Originally Posted by
cyccommute
I think you are giving too much credit to Heine. I see the (re)introduction of the 650b to mountain biking as a tacit admission that the 29er craze was a bad idea. Manufacturers can't admit that it was a bad idea from start to finish and mostly due to a fad and they also can't there was nothing wrong with the 26" mountain bike wheel size. So they pick something in the middle and try to foist it off on the bicycle buying public as "improved". I suspect that they'll "improve" us right on back to 26" wheels in the near future.
It would make sense, but classical 26er wheels has been so completely wiped from the mountain bike markt that I'm not sure. The only thing that seems safe to say is that the MTB market is extremely volatile.
Originally Posted by
Doug5150
Then again it is entirely possible I don't know what I'm talking about.
You're missing a couple details.
1. Jan Heine is a fan of wide tires, but he's also a fan of
high-performance tires. He decided to get into the tire business because wide tires built like racing tires weren't much of a thing. Thick heavy stuff like the Big Apple isn't really his cup of tea, even if those hefty Schwalbe tires roll surprisingly well for a rubber brick.
2. Although he may be a 650b fan, he
does support wide 26ers. The widest tire he sells is a ~53mm 26er; an inflated wheel using them isn't all that much lower-diameter than a 700c wheel using very narrow tires.