When Panaracer ruled the earth…

I’ve exhausted my Panaracer phase and tend to stick with Maxxis these days

But I had a load of Panaracer tyres.

Fire XC’s obviously – looking back they were kind of shite but I didn’t know any better. Lasted for ever though.

Speedblasters, as mad as a mad thing, on bone dry trails they were very fast and surprisingly grippy. On wet tarmac they were lethal – like locking up both wheels and sliding down the road lethal. The tread lasted about three rides as well.

Cinders, grippy and dependable a decent all round tyre, not fancy just solid and reliable, slow though.

Rampages SC – Pretty decent tyres even if they were a blatant rip off of Nevegals.

I think the Rampage project description said “let’s make a worse nevegal”. Mission accomplished! Also, they must have been glad when cedric gracia’s initials turned out to be so grippy.

Cinders are great tyres – unbelievable grip and very tough.
Not fast though. Ohhh no 🙂

Used pretty much nothing but Panaracer for years till I discovered the internet and ‘What Tyre?’ threads.

Things have moved on a bit though & I like the fact you can get that solidity with less drag these days.

I think that the Rampage is much maligned. I used to run an Soft Compound Rampage up front and a standard at the rear and it was pretty good.

As for the Cinder, it was the “go to” tyre a decade ago. They lasted reasonably well and were competent all round, but they dragged…

The OP’s tyre looks kinda OK, like a forerunner to the rock razor, small knobs in the middle with bigger edges.

I would genuinely like to ride my Dart SC and Smoke again, they seemed amazing at the time.

I still have Panaracer Mach SK’s on my old Salsa. Also have some Tioga factory muds in the shed, ridden once 10 years ago.

Fire XC Pros on my pub / town / dicking about bike. They last well and give no cause for complaints. In keeping with the vague retro theme too (unintentionally!)

I thought the Smoke/ Dart magics in cream set off my purple anodized frame and gold Mag21s an absolute treat. In retrospect, it may not have been quite as cool as I imagined at the time.

These Michelins were the worst tyres ever made. 🙂

I bought them in Oz, had them baking in the heat for several years without using them before I stuck them on the Penance X-attic (aka Bike of Mistakes) with all the crap purchases that were kept in my Attic of Woe.

I rode it at a SS event and on the damp wooden tracks those tyres were truly sphincter tightening.

I bought them because they were supposed to be fast. I believe that, because with them you have to ride fast enough to be ahead of the accident you would have had if you were slower… 🙂

An example of gopping:

I went back to Fire XCs (for spring-autumn conditions) a year or so ago after a 7-8 year sabbatical. Still find them eminently sound – fast enough, grippy enough – and with THAT red wall.

I’m quite impressed with their Gravelking tyres on my caadx for road and light off-road duty and always thought the ‘ZSG’ rubber was good for trail centres when I used to ride at them.

i’m still using a pair of Fire FR’s on my full sus bike….for some reason i like them
also have a pair of Mach SS tyres in the shed that were used for commuting…very light and fast but very easy to puncture.
up until recently i had about 4 sets of Nokian tyres (fat hakka, gazzalodis and NBX) and a pair of tioga factory DH (24″) and a pair of 24″ intense tyres. now that theyve gone only the Fire FR’s, a pair of Maxxis Ignitors and a pair of Continental Barons remain….i must buy more tyres soon

Duster Pro FTW!

They did another fast tyre…sort of a cut Fire XC Pro, that wasn’t nearly as mad as the speed blaster, that was a sort if decent rear summer tyre, can’t for the life of me remember the name of them. Mythos IRC were my go to race tyre for ages has some semi slick versions 😆

I quite liked Speedblasters 😳

nickc – Member
They did another fast tyre…sort of a cut Fire XC Pro, that wasn’t nearly as mad as the speed blaster, that was a sort if decent rear summer tyre, can’t for the life of me remember the name of them. Mythos IRC were my go to race tyre for ages has some semi slick versions

You’re thinking of the Trail Blaster.

I had a pair of the beige XC Magic tyres, the type the factory GT XC team of Furtado et al used in the mid 90s. Bring back beige tyres I say!