Hi,

I’m soon going to be trying to squeeze a 650b wheel into the rear of my 26″ full sus (yes, I know, I just couldn’t help myself) but measuring up my go to choice of a Continental X-King Racesport 2.2 will either just touch or have no vertical clearance whatsoever, so I’m wondering if there’s a tyre out there which still has plenty of traction for “all mountain” riding (especially cornering) but has a lower profile centre? It ideally also needs to be pretty light, something in the 550g range would be good.

Related to this, I was originally planning on putting the same X-King Racesport
up front where I have a proper 650b fork so no clearance issues, but if I’m skimping on the rear is it worth beefing up the front a bit to compensate?

Cheers

what bike is it to fit?

schwalbe racing ralph 27.5 x 2.25 snakeskin – 585g. Non-snakeskin is around 530g.

Fits into the rear of a Blur TRc without shimming the shock.

Pacenti Neomoto 2.3 also fits with a small shock shim to prevent contacting the seat tube at full compression. It has more cornering grip and is more puncture resistant but is heavier at around 725g.

Thanks for the reply, it’s a Kona One20 Supreme, thing is that it isn’t a clearance issue with the seattube when at full compression (there’s still a bit of room there), rather with the little arch joining the top of the seatstays (sorry I didn’t explain very well in the first post). Obviously a similar thing but shimming the shock won’t work unfortunately. Good suggestions though, the racing ralph looks a bit lower profiled, could be the way to go.

Rock razor ?
Don’t write it off as a semi slick it’s a better tyre than that

Annoyingly I reckon that’ll be a bit wide, otherwise that would be the perfect tyre, good suggestion. I need a 2.1 version of that.

Ah right ….didn’t realize you couldn’t get it in a skinny size

Why do you want to use a bigger wheel and smaller tyre to achieve the same combined wheel and tyre size as you already have. To achieve this you are having to compromise on tyre choice rather than have your tyre of choice.

If you must, buy a 650b fork an front wheel and have a 67•5er.

@Chip: That is a good point, the trouble is that I really wanted some specific rims which I could only get in 650b, plus I made a bit of a balls up when first measuring up and thought there would be more room than there is.

😉

Yep sums it up pretty well 😉

Not sure on weight or traction but what about this? http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/maxxis-crossmark-mtb-tyre/rp-prod17333?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Shopping&utm_name=UnitedKingdom&gs=1&gclid=CNWy07XMnsICFYXJtAodkz4Akw&gclsrc=aw.ds

That’s a good find, light too at 510g if I go for the 120tpi EXC version. Might well be the perfect tyre right there, cheers. Anyone have any experience with it who can comment on it’s traction, and ideally how it compares size wise to an X-King?

No worries. Never used them, just thought I’d have a browse!

What were your rim specifics? as realistically you are creating a bike that you will have to work hard on anything technical. I can see it on a marathon distance non technical race, where lighter rotational mass makes sense, but on a full sus bike you will compromise the ability of the bike and need to chose hardtail lines (IMO)
A 2.2 x-king is a very small and low volume tyre. Possibly contis smallest volume 2.2.
Fast tyre but you’re going to loose a whole world of traction and compliance by using it over a 26 with 2.4 x-king.

@BearBack: Good point, I’m also building a set of tougher 26″ wheels which will have chunkier tyres for when the going gets technical, so as you say the 650b wheels will be for longer, less technical rides. I’m very naive when it comes to tyres if I’m honest though, I’m using 26″ 2.2 X-Kings at the mo and like them, but have only ever used basic wire tyres before them so have no real frame of reference. So if you wouldn’t mind giving me some advice, say I went for the above Maxxis Crossmark 2.1 on the rear, what would be your recommendation for the front? I’ll have a 650b fork so there are no restrictions.

