The Onza Porcupine RC is their most aggressive-looking mountain bike tire to date. Aimed at downhill and e-MTB, the Porcupine RC gets a more open tread pattern and a tougher casing to handle the increased demands of gravity riding. Openly admitting that the Porcupine RC has high rolling resistance, this Onza downhill tire prioritizes cornering characteristics over everything else.
We break down the new Onza downhill tire into its constituent components.
Onza Porcupine RC MTB Tire
Onza pitch this aggressive gravity-focused tire as “Rough Conditions” tire. Granted, that’s a little vague. It is mountain biking after all. They do go on to describe the tire as more suited to wet or loose soil conditions, as opposed to smooth or loose over hard pack surfaces.
Onza rate the Porcupine RC’s rolling efficiency at 1/5, but the cornering control at 5/5. With an ETRTO of 63-622, the tire is 2.5″ wide. It is optimized around internal rim widths between 28mm and 35mm.
The Onza Porcupine RC is pictured here as a front and rear tire, with no specificity or marketing bias towards either. However, based on the aggressive widely spaced tread pattern, soft compounds and high rolling resistance described, we reckon this tire would likely serve riders best on the front wheel.