Panaracer Dart magic classic

Advantages: Good durability, great for all day rides
Disadvantages: None

...Although to many tyre choice on a bike tends to come down to what the local bike shop have that's cheap, there's a few things beyond that which mountain bikers look at when buying tyres. The first main thing tends to be the use that the tyre's going to get. Shove a slick tyre with no tread on a bike that's going to get used in the mud, and you're going nowhere. Put a mud tyre on and go and ride on a hard surface and you'll be puffing and panting like Ivor the Engine with the flu. The Fire XC Pros fit in somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. As the XC in the name implies, this is a cross country tyre. Cross country riders expect some grip in the mud, but not at the expense of putting so much grip on the tyre that it's hard going all the time. Panaracer seem to have managed that quite well with the Fire XC Pro, although... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Amazing grip in the wet
Disadvantages: Rubbish on hard or dry surfaces, Quite damaging to trail surfaces

...For those of you that hadn't noticed, it rains in the UK. The knock on effect for mountain bikers is that it gets rather muddy and, quite frankly, the tyres you've been running for the last five years which have nearly gone bald just won't cut it in really muddy conditions. This is where mud tyres come in, one of the classic mud tyres being the Panaracer Spike. If you get to see one of these beasts in the flesh, it will become instantly apparent why they chose to call it the Spike. The cross section of the tyre consists of four large rubber spikes about 8mm in length repeated around the circumference of the tyre. The resulting tread pattern looks terrifying and puts tractors to shame. Equally terrifying is the stern warning on the tyre "Not for road use!", but more about that later. The Spike that I fitted to my bike had a Kevlar... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Light, excellent grip, fast rolling
Disadvantages: Fairly expensive, can puncture easily

...... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful