Originally Posted by
deux jambes
When did black walled tires start showing up, and gaining in popularity over skin wall and gum wall tires?
I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I'd be interested in hearing some history on when blackwall performance tires took over as well. When I got back into cycling in 2008, you couldn't find tan-wall 700C tires or Brooks saddles in the bike shops. Those things were passe! Tires were either all-black or black with bright color stripes in the tread. (Sure, they could "order in" Paselas, but so could I. So I did.)