The top 10 best 650b touring tires

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In this article I’m going to give you a wide range of some of the best 650b touring tires on the marketplace.

Of all the tire characteristics to choose from, from a touring perspective, I would favor longevity, flexibility, puncture protection, and comfort, over speed, weight and rolling-resistance. You basically want your tires to last, and enjoy long worry-free rides.

Now even with those tire characteristics narrowed down, there are still a lot of tires to choose from, and a lot of frames that could serve as adequate touring bicycles. Hence, I’ve chosen a range of tire widths and tread patterns to accommodate what you yourself might have in mind concerning your next ride, and introduce some flexibility.

That’s why you find both cross-country, and gravel tires on this list, with widths ranging from 1.50 inch all the way up to 2.60 inches. All of the tires will perform on tarmac and pavement, some better than others. Also all tires are well suited for hardpack and gravel riding. And some tires fall into cross-country and even (light) trail riding.

Whatever tire you choose, they will enhance your next grand tour, so without further ado, here are my top picks for the very best 650b touring tires.

Continental Terra Trail

If summer gravel riding is one of your favorite pastimes the Continental Terra Trail will prove to be a more than adequate companion.

It’s a typical allround gravel tire that scores well with respect to puncture protection, grip, and weight. But stay away from muddy trails, for the tread will clog up quickly and with it any grip you might be looking for.

That’s fine so long as muddy rides are not your forte, and even if it was, you’d rather stay dry. The tire excels on dry hardpack, gravel, and fire roads.

Kenda Alluvium Pro

The Kenda Alluvium Pro is a great summer gravel bike tire for dry conditions with just enough bite to tackle rougher conditions, should you encounter them.

A traditional-looking gravel tire has a rather smooth center tread and raised side knobbies. Such a design ensures a low rolling-resistance when going straight, but increased cornering confidence when you find yourself on rougher and twistier roads. The Alluvium pro has such a design and as such is a great allround option, that performs well enough when you start to demand more from your bike.

With its single ply casing it shouldn’t be the most puncture resistant when compared to its heavier brother the Kenda Flintridge Pro, but really rough and or wet and muddy conditions is not where you should take this tire anyway.

Maxxis Ardent Race

The Maxxis Ardent Race is a great option to mount as a very grippy dual XC setup, an aggressive XC front tire, or a lightweight, fast-rolling trail tire.

The triple compound provides a fast-rolling center with softer and grippier side knobs for added traction and cornering confidence.

In dry conditions the traction will prove to be outstanding. In wet conditions the small close-knit knobs can get packed with mud. So you’ll need to resort to a different tire if you want to ride year round without swapping tires.

Maxxis Crossmark II

The Maxxis Crossmark II is fast-rolling, dry condition, XC or gravel tire with the shallow center knobs and minimal side knobs.

It’s designed for speed on dry hardpack when going in a straight line, with the most minimal tread pattern you can find within this mountain bike category.

The hard-wearing 60 TPI dual casing and EXO reinforced sidewalls make it an excellent companion for long gravel and/or touring rides as well. Especially if you want to have the flexibility to veer off the beaten path yet still ride with confidence.

Maxxis Ikon

The absolute cross-country king in Maxxis’ lineup. The Maxxis Ikon has near perfect all-round tire characteristics, which makes it an excellent option for diverse road and trail conditions. Though it’s categorized obviously as an XC tire, it’ll also perform superior for bikepackers and gravel riders.

That being said, this is a racing tire, which means it’s light. But the reliable EXO compound, also used for harsher enduro racing, also means you’ll enjoy this tire for many miles.

As with any tire with this type of tread, it’ll perform well in dry conditions. The 26 inch version has both a 2.35 and 2.2 inch width option. You can run this tire both front and back, and might opt for the wider version in the front for some added grip. Especially if you expect some portions of your ride to be particularly rough.

It’s undeniable that the top-of-the-line products of Maxxis are superior to many if not all of their competitors. And the Maxxis Ikon shows it, with a perfect blend of weight, speed, grip, and protection.

Panaracer GravelKing SK (TLC)

The Panaracer Gravel King SK has become my favorite gravel tire on the market. In my mind there are two brands that stand out from the crowd, and those are american-made WTB and their Japanese counterpart Panaracer.

I’ve been a longtime fan of Panaracer. When the gravel-craze took hold of the bicycle industry, they created the tire that would serve as the de facto standard for gravel tires with the GravelKing SK. It has just the right weight, just the right tread pattern, just the right puncture protection, and all wrapped up in a beautiful package, both in black and tan-wall options.

Deservedly so, the Panaracer Gravel King SK is in my mind the true fit-and-forget, all-weather, all-season option for gravel aficionados. But will serve those bikepackers and hard-riding daily commuters just as well.

Schwalbe G-One Allround

The allround in the Schwalbe G-One Allround refers just as much to its application as to its tread pattern.

It’s a fantastic grippy tire meant for riding in dry conditions. It has a pattern rather than easily discernible knobbies, making this the fastest allround gravel tire of this list. That’s why it performs exceptionally well on tarmac as on gravel.

The Super Ground carcass is found on tires that need to perform well in various conditions, and offers great rolling-resistance, durability and weight characteristics. The ADDIX SpeedGrip compound obviously favors speed above traction.

