Tyres

What does everyone do for tyres now that amber walls are no more? Just curious what everyone uses? :-D

Amberwall Panaracer Smoke and Dart are available - they're re-issues and are now sold under the 'Classic' tag. Charge Splashbacks are available too. And I think Maxxis might even do an amberwall tyre (but that could be a 29 inch).

Or there are always NOS pairs popping up on Ebay, such as Ritchey, IRC, and Fisher. These can be expensive - but if you need them to complete a build ...

I've also bought used amberwalls from Ebay. I have a pair of Tioga Psycho and TT, a pair of Kendas, and a pair of red wall IRC Mythos, all of which are far from new but are in good condition and perfect for retaining that retro look while riding off road.

And I've bought tyres here too, of course.

Re:

Why did the amber wall tyres fall out of favour? That's all you could get years ago I remember :roll:

I still use amber walls on my earlier retros and a collection of retro blackwalls for the later one.

I have a bit of a retro rubber fetish!!!

Proper smoke and dart on my Zaskar Project
Re issue smoke and dart on my Merlin
Tan wall original Onza Porcs on my Fat Chance
Re issue black wall Porcs on my STS
Tan wall Ritcheys ready to go on an Orange Vit T

In the loft sitting as spares I have:
3 pares of original NOS Amber wall smoke and dart,
a pair of reissue Amber wall smoke and dart,
2 pairs of black wall smoke and darts,
a pair of NOS front and rear wildgrippers with Amber wall in green
a pair of very lightly used Amber wall Onza Porcs
a pair of original blackwall Onza
a black wall reissue Onza Porc,
a pair of Amber wall Charge

Bought from here or eBay. Still plenty out there if you hunt

Amberwalls never were all you could get. Most bikes I've ever owned had all black tyres. Personally dont like amberwalls in that if you ride your bike lots and get muddy lots then constantly having to clean your tyre sidewalls to make them look good would be a right pain. In California where much of our hobby was invented and mud is a rare thing amberwalls would look good for longer. Either its fashion thats caused their demise or cost or the realisation that much of their overseas market involves a lot of mud !

velomaniac":2x2wzaaz said:

Amberwalls never were all you could get. Most bikes I've ever owned had all black tyres. Personally dont like amberwalls in that if you ride your bike lots and get muddy lots then constantly having to clean your tyre sidewalls to make them look good would be a right pain. In California where much of our hobby was invented and mud is a rare thing amberwalls would look good for longer. Either its fashion thats caused their demise or cost or the realisation that much of their overseas market involves a lot of mud !

Click to expand...

Ditto re cleaning them, worst side is always re drive side due to oil and mud. I use muck off but you have to be careful on the logos.

Tan walls just have a more pleasing aesthetic look on retros I think depending on the build.

If you are actually going to ride your retro build I'd consider putting modern tyres on it and leaving the period correct tires for when you hang it up for good or sell it.

Modern tyres fantastic and probably the best upgrade most people could make to their bike.

I'd say go tubeless as well.

Continental Mountain Kings on just about everything

and people seem to forget that the Smoke was used for the front too.

Yorkshiremike":2k786axt said:

If you are actually going to ride your retro build I'd consider putting modern tyres on it and leaving the period correct tires for when you hang it up for good or sell it.

Modern tyres fantastic and probably the best upgrade most people could make to their bike.

I'd say go tubeless as well.

Click to expand...

I had some 20 year old amber walls on the Marin that I ride everyday, I much prefer the Maxxis hi rollers I put on it.

Bikes that are 25 years old should have been ridden and gone through at least 25 pairs of tires. I don't see the big deal about running modern treads on retro bikes, unless it is a museum piece. Newer wider tires can have clearance issues obviously. Amber vs. tan vs. black (vs. red!)? To me it really depends on the build.

But I do like a nod to the past, as I am running the new Specialized Ground Controls on my modern sled, and pray that there will be a re-issue of the original Ground Control 'S' one day (with amber sidewalls)...