More than 30 years ago, pointy Onza Porcupines were all the rage, offering some of the best grip of the day and the flashy combo of white tread on a natural skinwall casing that accented you brightly colored 90s MTB & even brighter purple ano components. Now the Porcupine is back, but in a much more advanced spiky tread design & modern construction as an all-purpose all-mountain trail tire. You can even get it in white, or black if you aren’t feeling so showy…
Onza Porcupine modern trail all-mountain bike tire
The new Porcupine really shares only its name and all-rounder nature with the original Porc. This new trail bike tire is as precisely designed as anything we’ve seen from the modern Onza. Sure, it gets widely-space, spiky center knobs to dig into the trail, but the new tread design is optimized for excellent rolling too.
Tech details
Onza does a good job breaking down what each ramp, lug and sipe does to bring it all together. The result it seems, is a tire that should perform well across a range of hard & soft trail conditions, and can fit a number of trail bikes with 2.4″ & 2.6″ versions for both 27.5 & 29″ wheels.
Onza’s new hot patches & molded sidewall details give all the helpful tech info you need to know…
…including some things we’d love to see become a trend in the industry – a recommended rim width (28-35mm internal for these) in addition to their tubeless-ready icon…
…plus a realistic recommended tubeless pressure range!
All sizes share the same TRC construction, a new name for Onza’s Trail Casing (previously called a FRC, Freeride Casing). The single-ply 60tpi casing is folded over the tubeless-ready foldable kevlar beads so you get two casing layers in the sidewall (plus an extra separate nylon reinforcement) and three layers under the tread for a balance of lightweight with abrasion & puncture protection.
The tires get an all-rounder Medium Compound 60 rubber – a dual-compound with faster-rolling, longer-wearing 60a rubber up top and sticky 45a rubber in the side knobs for extra cornering grip.
Not available yet this fall but probably expected in early 2020, Onza says a GRC gravity casing version will also be coming soon, as will a softer dual 50a/45a compound rubber option, as well.
Pricing & availability
Onza says the new Porcupine will generally be available this fall 2019, but the $70 / 60€ white & tan/skinwall version will be available starting this week, but only in 2.4″ wide for either 27.5 (820g) or 29er (860g).
The remaining tires to roll out later this fall will sell for $65/55€ for 2.4″ in all black or $70/60€ in black/skinwall in either diameter; or $70/60€ for 27.5×2.6″ in all black or $75/65€ in black/skinwall, then $75/65€ for 29×2.6″ in all black or $80/70€ in black/skinwall.
