Submitted by
verlon
a Cross Country Rider
from Minnesota
Date Reviewed: December 10, 2008
Strengths: Price, Looks, Low Rolling Resistance, Quiet on Tarmac, Durable.
Weaknesses: Sketchy Threshold of traction. Tires will let go without warning when pushed hard on Tarmac.
Bottom Line:
Work good, Low rolling resistance, pretty fast on dry/hard dirt. Not so great in muddy or snowy condions. Great Price. Only drawback is the sketchy aggressive paved cornering. appx 600 miles, no issues with tires, rear showing some wear.
Submitted by
Umar
a Cross Country Rider
from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Date Reviewed: September 28, 2005
Strengths: Cheap. Perform well and quitely on tarmac. Grip strong on climbs, and wet trails.
Weaknesses: Sinks a little bit more than I expected on sandy trails. It clears the mud during the ride, suprisingly! However, I have to clear the mud right after ride, if not it stuck there between the knobs. Couldn't buy it anymore, I think it is no longer in production.
Bottom Line:
Before entering my favourite mountain trail, I will pass 3 climbs on tarmac for about 2.5km. No other tyres perform better both on the tarmac and the mountain trail. I also got twice 2nd place in local MTB cross country events using the Mach II SK(both front and rear).
Similar Products Used: Continental Competition Pro, Kenda Kozmik, Kenda Short Tracker, Maxxis
Bike Setup: Giant Hybrid with Rockshok SID Team. XT mechanical except Truvativ Stylo crank. Bontrager/Sun ringle rims and hubs combo. Hayes disc brake.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
chris mcgregor
a Cross Country Rider
from vancouver bc canada
Date Reviewed: July 19, 2004
Strengths: Super duper grip you can depend on and low rolling resistance. Cheap price; nice and light too.
Weaknesses: Haven't found one yet!
Bottom Line:
This tire is the best money for value I've ever experienced. I bought it for a 24hours of adrenaline race in Whistler and was very very impressed with it. It looks real skinny, almost too skinny and all of my racing buddies laughed at me when they saw it. They ate their shorts when I was killing them in the lap times! The tire rolls very smooth, a bonus for the uphills and hardpack. But when it comes to that dude you just can't shake on the climbs is when you can let this tire shine: just point the bike downhill and drop the hammer. This tire was incredible on descents, super grippy and not shaky at all. I almost thought I was on a freeride tire.
Bike Setup: gt idrive 2.0, 2001 marzocchi single crown with 4 inches of travel, mavic X221 rims
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Diego Hall
a Weekend Warrior
from Lilburn, GA USA
Date Reviewed: April 2, 2004
Strengths: Smooth on pavement, handles dirt just as well. Very nice tracking on hardpack.
Weaknesses: Deep mud - but, hey, this is a semi-knobby! What do you expect???
Bottom Line:
I think these are my favorite tires ever! I ride on pavement during the week and in the woods on the weekend. I have been searching for a long time for tires that could do both. I think these are perfect if you are riding like me. These tires are REALLY cheap - which kind of made me nervous - but I love them. Very quiet and smooth on pavement (you can ride sitting up with no hands and the bike doesn't wander around). The only time they ever slipped on me in the dirt was on very wet Georgia red clay. I am not sure anything would have made it up that hill without slipping! Give them a try if you want to ride roads and trails. They are so cheap you can give them away if you don't like them.
Favorite Trail: Yellow River Park - Gwinnett County GA
Duration Product Used: 3 months
Price Paid:
$10.00
Purchased At: online retailer
Similar Products Used: Never used a small knobbed tire before. I have Panaracer Mach SS on one bike. I had IRC Pirannha Pro's on this bike before this.
Bike Setup: Cannondale M900, XT rear LX front der. 8 speed.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Pieter Blaauw
a Racer
from Cape Town, South Africa
Date Reviewed: March 26, 2003
Strengths: Fast rolling, corners well.
Weaknesses: None yet, but looks dodgy in wet weather.
Bottom Line:
I bought the SK/SS combo for front and rear use on hard pack XC trails. Those that complain that the tyre doesn't do well in wet should read the manufacturer website. It isn't a wet weather tire. For wet weather I use the Conti Traction Pro 2.1. It's a agressive wet weather tyre. This is a hard pack tyre.
