Whatever happened to the skinwall tire? There was a time when every high-end…scratch that…every tire, high or low-end…had a skinwall sidewall. It was just a given. You took it for granted. Then, without anybody noticing, it seemed every company slowly moved towards the all-black tire. No one seemed to care…actually most probably welcomed it…this all happened during the era when everybody started to run black front wheels and spraypainting everything on their bikes flat black…a nice-looking bike wasn’t important…being hard-core or looking hard-core was all that mattered. But I’ve been looking at some old photos recently and I have gotten a little wistful for the old school skinwall. They really did add that little something to a pair of wheels.
You don’t think so? Just compare this:
It looks okay, right? What am I complaining about?
Now check out this bike..with classic Comp III skinwalls…
Looks a little better doesn’t it? And I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s not because of the number plate!
People, we have to rise up and demand to see some skin again! Bring back the skinwall!
From the cheap seats:
It looks like Colored Tuffs has managed to source some skinwalls for the discerning tire buyer (uhm…that’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever typed). Not a lot of detail but worth a look I guess…
Odyssey seems to have something in the works too with the tanwall tire …No word if a 24″ size will be released.