The 1998 Specialized (Designed by WTB for Specialized) Hardpack 2.2 tires came with tan sidewalls. It's it, that's that. However, a small batch, 8 total, of black Specialized Hardpack 2.2 tires were made during WTB's Corte Madera (1988 - 1993) days. The owner of this lovely specimen, who will continue to remain anonymous through self choice (though may have initials somewhere along the lines of TGTF,) believes the timeframe of the black tire's arrival to be somewhere between 89 - 91.
Mr. Anonymous went to lunch when the lovely black Hardpacks arrived - perhaps with a lady friend, perhaps not. Hebberd and the Trail Boss quickly snagged a pair each upon the tires' arrival. Somebody else snagged a pair too - it's not quite certain, see there were eight of them total.
When Anonymous came back from lunch, he saw something astonishing - a what? An all black Hardpack? No way.
Way. To his amazement, there it was... and sure enough, Anonymous snagged it. He had to. To put it simply, it didn't exist, he had no choice. He still has it. On this bright and sunny Spring 2014 day, it still looked like a rad tire. It certainly is and was a rad tire. There have been a lot of rad tires and that's taken into consideration when designing new tires - just look at the Trail Boss, a tire named after the guy who snagged a set of these Black Hardpacks before Anonymous had time to put together a pair and could only walk away with one, true story. Anonymous remembers stamping "Designed by Wilderness Trail Bikes" into the sidewalls of Specialized tires at WTB's early Corte Madera home, sitting atop piles of tires. So long live small batches and rad tires, you never know when you may end up with one of not too many.
