Thanks that helps. Tires have always confused me. I settled on Ardent races on my old 26″and threw on an old Nevegal on front for rougher trips. That seemed to work ok for my riding.
The epic Evo stock tires are comparable but the rear one is lacking in anything not hardpack. I’ve actually found little fault with the front ground control thus far.
My plan had been to keep this setup until a trip, where I’d change the front tire and move the ground control to the rear. Looking into Rekon/Dissector or perhaps one of the Specialized ones as they’re relatively solid value.
Thanks for the help. The rim size did scare me off a bit since I wasn’t sure it’d maintain tire shape.