Specialized quietly releases 27.5 tires

There was no fanfare and no press release, but a handful of 27.5 versions of Specialized’s tires have become available on the brand’s website. There are versions of the S-Works Fast Track (2.0), Ground Control (2.1) and Butcher (2.3) listed.

The new tires are notable in that Specialized doesn’t make a 27.5 bike to fit these tires, though a push into the aftermarket segment is certainly a good idea since the wheel size is here to stay.

Will there be a new round of Specialized bikes built around 27.5? No comment yet, but the brand was famous for saying it would never make a 29er, and we all know how that turned out:

UPDATE: We got a hold of Specialized and predictably enough they didn’t spill the beans on any new bikes, but they did confirm these tires are going after the aftermarket segment.

“A lot of riders think of us as a bike company,” said Sean Estes of Specialized. “In reality, tires were our first product and we remain a tire company as well as a bike company. These treads reach across XC to Trail to All-Mountain giving these riders high quality choices for their 650b wheels.”