Mountain Biking - suggest tire under 2" for 26" wheel

I am looking for a good, light tire for my mountain bike with 26 inch wheels. Intended usage will be for occasional cyclocross races and long XC rides. Something under 2" is what I want since I already have a tire that I like in 2".

Kenda Slant Six or Smallblock 8

Kenda Slant Six or Smallblock 8What he said. In 1.9. Slant might self-clean a bit better for CXing and will still roll well for XC.

The above recommendations are great, but...

Depends on what terrain you ride. The big S has a good tire in the Purgatory in a 1.9 flavor. I run one out back on my Epic and it hooks up great in all conditions. Maxxis also makes some decent stuff too. The Ignitor comes in a 1.95 flavor.

For the front, I am a big front WIDE tire guy. Like pushing the front end into corners too much and want as much MEAT up front as I can get. As close to 2.4s as I can get generally...

If low weight is a priority, you could also check out the various Supersonic models from Continental. In a 1.9", there's the Twister at about 370 grams: http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/bicycle/themes/mtb/cc_marathon/twister/twister_en.html If you wanted a bit more tread, the Speed King Supersonic is their next-treadier one. If you're going this route, make sure to pick the Supersonic and not one of the other variants.

That would be a comfortable fit for Maxxis's 100-gram Flyweight tubes to save you some more weight: http://www.treefortbikes.com/product/333222339912/545/Maxxis-Flyweight-Tube-26x195-2125.html

Scwalbe's Furious Fred 2.0 (about a 1.8 in reality) is even lighter, around 330 grams, and tubeless-ready. Not much tread, though... best for frozen or tacky-to-almost-dry conditions. I have a set of those and they get saved for when the time is right. A CX race would fit the bill, but not a pedal-to-the-metal XC race... just not enough volume to protect the rims, I need something like an honest 2.2-2.3 for that.

the old Maxis Minitaur 380 was a tire that garnered as many bad reviews as good. I recently tried a pair that i have had new in the box since 2005. I actually had great success at XC riding with it. Don't know how easy it is to find them but if you can they are probably cheap

I haven't tried any of the tires that these other guys have suggested, so I can't really compare, but one that I have tried is the WTB Wolverine. I have the 26x2.2 Race version as a rear tire and its been great. I love the lack of rolling resistance on this tire, and it's pretty big for a 2.2. They do make a smaller version, although I'm not exactly sure what size it is at the moment, either a 2.0 or 1.95 I think.