I have 3no 650b tyres for sale
1. Specialized ground control 2.1
2. Pacenti (panaracer) quasi moto 2.0
3. Kenda slant six pro 2.1
All the above are tubeless ready, and top of the range, each had no more than 100 miles of use
The last 2 are very low profile, give em all a google and if interested in any email me at jonathantraverse@hotmail.co.uk for pics and more info

This is such a bad idea on so many levels. If a 2.2 X-King won’t fit then you don’t have room for any worthwhile tyres. Furthermore your bike has a fairly high bottom bracket with 26″ wheels so it’s going to be even higher with 27.5 at both ends. If you revert to 26 at the back you can put an actual mountain biking tyre on there and have decent geometry. Cut your losses now.

Have a look through here to see the tyre problem:

http://www.reifenbreiten-datenbank.de

@jonny: YGM.

@chief: Probably, but it’s happening anyway. Think on the bright side, I’ll be able to sail over all kinds of roots and rocks with that bottom bracket 😉 And speaking slightly more sensibly, my 2.2 X-Kings measure up at 55mm in height, quite a lot more than the average. Cheers for that link by the way, very helpful.

chiefgrooveguru – Member

Have a look through here to see the tyre problem:

http://www.reifenbreiten-datenbank.de

Great link that Chief, added to favourites.

Good BB point chief.. if you continue with the 650 direction, you may need to explore offset shock bushes to keep that in check.

I’ve been there with a similar project
BUT, my first checkbox was that I had to be able to fit Continentals largest volume 650b tyre (2.4 RQ/TK)
Offset bushes and the long drop outs let me achieve this.

Whih.. makes much more sense than this other 650b voltage project that really is senseless

No comment on whether in general it’s a good idea or not but I have to warn you that the crossmark is not a great all round tyre. I have them and they’re pretty useless on anything that isn’t completely dry and hard packed. They’re almost as bad as nobby nics in that way.

I do have to agree with the comment above. If you’ve not got room for an x-king then you’ve probably not got room for anything that’s not going to be a severe compromise on grip for all year round / all trail riding.

Not too much use I know but tyres are expensive things these days so getting ones that rob you of confidence on the bike can be a real waste of money.

Does the high roller not come up a bit smaller than it’s stated width? Might still have problems with the profile though.

Cheers for the replies, I’ve ended up settling for a Pacenti/Panaracer Quasi-Moto 2.0 rear and a Neo-Moto 2.3 front. Worth a shot anyway :yes:

Well it’s light and it probably fits. It doesn’t meet any of your other criteria though!

It’s got good reviews on MTBR, and with a Neo Moto up front I’ll at least have a chunky tyre at the important end; I don’t mind sliding the back a bit 😉 It’ll probs just be a case of trying tyres until I find the grippiest one which fits, and this seems a reasonable place to start.

And I’m going to be fitting offset bushings BearBack, good idea.

It sounds awful based on the MTBR reviews. An XC/race tyre. And all those reviews are over 4 years old, back when there were hardly any 27.5 tyres. On the plus side you’ll probably knacker your rear rim soon enough if you do any all-mountain riding with it and then you can put on a rim that allows you to run a proper tyre. 😛

I have a 27.5 ish frame that will only allow certain tyres out back. I had to take off a Michelin Wild Grip’r 2.25 (really rated to be honest, lived up to the name) and I’ve replaced it with a Geax Mezcal.

The geax hasn’t got the grip of the michelin but there is much more clearance and it didn’t do too bad at the weekend scrambling over rocks covered in slimy moss.

Sshhh, keep it on the down low. got michelins on two of my bikes and a few in my spares box.
My poor hardtails not so lucky as it has been condemned to using up my more fashionable maxxis and bontys.

@chief: Thanks for the positivity, I’ll be sure to ask for your help when I’m converting my bmx to 29er 😉

Cheers for the extra info people, I didn’t know that Michelin did decent mtb tyres, I thought they were more roadie. And that Geax Mezcal looks nice, could well be worth a go if the Quasi doesn’t work out. Alright when there’s a bit of moisture around you say? That’s the thing I love about my currents X-Kings, the Black Chilli compound means there’s still plenty of grip in the wet.