House of Looptail Snake Belly Panaracer vintage MTB tire Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More
Fans of vintage MTBs, klunkers, and cruisers, listen up: there’s a rad new brand in town and they just released their first tire. Or, their first modern recreation of a legendary vintage tire. House of Looptail was founded in 2023 by industry veteran Wakeman Massie, who was QBP’s first product designer.
House of Looptail (named for the classic frame style) is dedicated to those who want to keep vintage bikes of the 70s-90s rolling, and keep riding them as well. To that angle, they’re planning to offer high-quality, period-correct parts to keep those vintage dreams alive. (Photos/House of Looptail) To kick things off, House of Looptail has partnered with Panaracer to bring the Snake Belly tire back to life. The Snake Belly was originally created by the National Tire Company of Japan in 1979 (now called Panaracer) as a BMX tire, and then scaled up to a 26″ tire which may or may not have been the first tire specifically made for MTB use.
This isn’t some cheap, sort-of-reproduction of a storied tread. Instead, Panaracer is offering the exact same original tread design in a brand new mold with a modern lightweight 60tpi casing and a folding aramid bead. The modernization of the tire also includes Panaracer’s proprietary ZSG rubber compound which has been “specifically tuned for this application” – we’re assuming that means a more […]
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