Strengths: Tried the SK on my Front wheel (on Trek Fuel 90). On my trail I improved my tracktime with 7 minutes to 49minutes. Good climber, maintains the corner in tight turns. This Panaracer gives the Trek a much more dynamic and fast front end steering. Very responsive and direct! Does a good job on fast downhilling along dirt, roots etc. thanks to it's nibmle handling. On my trail, you have hight differences of 600 meters, so for me fast downhill through nature, climbing, single trails, fast steering are the most important things. Mud behaviour isn't that important for me (I always try to avoid steering into it, so I always try to jump over it!)
Weaknesses: Front end seems to sink a bit when the ground gets really sandy! But it's not too bad.
Bottom Line:
Seems to be a very good tyre and very responsive for the front. Not sure how it behaves on the rear wheel (simply didnt try it yet).
If you are looking for a more responsive front end steering, just buy one tyre and test it on your front wheel. Btw. Panaracer advises the SK to be used on the rear, so maybe for that it's also a good tyre.
Similar Products Used: Michilin Wildgripper X Sport (also a nice tyre!) Bondrager Jones
Bike Setup: Trek Fuel 90, lowered front steer (love my bike!)
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Charlie Devine
a Racer
from Oak Ridge TN U.S.A.
Date Reviewed: March 18, 2002
Strengths: rolls fast smooth ride on pavement good raction on most conditions
Weaknesses: heavy poor reliability was loose on rim
Bottom Line:
This was a great tire before it tore. I was just riding along over this square curb and it ripped. I do this all the time with my bike. I have ridden Panaracers for eight years. Something similar happened to the front tire. Well, I used some rim tape and taped up the gash from the inside. No, I didn't ride a ripped tire. I gave it away. Por fella. I insited his old tires were better than my torn ones. But he took them anyway. If I ever see that guy again I will take his bike and put my OEM Tiogas on it. Traction with those sucked but this guy only needed a street bike.
Only two steaming horse turds for value. It is a wonderful semi-slick before you break it. I would have liked to pay half as much. I might get some more if I find them cheap.
Only two steamers overall. I forgot which, but one tire ripped (SS or SK) and the other one (SSor SK) just bulged out and came off the rim one day. No, when I remember that I will never use this tire again. Did I mention they fit very loosely on the rim? It was not my good Velocity rim! Maybe it was a bad inner tube. I don't care because neither tire nor tube is still on my bike. $5 is a good price for this tire.
Bike Setup: Al. hardtail with Marzocchi Z4 flylight air
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
frost
a Weekend Warrior
from staten island,N.Y.
Date Reviewed: March 1, 2002
Strengths: light,fast,good traction for short knobbies.
Weaknesses: little scetchy at high speeds.
Bottom Line:
this tire is an excellent tire for what it was meant to do. its not a freeride take it to the extreem type of tire.it packs up in the mud easily,and feels a bit unpredictable at high speed.but for cross country rideing at a good pace this tire performs very well. it has good traction for a tire with such small knobbies. acceleration on these tires is excellent because they are light, and have almost no rolling resistance. I thought these tires would suck, but they actually impressed me. they're also great for the road. by the way these are 127 caseing version.
Submitted by
Bill Haflidson
a Cross Country Rider
from Bolton, Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: September 10, 2001
Strengths: Fast rolling. I notice a one or two gear difference over regular nobby tires on gravel roads. Great performance on hardpack. Corners real nice Works well in all dry conditions. Durable, I have never had a problem.
Weaknesses: Clogs up in mud.
Bottom Line:
Great tire for road, hardpack and grass conditions. Only need to switch it off for real muddy conditions.
Submitted by
Greg Harder
a Weekend Warrior
from Dundas, Ontario
Date Reviewed: June 15, 2001
Strengths: Low rolling resistance while still maintaining climbing ability. Corners well, but not as nicely as a full knobby (obviously).
Weaknesses: It doesn't like wet or muddy conditions very much, but this is to be expected on a semi-knob
Bottom Line:
This review is for the comp model (ie-not the cheapo sport tire).
I am very pleased with this tire. I'm running it on the back with a full knobby on the front to maintain cornering ability. I like the fact that the rolling resistance is relatively low, but it still digs right in while climbing. I've done steep granny-gear type hills covered with small rocks and it still bites in well as long as you're a spinner, not a masher.
With regards to the weak sidewalls, pinch flats, loss of knobs, etc., after minimal use, this is either an issue with the sport tire or these guys are smoking crack. I tend to do a lot of rocky, technical descents, so I'm riding with low (45 psi) pressure. I've put about 500 km on this tire, and have never had a pinch flat nor do the sidewalls have any damage whatsoever. Additionally, I've never had a problem running at 60-65 psi, though that's just on hardpack.
