Not another bloody wheel standard - Getting plus'ed

[letmetalktomark]

So it would seem I have fallen victim to the marketing guff over the years....

Looking in the shed I have:

26'' bikes
29'' bikes
29'' Plus bikes
Fat bikes

And now I have a 27.5'' plus bike .... so just the 27.5'' to go .... for now :facepalm:

Late last summer my LBS built up a Cannonade 29er with a set of Hugo (52mm) rims and a 2.8'' 27.5'' tyre on the front and a 2.4'' on the rear.

The bike weighed barely anymore than it did in 29er guise but had a wee bit more cush.

Fancy giving it a go and with a healthy discount my LBS built up a pair of 27.5'' plus Hugo rims into a pair of Stans 3.30 hubs I already had.

The plan was to fit them on a 29er frame with some 2.8'' WTB Trailblazer tyres.

27.5'' plus is being sold on the basis that they can be retrofitted to 29ers

Whilst this is to a degree true I've read a lot about people having to use only moderately wide rims to accommodate the extra girth of the tyre - IMHO defeating the point of going "plus" as you have to run higher pressures.

So step forward my Stanton Sherpa. I had done some measuring, musing and arse scratching and figured the combination of 52mm rim and 2.8'' tyre would work. It did but with less than 5mm between the chain stays and the tyre casing. Less than ideal. A 40 or 45mm rim would probably have been okay :evil:

Soooooo

N+1 and all that ......

I found a 20.5'' Genesis Longitude frame and forks for sale. I really wanted to try one of these when they came out. Designed to run 29'' or 29'' plus tyres and wheels it was like an updated version of my Fortitude - which I love.

Being designed to take up to a 3'' 29'' plus tyre there was oodles of room for a 2.8'' WTB Trailblazer in the rear and a 3.0'' Nobby Nic in the front. A quick bit of measuring suggests the frame and fork will take a 3.25'' tyre.

So about 5lbs lighter than my fatbike I introduce my plus'ed Longitude.

Still a work in progress as I plan to run gears. Its about 15mm lower in the BB than ideal so I will have to see how that'll work. I've a riser bar in the post too as even with the 160mm HT :shock: the front end is quite low so a bit of tinkering is needed.

Anyhoo ...

 

[letmetalktomark]

Doh ... its been a while .... was meant to be in the readers bike sub forum....

 

[xerxes]

Re:

I reckon you could raise the bars and inch or more if you moved the spacers above the stem below it and flipped the stem the other way up, so it angled up, rather than down.

 

[letmetalktomark]

Well spotted my good man.

Yes a change of position is an easy fix.

The feel of the bike though commands a wide bar with some rise and a wee bit of back sweep though .... not to mention shine new trinketry ;-)

 

[fettler]

Re:

Leave some room for the 36er if you want em all!

 

[Mindmap3]

I have a friend who runs his Sherpa as a plus bike now and much prefers it to the bogo 29er wheels. He's a lot quicker on it too.

To be hobest, I was surprised at how fast the bike was; loads of grip but it doesn't feel draggy at all.

 

[legrandefromage]

I quite like the 650b size. If your a larger rider, the physical size seems to fit perspective better!

Whereas 29/700c is still clown territory.

But... running big tyres on 26" 559 can still bring the rolling diameter up by 2.5cm or 1" giving similar effects. All my moderately new bikes run 2.3 or 2.4 at the moment. The older 1980's bikes run whatever fits.