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So your signature PREDATOR tire drops this week at bike shops and mail orders across the globe, you must be pretty stoked right?

Yeah of course I’m happy. After seeing it go from the first drawing and now seeing it on my bike almost 1 year later, for sure I’m excited for them to drop.

Your first signature parts on éclat are grips and tires, is that mainly down to you being very picky with which parts you run?

I guess it just kinda worked out form what I wanted in a part, and what éclat thought would work well too. Tires and grips are something you will always wear out and change every now and then, so its important they work well. My grips and tires were both designed to be exactly how I wanted them, they’re both cool parts and it’s great that they kind of go together like a set you know?

A tire is a product that’s all about personal preference. What were some of the things you really wanted in a tire when you first started working on the original idea?

I wanted the tire to be grippy first of all, but not overbuilt and crazy looking and knobby, I still wanted it as a fast slick tire. I didn’t want my tires being too fat and wide that they rub on the frame if your wheels get a little out of shape, I’m not into that. At the same time I wanted them to be really strong on the sidewalls so that they could hold up to all the damage that can happen when you’re grinding a ledge or rail or doing a ghost feeble. I just wanted a grippy tire that rolled fast and lasted a long time.

You’ve been rolling on the samples for a few month’s now, how have they been holding up?

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Well I’ve ridden a few sets over the past few months but that’s only because I wanted to try all of the different colours to see how they look. The tires themselves have held up amazing. They came out perfect and last for ages. In fact I just gave away my old front tires to guys in Frankfurt to ride since they still had plenty of life left in them, the fact that the original samples are still being ridden somewhere is pretty cool.

The Predator tire comes in 2.30”. Why was it important for you to have your tire in this size and not something bigger?

As I said I’m not a fan of crazy big tires much. 2.40”s feel weird to me, but I remember a few years back when 2.30”s were crazy big, I guess it’s just a change over time, but for now I much prefer the size of a 2.30” tire. I feel like the 2.30’ tires feel better and less difficult to manual with and do fakie stuff on, because it definitely makes it easier with skinnier tires compared to today’s bigger tires. But at the same time they aren’t too small that they hurt your wrists.

A 2.30” tire also drags less on rails and ledges on sidewalls, it’s the perfect size if you do a lot of grinds because it’s big enough to absorb a lot of impact, but doesn’t feel too slow or sluggish. Especially on crooked grinds and stuff like that, the 2.30” gives you that extra room to lock in and stabilize your self.

Your tires use a deeper tread pattern and a special design to help traction, how important is it to your kind of riding that you have a tire that really grips well and isn’t a completely slick tire?

It’s important to me because I do a lot of wallride and manual stuff, and it feels great to be riding a tire that you trust and know wont slip out or give out on you on scary stuff like gap to wallrides. They are easily the best tires I’ve ridden yet and I wouldn’t change a thing about them.

What colors do your tires come in?

They’ll come in Black and then a cool Desert Tan version. There will be more colours available this Summer too.

How did the name come about?

There’s no real story around it. It’s just a name that got thrown around and I liked it so we stuck with it. It’s a short name and the logo looks really cool on the side of the tire.

Approximately how many Predator grinds have you done whilst riding your tire?

Haha, I don’t know man, I’ve seen that question before. With these tires? Maybe
300 or something I don’t know.

Sum up the Predator tire in 3 words.

Grippy. Strong. Fast.

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