A month ago I confirmed that Kenda is getting in the market of 650b tires. After the recent Taipei show the news went blogger or rather every blog and forum about 650b has posted the news.  The news is old but the comments coming from Kenda are not.

Availability: Mid summer for availability

Comments from Kenda that have spurred my interest include :

When asked why they chose to pursue this new size, Jim Wannamaker, Kenda’s marketing director and events coordinator, said, “From a design standpoint, this new wheel size makes sense. It allows a bigger wheel to be used on a longer travel bike, plus smaller riders can get away from some of the negatives like toe overlap and stand over clearance issues found with bigger wheels. It looks like Kirk [Pacenti] is onto something.”

“We’ve also been asked by many product managers with various companies to offer our most popular tire in this new size format,” added Matt McClendon, Kenda’s OEM sales manager.

Found at Bicycle Newswire