart 2.1 on the front of his bike 8)

Every one wanted Farmer John’s, then every one wanted Panaracer Smokes. Neither were as good as Ground Controls.

I ran around on Hardpack 1.5’s for a while after MBUK used them on a Marin Ti in a quest to build the lightest mtb possible.

That was when everyone went weight mad and people were drilling out things just to save a few grams.

Those were the days when your rigid mtb was your XC, downhill and enduro bike all in one. The only difference in wheel size was the tyre width.

Life seemed so much simpler then 8)

did like the cornering on the dart front- cant believe they still make em 😀

I used to use an Onza Porcupine 1,95 on the front and a Smoke 1,75 on the rear. Awesome combo. I refused point blank to use ground controls simply because everyone else was using them. Plus you couldn’t get them in blackwall.

I’ve got Darts on the front of 3 of my bikes (they work very well for me on the Quantocks) , never rated the Smoke much and I found the Velociraptor front to be a horrible slidy unpredictable thing.

Those were the days when your rigid mtb was your XC, downhill and enduro bike all in one. The only difference in wheel size was the tyre width.

Life seemed so much simpler then 🙂

it can still be – it is for me, just one fully rigid mtb:-) have swapped the smoke/darts for XC pros but other than that, not much has changed

Farmer John’s were pretty horrible. Ritchey Z Max were a bit more horrible but my first proper set of MTB tyres were Tioga Psychos. Never has a tyre been sol well named. The great thing about them was their consistency – hardpack, dust, loam, wet, dry, roots, rocks, useless on the lot of them.

I lusted after a smoke and dart combo but this was in the days when you wore your tyres out before changing them. Don’t think the tioga’s every wore out. Last saw ’em on a tractor 😉

tractor

I ran a ground control more extreme for quite a while, pretty serious pedalling traction but absolutely nothing for cornering, with about an inch gap between sidewall knobs.

ah, remember the GC Extreme – cartoon tyre.

also had memories of Spesh storm control – sort of a point at a muddy hill and ride up it – brill as long as you avoided roots

I used to like them, but that was only compared to other tyres at the time. And that was when we used to ride up to the top of the woods to take in a really long fire-road descent with hairpins. Nowadays fire-road descents are what you do if you’ve broken a limb or something and need to get back to the car!

The benefits of any tyres back then were negated by the fact that if you ran less than 40psi you’d bend the rims every ride rather than every other one.

I loved my Porcs though, they looked so trick as I lay winded next to the bike, yet again.

Fires were sooo good when they came out. Ran nowt else for years.

I’ve got an old Ridgeback with Tioga Psycho IIs on it.

i loved my kona Scratch and Snifs came on my 97 hahhanna

Used to be quite fond of the IRC Mythos myself (not sure why though, looking back)….

johnellison
I used to use an Onza Porcupine 1,95 on the front and a Smoke 1,75 on the rear. Awesome combo. I refused point blank to use ground controls simply because everyone else was using them. Plus you couldn’t get them in blackwall.

Say what? I had these bad boys….

Ground Control Black Max

maybe HR 2 on the back?

High Roller 2?

Draggier than Danny la Rue in a drag race, don’t do it!

asterix – Member
Those were the days when your rigid mtb was your XC, downhill and enduro bike all in one. The only difference in wheel size was the tyre width.
Life seemed so much simpler then

it can still be – it is for me, just one fully rigid mtb:-) have swapped the smoke/darts for XC pros but other than that, not much has changed

My Jones and Dekerf are fully rigid, but I see very few rigid bikes out and about these days. Everyone seems to either have a suspension fork or full suspension bike.

I am riding rigid again. Adds some challenge to the smoother non trail centre stuff in the south. My only concession is odd sized wheels – no middle ground for me either a big one and a little one.

I am cheating slightly with the Jones though as it’s got a Knard fitted to the front.

I have just borrowed a Scott Spark though for a couple of days and was really suprised how easy it made the rocky climbs. The last full suss I rode was a Proflex back in 98.

Am i alone in just fitting a tyre front and back and riding round the slight flaws in that paticular design
I used to spend fortunes on stuff that was ‘fast rolling’ or ‘light’ but now 10 quid an end and contain air is about all i’m bothered about.

Aye but not the 2.2 Dart…which was the daddy of front tyres.

Completely agree. Pair it with a 2.35 Z-Max.

However….
Porcupines look great, but are complete rubbish
IRC Mythos, which I used to love are completely lacking in grip, but damn fast.
I’ll stick with modern tyres actually….

I bought some dart and smokes from america (Jenson?) about 2 years ago. I didn’t think the dart was very good (was poor off-camber and fairly thin), but the smoke on the back was pretty good TBH, thin sidewalls though and didn’t last long 🙁 very similar in feel to the S-works purgatory before the recent redesign

I found 2 Conti XC 1.9s, skinwalls, under the tyre pile last week. It’s been a while since I rummaged that far..