So, in conclusion, this tire rocks. It's relatively cheap ($42 Canadian) compared to Hutchinsons or something, and it does what it is supposed to...really well. I give it 5 flaming chilis.
Weaknesses: For dry semi-packed conditions only. Knoblettes shred if used on lots of hardpack rocky trail.
Bottom Line:
These tires rock! I've used them as SS-front/SK-rear and as SK front/rear. I find them super fast. In all but the gooiest slop they shed pretty well, they bite well enough to get through roots and rocks, and they climb well. The edge knobs are huge enough to enable great cornering in the twisties, too. Favorite semi-dry and dry condition tires.
Similar Products Used: No other semi-knobs, just the companion SS. Others include the Specialized Team tires (love 'em) and the Fire XC (hate 'em in the mud).
Strengths: Price Fast Fairly light Climbs well for semi-knob
Weaknesses: Weak sidewalls
Bottom Line:
The performance of this tire was quite good - had no problem cleaning the steepest climbs in the two XC races I used them in. The real problem is sidewall durability - after a mere ten hours use, I had to use a tire boot to patch a sidewall puncture. Examination showed that the tire had suffered three or four other abrasions that could have produced the same result. The terrain ridden was not very rocky, so the conclusion must be that the sidewalls are weaker than Yankee beer. Strange, because I have had nothing but good experience with Panaracer Smoke tires.
Bontrager SS have proven to be very durable, even though their tread is much thinner. Go with Bonti if you need a fast rolling tire that has to last more than a few hours.
Strengths: >> quick quick quick >> surprisingly good traction; use your head, they sometimes requires extra finesse/precise wt. balance (eg loose climbs), but that's fun and makes you a better rider so.... ;O) >> VERSATILE; my Specialized Team Ed.'s collect dust unless I know for sure it's going to be a seriously ugly ride
Weaknesses: downhills with loose, scrabbly surface require your full attention
Bottom Line:
A darn nice tire, I've them front and back. Took some time getting used to 'em - any SK feels somewhat sketchy if you've only run knobbies before. Like driving a sports car for the first time; the newfound performance envelope can be a little intimidating.
Originally bought for racing, but fell in love and can't bring self to take them off. The terrain feedback is super and they handle great - smooth, steady, and predictable. Have worn VERY well. Knobbies feel like needless excess to me now. Well, not "needless", but rather "special use only".
Did I mention these FLY on hardpack? To give them less than five Flaming Cajun Cow Tongues is to not understand the beasts.
Similar Products Used: no other SS/SK, but only Specialized Team Ed. and Nimbus road slicks
Bike Setup: Way mutated little Al Rockhopper
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Jeff
a Cross-Country Rider
from Colorado
Date Reviewed: December 8, 1999
Strengths: FAST AND QUIET
Weaknesses: NOT GOOD ON MUDS
Bottom Line:
FOR THE PEOPLE WHO HATES THIS TIRES SHOULD KNOW BETTER BEFORE THEY BOUGHT IT. I THINK THESE PEOPLE WANNA BE YOU KNOW... THESE TIRE ARE GREAT BUT I KNOW I DID NOT BUY THESE TIRES FOR SERIOUS OFF ROAD TRAIL. THESE TIRES HOLDS WELL ON A HARD PACK TRAIL. I USE MY BIKE EVERYDAY AND THESE TIRES ARE GREAT ON THE ROAD AND TRAILS PERIOD. I GIVE THESE TIRES 5 FLAMINGO....
Submitted by
Brian C
a Cross-Country Rider
from Pittsburgh
Date Reviewed: May 18, 1999
Strengths: - Low rolling resistance on and off road - Durability
Weaknesses: - Poor traction in just about every situation, climbing, descending, and cornering - Terrible in mud, but it's not designed to be mud tire, so this is understandable
Bottom Line:
I ran this tire on the rear with a Mach SS on the front. While I thoroughly enjoyed the SS once I got used to it, the SK never impressed me, and even let me down on several occasions. On anything remotely steep, in just about any conditions (mud, hardpack) except pavement, whether climbing or descending it had very poor traction. When I would try to power up a hill, it would break loose very early, no matter how I distributed my weight, and on descents it just scared the hell out of me as it offered little to no braking help. As for cornering in the flats, it did a little better once I learned to really lean the bike over so the side knobs would bite, but it never seemed to grip in a corner as well as the SS, don't ask me why ...I never tried it in the front, so I can't offer any info on how well it does there, but my guess is that it would be slightly better given my experience with the Mach SS.
