The 'Global Go-To Guy' at Panaracer: Conversations with Jeff Zell
Jeff Zell is Global Go-To Guy at Panaracer. He has been sniffing out cycling trends for Panaracer for over three decades, a career that spans the early days of mountain-biking through to the segmented off-road market we have today. While working with him on the new GravelKing creative we took the opportunity to geek out on tyre design and get a tip on what is next in the world of gravel riding.
Panaracer is that rare thing, truly iconic brand, as Jeff Zell puts it “we aren’t the biggest tyre manufacturer around but we have hit a few out of the park” Specifically he is talking about the Smoke and Dart, the first mountain bike tire pairing to be designed as front and rear specific, the XC FirePro - still a winner today, and the GravelKing range. But let’s start at the beginning…
Image: Daniel Hughes
The Evolution of Tyre Innovation
“Back in the 90s I had begun at Onza as national sales manager. The crew at Onza at the time were really creative, it was the owner of Onza who had the idea for the original Smoke. Panaracer at the time was more of a factory, it had the tyre expertise but it wasn’t a company that knew about the import-export market.”
“In the late 90s everything was moving at light speed, cycling had taken off in a new direction, everyone was following what was happening in Marin, what Gary Fisher and Tom Ritchey were getting up to. It had quickly become very technical, people were looking for ways to improve the ride. It was the days of bored out chain rings, cranks with holes in, anything to make a bike lighter, however risky the technology was.”
“As bikes developed and the different needs of riders changed, tyres had to develop too. Riders coming from motocross knew what tyre treads worked on trails. We knew what was needed for traction, we were taking whatever knowledge and experience we could and applying it to this new discipline called mountain-biking.”
“The Smoke pre-dated the Dart, everyone went crazy for them. We were running them front and back, but as front suspension developed and riders began to ride with more finesse and less death grip it became obvious that the front tyre needed to change. We took on board what a front tyre needed to do for climbing, steep descents and designed a completely new tread pattern. The Dart came in about a year or so later, the perfect mate for the Smoke. From there front and rear specific tires took off.”
“We still make the Smoke and Dart, they are a classic combination that work for most people in most conditions, and are still a big seller. We get questions about where to source OGs (original goods) from retro mountain bike fans. That rubber is old now, I always say to folk, "Enjoy looking at your authentic retro bike, but don’t ride those tires!”
The Dilemma of Frame and Tyre Compatibility
“Frame design and tyre design go hand in hand. Mountain biking was so organic as it developed, we had to make tyres for whatever clearance bikes were being designed with. At the start we had to make 1.5” tyres to fit the bikes, wider tyres wouldn’t fit and would quickly clog. Frame design changed to make more space for wider tyres, designers started to make space for 2.1”
“As front and rear suspension designs came out, a wider cushier tyre became more of the desire and 2.3” became a reality. At this point nothing was impossible. It was a really big change. It was rapid. There were a plethora of new ideas; wheel sizes changed, we had 29”, 27.5” soon everyone forgot about 26”.
“Around the early 2000s it really hit a wall – for a while mountain bikes were totally mainstream. Treks were on top of Volkswagens in their ads. It was cool to have a mountain bike even if you weren’t actually mountain biking. It reached a kind of saturation, sales dropped off for all except the true enthusiasts. Since then the overall popularity of mountain biking I think has remained the same since. It is still a good-sized market but it’s never regained the mainstream status of the mid ‘90’s and early 2000’s.”
Going back to our roots
“Gravel absolutely happened organically. I think there were some mountain bikers who had probably got disillusioned with mountain biking. The mountain bike market had got more and more segmented into enduro, XC trail and downhill. But how much front and rear suspension do you need? What riding are you actually doing? It had gotten to the point where you couldn’t even buy a bike without front and rear suspension and not everyone wanted that. Mountain bike had got very pro, they missed the camaraderie of the original spirit of mountain biking. They wanted to go back to the community, to the grassroots.”
“In the midwest of the US we have huge agricultural areas, full of gravel roads. You can do long hard climbs to 3000 metres or even 4000 metres or you could go for 150 km on the flat. Gravel riding allowed people to go out and have fun with their friends. It was much less disciplined and course focused than mountain biking had gotten at the time. “
Image: Jeff Zell
GravelKing - a decade of development
“It was several years before I could talk about gravel riding without people thinking I had been day drinking! But, I was seeing what was developing in gravel and I saw an opportunity. We had made an urban tyre for rough roads and it seemed about the right thing for gravel. The original GravelKing was a 26mm, it didn’t fit in a ton of frames but it started to get attention. When we came up with the name GravelKing it resonated with gravel riders – it was a tyre for them and it worked.”
Original GravelKing Image: Jeff Zell
“It’s our ten-year anniversary of GravelKing in 2024. Ten years is a decent time for a product in any industry to have legs. It is going to be a big year for us at Panaracer with a complete revision of the GK brand. Panaracer is really devoted to bicycle tyre manufacture, we don’t do anything else, our engineers are trained in casing, compounds, beads, tread patterns, they are totally bicycle tyre specific and focused.”
“That we are only focused on bicycles means we really love bicycles. We aren’t resting on our laurels, we have never stopped innovating, revising what needs to be done, GK has been around for ten years and its been quietly revised to reflect changes in gravel, but we don’t stop, our goal is to be the partner to people in their cycling endeavours, I don’t like sounding like a company bot, but I do really believe in what we are doing.”
Image: Daniel Hughes
Where is gravel going?
“Where isn’t gravel going? Until gravel burns itself out, we won’t fully know what is next. What I’m looking at in gravel now is the different paths gravel is taking. The UCI is involved again, groups are factioning again. When mountain bike racing got big and the UCI got involved it changed the face of things”.
“There are people who want to be associated with the UCI and pro racing but some people are grass-roots and are actively avoiding UCI involvement. But where that leaves gravel I’m not sure, I don’t think we have hit the ceiling with gravel, people are still excited to come into it.”
“My prediction is there will be more and more grass roots events and more mass participation events. Technology is also changing, bike manufacturers are using steeper angles for more aggressive handling, trying to find out what will resonate with people. We are starting to see a little bit of suspension and there have been bikes with elastomers at the seat stays for a while now. There are even more flat bar gravel bikes. Riders are pushing themselves to ride more aggressive routes. It’s hard not to see some parallels with the early days of mountain biking.”
Where isn’t gravel going? Image: Daniel Hughes - The Great Wall of China