Originally Posted by
streetstomper
As I wrote, I use Big Apples, which are great, durable, cushy road tires. So I'm not really concerned about 26" knobbies, but rather 26" road tires. It seems most of the so-called "comfort bikes" still use 26", so that size might be safe for road tires, if not mountain bike tires. I just hope the 26x2.35" Big Apple continues to be produced for the foreseeable future. I'd even settle for the 26x2.5" Maxxis Hookworm, even though it's heavier and slower.
I've been riding a set of 26" x 2.15 Big Apples and they are awesome. Good road tires are definately lacking for 26" wheels. Plenty of touring and MTB options but just a few high quality performance tires. Jan Heine has the 44mm Panaracer built tires on his website and in the last issue of BQ (or maybe it was the website) he made a comment that seems to indicate that he thinks there might be a market for a really high quality 26" road tire in 50mm or more. His 44mm is just a modified Pasela rather than the really high quality of his other tires. One of those in 26" might be a game changer.