wbholwell

Definitely 650B. See here: http://reviews.mtbr.com/mtbr-live-blog-2013-sea-otter-classic

The Norco looks sick for sure. And of course CB would have 650B wheels in the works...

@donch15, no offense taken!

Haha, no it's not a knock-off of the Hillbilly! There are no hard feelings w/ Specialized. The Bontrager G4, on the other hand... I actually selected several benchmark tires when designing this new tire: the WetScream, the Muddy Mary, and the Hillbilly. But no tires were copied. Place a Hillbilly or a Muddy Mary next to this tire (when it's available) and you'll see what I mean. I have high hopes for this one!

Yup, those are prototypes!

I think we'll see 650B DH bikes well before 29ers.

There is: http://www.maxxis.com/Bicycle/Mountain/Minion-DHF.aspx

It's actually at 1255g, claimed: http://www.maxxis.com/Bicycle/Downhill/Minion-DHF.aspx The reason for the low weight is that it's tubeless ready, with folding beads and a fabric sidewall insert instead of the typical butyl insert. The only 27.5 Maxxis DH tire is the High Roller II, for now. You should see some on the World Cup circuit this year.

Hello, all. Thought I'd post here and clear up some misconceptions and answer some questions. Firstly, the design was copied from no other tire besides the High Roller. If the Canfield brothers also used the High Roller as a basis for their design, then it stands to reason that the tires would look similar. I still have not seen the Canfield tire, but I met to Chris Canfield yesterday and he described his tire to me. It didn't sound very similar... Secondly, Wayne Parsons did assist in the design of this tire. It was a little strange, because I had already begun thinking about a High Roller redesign, and then out of the blue Wayne sent me a picture of the High Roller with some modifications that he thought would make the tire better. Two of those modifications were similar to the ideas in my head, so I thought it would be nice to include him in the design process. He and I worked well together, and it was an enjoyable experience. Thirdly, we are not yet sure if this tire will replace the High Roller or if it will be an all new tire. I can say that this tire was fully tested (by Peat, Minnaar, R. Cunningham, Lars Sternberg, Bryn Atkinson, and others) and they all felt that the tire was equal to or an improvement over the original High Roller in every performance category. Cornering traction was the biggest area of improvement, with braking improved as well. The transition is gradual with no vagueness/washing, and the tire gives warning before breaking free (an improvement over the original High Roller). We'll release a DH single compound 60a, a DH triple compound 3C, and a folding Exo version first. Any other questions- just shoot. Bryan Holwell, Senior Tire Design & Development Engineer, Maxxis