The tread pattern, the compound and tire carcass, all of those components make this one helluva speedy gravel tire for dry conditions.

Schwalbe Marathon Plus MTB

The Schwalbe Marathon is the ultimate allrounder in the tire department and one of the best-selling tires on the market. So the German brand decided to make a MTB-specific version of this tire: the Schwalbe Marathon Plus MTB.

Although it looks like a knobby tire, if you look close enough you can see that the center tread will let you run smoothly across pavement. And just like the standard Marathon is meant for commuting and touring, the same goes for this one.

It’s a heavy tire when compared to some of the XC racers. But the biggest plus for hauling all that extra weight is that in terms of puncture protection, this tire has no equal. The reason is pretty simple. Schwalbe stuffed a 5mm strip underneath the center tread, made from highly puncture resistant rubber. And as simple as that sounds, it’s extremely effective in preventing punctures.

So for those of you who want the risk of flats nearing zero, this is the tire for you.

Vittoria Mezcal

Another cross-country crossover well-suited for bikepacking is the Vittoria Mezcal. The single 2.1 inch width version available for 26 inch tires, has a very low-profile tread pattern to improve rolling-resistance.

The 620 grams for a single tire is very light. And it’s this tire that has been on several cross-country championship bikes. So as far as speed is concerned, it’s extremely fast.

But for bikepacking you’ll need much more than speed. You want longevity and durability. Vittoria Mezcal uses their proprietary graphene enhanced 4C compound. It prevents the knobs from squirming on the hardpack, which in turn increases speed and durability.

The Mezcal is most at home on hardpack, but does perform well on other surface types. But like all of the other tires mentioned here, you will run into issues when encountering mud. The knobs are simply bunched too much together.

The Vittoria Mezcal makes for a fast and durable dual setup.

WTB Resolute

The WTB Resolute is an allround all-weather all-season gravel bike tire, or so WTB claims.

And this claim does make sense, with WTB basically applying a baseline of solid gravel tire characteristics into this product offering.

It’s both a lightweight tire which enhances acceleration. And it sits in between slick tires and the aggressive tread pattern of the WTB Sendero, ensuring good grip and traction in all kinds of conditions, while going in a straight line or in corners, going uphill or downhill.

So does that make the WTB Resolute one of the best all-rounders in the gravel department. The answer is a resolute yes, pun intended.

Specifications 650b touring tires

Name	Size	ETRTO	Weight (gr)	Tread color	Sidewall color	Compound	Puncture protection	Tire bead	TPI	Buy at Amazon
Schwalbe Marathon Plus MTB	27.5×2.10	54-584	1200	Black	Black	ADDIX		wired		link
Schwalbe Marathon Plus MTB	27.5×2.25	57-584	1270	Black	Black	ADDIX		wired		link
Maxxis Ardent Race	27.5×2.20	56-584	714	Black	Black	3C MaxxSpeed		tlr	120	link
Maxxis Ardent Race	27.5×2.35	60-584	730	Black	Black	3C MaxxSpeed		tlr	60	link
Maxxis Ardent Race	27.5×2.60	66-584	878	Black	Black	Dual		tlr		link
Maxxis Crossmark II	27.5×2.25	57-584	735	Black	Black	Dual		tlr	60	link
Maxxis Ikon	27.5×2.20	56-584	590	Black	Light Tan	Dual	EXO	tlr		link
Maxxis Ikon	27.5×2.20	56-584	668	Black	Tan	Dual	EXO	tlr		link
Maxxis Ikon	27.5×2.20	56-584	630	Black	Black	3C MaxxSpeed	EXO	tlr		link
Maxxis Ikon	27.5×2.35	60-584	700	Black	Black	3C MaxxSpeed	EXO	tlr		link
WTB Venture	27.5×1.85	44-584	586	Black	Black	Dual DNA		tlr	60	link
WTB Venture	27.5×1.85	44-584	555	Black	Tan	Dual DNA		tlr	60	link
WTB Resolute	27.5×1.65	42-584	440	Black	Tan	Dual DNA		tlr	60	link
Continental Terra Trail	27.5×1.60	40-584	430	Black	Cream	BlackChili	ProTection casing	tlr	3/180	link
Continental Terra Trail	27.5×1.90	47-584	460	Black	Black	BlackChili	ProTection casing	tlr	3/180	link
Schwalbe G-One Allround	27.5×1.50	40-584	450	Black	Black	ADDIX SpeedGrip	Super Ground	tubeless		link
Schwalbe G-One Allround	27.5×2.25	57-584	650	Black	Black	ADDIX SpeedGrip	Super Ground	tubeless		link
Kenda Alluvium Pro	27.5×1.80	45-584	514	Black	Black	Single		tlr	120	link

Johan van Seijen is the founder of restoration.bike. His passion for cycling in general, and restoring older bikes turned into a website to share his knowledge with a broader audience. Starting out on his father’s road bike and riding classics as the Amstel Gold Race and Liege Bastogne Liege he has shifted his attention to trail, XC, and gravel riding since. No matter how much he loves writing about everything related to cycling, nothing beats actually using his ever-expanding bicycle collection.