Panaracer Pyro

By Mitchell

Price: $35
Size: 26 x 2.25
Weight (g): 620
TPI: 126
Bead: Kevlar
Contact: 510.790.2967 or www.panaracer.com

I’m looking for a heavily lugged large volume tire that’s too big and heavy for cross country and too small and light for downhill. This tire is right around the middle, it’ll not service either the strict downhiller, or the cross country purist, as well as the many others of each market. Panaracer has billed this tire as the full suspension cross country tire in their “Fire” line of skins, but they say that they’ll work on hardtails as well. I’ve been using it as a dual slalom tire with great success. Upon seeing the Pyro for the first time, I flashed back to the Ground Control More Extreme. I’ve enjoyed the Pyro even more, and the more it wears, the better it corners. The Pyro has thin sidewalls and thick lugs. The sidewalls are surprisingly strong for their thickness, because after a jumping session (multiple bad landing session), I’ve had grass and dirt stuck between tire and rim without the expected tire roll off or pinch flat. The lugs are big and thick. The side lugs almost form a wall, and the center lugs are spaced far enough apart to allow for good mud clearance. The paddle design of the center lugs have churned well while mounted in the rear. The side lugs corner superbly in the rear, while in the front they ask that you shift your weight forward. Quite a tire at a reasonable weight, and I’m glad to have ridden them.