Specialized GC K4s

[trailwright]

When was the last time you saw a pair of these beauties?? Kevlar belted Ground Controls which were quite a rare tyre even at the time. It's a lot of cash but in the context of things fair enough I guess.

Personally, I used a pair of these when I rode the junior race at the 1990 Grundig XC at Aviemore just to ensure I wouldn't puncture. Did the trick!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/236053764013?_trkparms=amclksrc=ITM&aid=1110010&algo=HOMESPLICE.DISCCARDS&ao=1&asc=20240423163527&meid=7c4d218f4c3e499a9881dafba0393d5f&pid=102132&rk=1&rkt=1&itm=236053764013&pmt=1&noa=1&pg=4375194&algv=DiscOrganicAspectsRecallWithCoaspectWithMskuSeedAspectsWithPreRankingWithGreedyCardsForHpSeedless&brand=Specialized&_trksid=p4375194.c102132.m167900&_trkparms=parentrq:aaf3cd5f1960a626d0954113ffff821e|pageci:e7160e6f-2b47-11f0-8ad5-2e3cd117f50d|iid:1|vlpname:vlp_homepage

 

[Once A Hero]

Never heard of the K4 reference before, care to save us the googling?

 

[trailwright]

Never heard of the K4 reference before, care to save us the googling?

To be honest not sure about the 4 but the K referred to 'kevlar'. The tyre had a kevlar belt i.e. casing between the inner casing and the rubber tread to prevent thorns and sharp things penetrating through to the inner tube. I can't vouch for their effectiveness against nails though!

As I'm sure you know, foldable tyres have that ability because of a kevlar bead rather than the heavier steel one, so these GCs took things a step further. They never really caught on though as the extra layer of material gave a not unnoticeable weight penalty, which was sacrilege BITD!

 

[raidan73]

I didn't see many of these bitd. I think a lot of riders, me included, went from the regular steel bead Ground Controls to the 'S' version

 

[BoyBurning]

K4 was all that was left of K7 after K9 had had a go.