Before moving to ETRTO 349, I considered the ETRTO 406 option and tried to mount ETRTO 406 wheels equipped with Schwalbe Pro-one 28x406 tires.

It wasn't possible to install the ETRTO 406 front wheel with the mudguard in place. I had to remove the front mudguard.

It is of course impossible to mount ETRTO 406 wheels with tires wider than 28mm.

This was for me a too big limitation because there aren't many tires in 28x406 and all are high pressure road tires.

The maximum wheel diameter with the front mudguard is really the Big Apple 50x355. This tire rides well but its puncture protection isn't very good and there are no Big Apple Plus or Big Ben Plus (balloon tire with very good puncture protection).

In ETRTO 349, there is the very puncture resistant Marathon Plus, there is the Marathon green guard, the fast Schwalbe One, the in-between Marathon Racer (now also in folding), the new Conti Contact Urban, the very fast Greenspeed Scorcher 120 and more protected Scorcher Kevlar in 40x349, the Josef Kuosac tires, the Velotto phantom... so many different types of tires (forget the bad Kojak). There is no balloon tire but for me this isn't needed with the excellent full suspension of the Birdy.