Tioga has had some rather interesting tire designs over the past few years, with their Psycho Genius range employing odd looking central lugs with extensive siping that was designed to allow each lug to conform to the ground easier than a more traditional design. And as odd as the Psycho Genius was, it actually worked pretty well. Regardless, Tioga needed a tire that didn't look like it belonged in a 1980s sci-fi film, and that's exactly what the new Glide G3 seems to be.
The prototype Glide G3 at the show is a 27.5'' x 2.35'' trail tire that comes in at a claimed 810-grams, which puts it squarely in the sights of the Nobby Nic and a whole bunch of other rubber options. Not exactly an easy market to waltz into, then, but arguably the most important for a brand's image.
Massively prominent stepped side lugs feature deep and wide siping, and they sit next to ramped central lugs that also see heavy siping. Interestingly, the central portion of the Glide G3 is fairly open, which gives Tioga's new tire a unique appearance. Refreshingly, it doesn't appear to be a direct ripoff of a Minion, unlike many other rubber options out there. All of this is laid over a tubeless, 120 TPI casing with a relatively round profile - it's more Schwalbe-esque in shape than the square cross-section of a Highroller II.
I can't believe they were the first properly fat tyre for the masses, in a thin-by-todays-standards 2.3"
The fact that they were actually terrible doesn't dull those memories though. Most mtb components were in the 90's!
www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=195094
forums.mtbr.com/vintage-retro-classic/1992-93-raleigh-john-tomac-signature-ti-carbon-journey-end-314827.html
Ripoffs are fine, as long as they either improve upon the original or at least show some insight into why the original was good. This looks more like the typical "cheap chinese copy" (excuse the cliché), where they halfheartedly try to make it look the same, but actually don´t understand why the original is the way it is.