Oh wow, thanks for digging those up despite my misspelling of their name!
I found this image as well:
I remember thinking the front and rear specific treads were what made these tires so good, but looking at them now I think the name "superheat" and even more importantly the rasta-themed label was what really sold it for me at age 20. The rasta colour scheme for me and my riding buddies was a very important symbol of what we thought was cool: biking, reggae, weed. Even though I didn't think of it that way back then, or even smoke!
Thinking back to actually riding with these tires (or any others of the the day: panaracer smoke / dart, onza porcupines, ritchey z-max), what I clearly remember was how easily they slid on even bone-dry woodwork or rock. My strategy for successfully clearing a feature was to find the right speed and trajectory in order to avoid having to pedal or brake or steer once on it. Make any correction and I would invariably slide off whatever skinny thing I was trying to ride. I'm amazed I was never seriously injured.
In those days I mainly rode in spandex shorts and jerseys too. Didn't have any armor until my return to riding in 2005.
It blows me away how good tires have gotten since then. Not to be cliche, but everything about mountain biking now is light years ahead of what it was like in the 90s. Despite being in my 40s I have way more fun now on much more difficult trails than I did back in the day.
Sept. 15, 2020, 1:09 p.m. - Jonas Dodd
Oh wow, thanks for digging those up despite my misspelling of their name! I found this image as well: I remember thinking the front and rear specific treads were what made these tires so good, but looking at them now I think the name "superheat" and even more importantly the rasta-themed label was what really sold it for me at age 20. The rasta colour scheme for me and my riding buddies was a very important symbol of what we thought was cool: biking, reggae, weed. Even though I didn't think of it that way back then, or even smoke! Thinking back to actually riding with these tires (or any others of the the day: panaracer smoke / dart, onza porcupines, ritchey z-max), what I clearly remember was how easily they slid on even bone-dry woodwork or rock. My strategy for successfully clearing a feature was to find the right speed and trajectory in order to avoid having to pedal or brake or steer once on it. Make any correction and I would invariably slide off whatever skinny thing I was trying to ride. I'm amazed I was never seriously injured. In those days I mainly rode in spandex shorts and jerseys too. Didn't have any armor until my return to riding in 2005. It blows me away how good tires have gotten since then. Not to be cliche, but everything about mountain biking now is light years ahead of what it was like in the 90s. Despite being in my 40s I have way more fun now on much more difficult trails than I did back in the day.