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Hutchinson’s 650B/27.5″ Tires Shipping, Downhill Tread Planned

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Hutchinson 650B 27-5 mountain bike tires offered in Toro Cobra and Cougar with DH MTB tire coming soon

Hutchinson subtly alerted us to their 650B plans at Sea Otter last year, saying the Cobra and Cougar would come in 27.5″ options. Since then, they’ve added the Toro to the mix and just announced that all three are rolling through the supply chain now.

All three will come in Tubeless Ready Hardskin casings in a variety of widths. All are produced in their Montargis factory in France. The Hardskin is a bead-to-bead reinforcement and they also use their Race Riposte triple compound and knob reinforcement. They’ll be available aftermarket first, with OEM options coming soon.

Confirming the notion that 27.5″ is all but perfect for downhill mountain bikes, they’re working on wider, gnarlier variant of the Squale.

Sizes, weights and pricing shown after the break…

Below, the numbers and letters are:

  • WB/FB = Wire / Folding Bead
  • 66 = TPI
  • TT/TL = tube type/tubeless
  • TLR HDS RR = Tubeless ready, Hardskin, Race Riposte

Hutchinson Cougar 650b 27-5 mountain bike tire weights sizes and specs

 

Hutchinson Cobra 650b 27-5 mountain bike tire weights sizes and specs

 

Hutchinson Toro 650b 27-5 mountain bike tire weights sizes and specs

 

The Squale, pictured below, came as wide as 26×2.6 in its day, but doesn’t appear on Hutchinson’s website at the moment.Hutchinson Squale 650b downhill mountain bike tire coming soon

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Vincent
11 years ago

Still no cougar in 29″ ?

Michael
Michael
11 years ago

Patiently waiting for the next anti-650b rant.

Andy
Andy
11 years ago

riding the Hutchinson Cougar 29 x 2,20 since July 2012 -> excellent perfoming
AM tire. Cheers

Matt
Matt
11 years ago

Does 27.5 obsolete the 26? Seriously. My friends in the industry have all but guaranteed that the 29 will live on for XC and 27.5 will obsolete the 26. Curious as to others opinions.

Watchtower
Watchtower
11 years ago

@ Matt

I was wondering the same thing.

I’m on the fence about buying a 29″ Specialized Epic but just know that as soon as I did they will come out with a 27.5 that will be the “be all to end all” XC bike.

If I was looking at a trail bike I know that I would wait at this point, but I’m not for sure on the XC bike.

Anyone have any thoughts that might help?

Watchtower
Watchtower
11 years ago

Sorry everyone, I just read my comment and noticed that it is pretty far off topic.

Matt
Matt
11 years ago

@ Watchtower, I would not wait to buy a bike as no one knows how long any new technology will take to catch on – and by catch on I mean having a meaningfully wide selection of parts and components to chose from in the new format.

I do think the 27.5 is going to be prevelant at some point for two reasons, 1) it rides well and 2) the euros were really behind on the whole 29er focus and they don’t want to miss the next thing – so they will and already are pushing it hard.

While I think the 27.5 will be super sweet, I just purchased a new Trek Remedy 9.9 (26er) and will ride it hard for the next 3 years at which time, maybe the 27.5 will be ubiquitous enough to look at.

By the way, the Spec 29er epic is an amazing XC bike. IMO the Sworks version is the best XC race bike on the market.

jon thomas
jon thomas
11 years ago

Still no Scorpion 29er, that was my secret weapon tire a few years back.

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