The Real Reason
Why We Ride On Goodyear
Tyres are the one part of the bike that's actually touching the trail on every ride, so grip and reliability aren't things we're willing to compromise on for a badge on the site.
Goodyear MTB tyres first grabbed our attention through Matt Jones, one of our MTB heroes, being a Goodyear representative himself. That was enough to make us pay attention. We reached out to Hein at Orim, who imports the range into South Africa, and had an amazing conversation. We saw that our goals and ambitions aligned, and that was that.
What followed was pure joy and exhilaration. We run the Wranglers on our current setup and wouldn't change a thing. They're some of the best tyres we've ever ridden, and we don't see ourselves changing any time soon.
A brand backing its bicycle tyres with more than a century of tyre engineering, and a local distributor who's been riding these trails themselves for over two decades, gives us real confidence in what's under our wheels on the technical Western Cape lines we ride most.
Their Story
From Vulcanised Rubber To Western Cape Singletrack
Goodyear was founded in 1898 and named after Charles Goodyear, the inventor of vulcanised rubber, and its earliest products were actually bicycle and horse carriage tyres before the rise of the motor car shifted the company's focus for the better part of a century. Since 2018 Goodyear has been back in the bicycle tyre market, manufacturing road, gravel and mountain bike tyres at a dedicated facility in Nantou, Taiwan. Globally, the brand's Wingfoot Alliance brings together professional riders, including slopestyle and dirt jump star Matt Jones, who has worked directly with Goodyear's engineers on tyre development since joining in 2023.
In South Africa, Goodyear's bicycle tyres are brought in exclusively by Orim Global, a Pretoria-based distributor founded by Jaco Malan, who describes himself and his team as committed mountain bikers, road cyclists and triathletes rather than newcomers to the sport. Orim Global also distributes Magura, Ritchey and Time framesets, with offices covering both Gauteng and the Western Cape.