It has been ten years now. Ten years since a small group of enthusiastic big wheeled mountain bike believers convinced Mark Slate of WTB to pursue a project to make a two inch wide, 700c based tire for their wagon wheeler dream bikes. Mr. Slate took on the project, and in 1999 the first true fat tire for mountain biking in the 700c format was born: The Wilderness Trail Bikes Nanoraptor.

The WTB Nanoraptor 29, as it appears on the WTB website today.

The WTB Nanoraptor 29, as it appears on the WTB website today.

Now I am not going to get into the debate about the history of who did what. I’m not going to deal with those who would say that “such-and-such” bike is the “first” 29″er. No, what I am going to say here is what the significance of this tire is, and why we should be tipping our hats to WTB for putting this tire out there back in 1999.

Previous to the Nanoraptor we did have some mountain bike worthy 700c tires to be sure. However; these tires lacked volume and width. The Continental Goliath, the Bruce Gordon “Rock and Road”, and the best of them all, the Panaracer Smoke 45mm tires. You could mountain bike on them, but they belied the true benefits of 700c based mountain biking due to the tires lack of width and volume. A rider had to be extremely smooth and pick great lines to hold the wheel of a rider on a 26″er. For most of us, the 700c mountain bikes were a curiousity that never reached full development. With the advent of front suspension for 26″ers, the 700c off roaders looked even more “off the back”.

The Nanoraptor in 29″er size changed all of that. Here was a true off road tread design that had volume and width unlike any of its predecessors. It could handle higher speed impacts without pinch flatting and could hold a line with much higher cornering speeds than the previously released 700c mountain bike treads. In fact, it was the Nanoraptors volume which gave birth to the idea of Wes Williams to start calling the bikes shod with these new shoes “29ers”. This owing to the nominal overall diameter of a Nanoraptor on a 700c rim being 29 inches.

Now 700c based mountain bikes took on a whole new flavor. The Nanoraptors prescence unleashed a slew of creative ideas for using bigger wheels in an offroad setting which wouldn’t have happened without it. At least not as soon as it did. But that isn’t the only reason that we shoud give some special attention to the Nanoraptor this year. The mere fact that the “Nano”, as it is known to 29″er freaks, still exists in the WTB catalog is a testament to the tires great design. This tire is still a viable tread design for 29″ers in 2009, while other early tire designs for 29″ers have fallen by the wayside. Even if the Nano wasn’t the first true 29″er tire, it still would have to be considered one of the most important, classic tires in big wheeling history based solely on its performance over a long period of time.

While there doesn’t seem to be any “official” special edition, “10th Anniversary Nanoraptor” 29″er tires coming out to help us mark the occaision, I for one will be declaring 2009 as the “Year of the Nanoraptor”. Why not? I figure that without this tire, I still might be “endo-ing” on a 26″er somewhere in the woods and not having as much fun as I do today. I will only say that I wish that the Nanoraptor would be released as a 2.4″er, but other than that nit, I tip my hat to WTB. Thanks!