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Opinions wanted: Plus bikes???


lechatnoir

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*hi-jack

 

is there a real lasting market for plus bikes, or is it just a craze that will blow over?

 

If plus tyres were so grippy and great, why don't we see them on DH rigs?  How much slower are these bikes when riding a 70km marathon?

 

cool looking bikes, but I'm not yet sold on which terrain / distances a plus size will be your weapon of choice.

 

*hi-jack off

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A plus bike will be my next bike!

 

For the fun factor alone, plus the versatility! Probably gonna go with the Scott Genius 720 when the time comes.

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silverback or merida!

 

edit: I would always go for a bike with a better fork ... groupset parts are consumables that are "cheap" to upgrade vs a fork!

 

edit no. 2: the merida with the Yari would get my ZAR

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*hi-jack

 

is there a real lasting market for plus bikes, or is it just a craze that will blow over?

 

If plus tyres were so grippy and great, why don't we see them on DH rigs?  How much slower are these bikes when riding a 70km marathon?

 

cool looking bikes, but I'm not yet sold on which terrain / distances a plus size will be your weapon of choice.

 

*hi-jack off

 

Absolutely love mine! 

 

Ride it every weekend, up hills, down hills, XC tracks you name it. 

 

How slow/fast is it, doesn't matter. How fun is it? The most fun! 

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*hi-jack

 

is there a real lasting market for plus bikes, or is it just a craze that will blow over?

 

If plus tyres were so grippy and great, why don't we see them on DH rigs?  How much slower are these bikes when riding a 70km marathon?

 

cool looking bikes, but I'm not yet sold on which terrain / distances a plus size will be your weapon of choice.

 

*hi-jack off

DH rigs - not yet a tyre with durable enough sidewall protection and adequate tread in an acceptable weight. DH bikes had the ORIGINAL plus tyre in the 3.0" Nokian Gazzaloddi, but it weighed a TON.

 

post-3056-0-04671400-1495012281_thumb.jpg

 

How much slower? Well... dunno, really. Depends on the casing weight and rotational inertia, I suppose. Also what terrain you're talking about. 

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*hi-jack

 

is there a real lasting market for plus bikes, or is it just a craze that will blow over?

 

If plus tyres were so grippy and great, why don't we see them on DH rigs?  How much slower are these bikes when riding a 70km marathon?

 

cool looking bikes, but I'm not yet sold on which terrain / distances a plus size will be your weapon of choice.

 

*hi-jack off

Right tool for the job at hand ... you are not exactly going to be pulling out a 160mm travel Duallie for a Marathon either ... can you certainly ride a marathon on one, but then you would not really be that concerned with finishing times anyway ... or else you would have pulled out a sharp handling 100mm max travel race rig.

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edit no. 2: the merida with the Yari would get my ZAR

 

That was my thinking too. Then the YT special came out and the following considerations were considered. Considerably...

 

Pike vs Yari

YT reputation

Dropper was included

Cheaper (well, than a Chameleon at least)

 

Yes, it's a different bike, but I only had enough cashola for one bike.

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I have a Surly Krampus (29+ with rigid fork) as my N+1 bike. Once it is up to speed, it keeps speed really well and it's not too bad for most places I ride. 650B+ could work for you as "normal" 29" wheels will easily fit on the bike and suspension forks is readily available. Has anyone tried 29" for front wheel and 650B+ on the back, I think it would be a good mix.

 

Not so sold on the Surly Knard tires though..

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I have a Surly Krampus (29+ with rigid fork) as my N+1 bike. Once it is up to speed, it keeps speed really well and it's not too bad for most places I ride. 650B+ could work for you as "normal" 29" wheels will easily fit on the bike and suspension forks is readily available. Has anyone tried 29" for front wheel and 650B+ on the back, I think it would be a good mix.

 

Not so sold on the Surly Knard tires though..

 

My brother just put a chronicle on his Krampus and its night and day compared to his Knards.. 

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My brother just put a chronicle on his Krampus and its night and day compared to his Knards.. 

 

Umm, I still have alot of life left in the Knards... I'll start shopping around for some Chronicles, very happy with Maxxis on my other bike.

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*hi-jack

 

is there a real lasting market for plus bikes, or is it just a craze that will blow over?

 

If plus tyres were so grippy and great, why don't we see them on DH rigs?  How much slower are these bikes when riding a 70km marathon?

 

cool looking bikes, but I'm not yet sold on which terrain / distances a plus size will be your weapon of choice.

 

*hi-jack off

I'm not dead sure about this but at the speed Dh riders go and how much force they put into the tyres I think the tyres will start to roll , maybe not 

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My wife has the Fuse. Basic bike, easy to maintain, fun to ride, looks great. Happy wife, happy life...

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I'm not dead sure about this but at the speed Dh riders go and how much force they put into the tyres I think the tyres will start to roll , maybe not

With the current sidewalls yes. I don't know how much a 2.8 minion DHF double down would weigh and tbh I dunno if I want to.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got a Scott Spark 710 Plus. I've done quite a few rides on it. On rough, rocky, loose, dry trails (ie. Western Cape) I'm now convinced that plus tyres and boost hubs are the future. Lots of fun, loads of traction, smooth ride, hardly any rolling resistance penalty - rock gardens are a breeze. I suspect the reasons you don't see boost/plus rigs in rough terrain marathon races yet are:

- too new, people havent found out how good they are yet

- concern for vulnerability of the tyres to sidewall damage (read a lot about it. no issues yet)

- concern over lack of race support for tyre size

I think those issues will get sorted and we'll see a lot of them before long.

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Nice thing about the Trek Stache is that you are not limited to one wheel size...it comes out the box as a 29+ but you can fit standard 29 wheels and tyres, 27.5+, or 27.5 standard...it has a sliding dropout to adjust for the different wheel sizes.

 

your choice is not limited in terms of gearing either due to this sliding dropout...and they start around R30k for the Alu model all the way up...so not "too" expensive.

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Nice thing about the Trek Stache is that you are not limited to one wheel size...it comes out the box as a 29+ but you can fit standard 29 wheels and tyres, 27.5+, or 27.5 standard...it has a sliding dropout to adjust for the different wheel sizes.

 

your choice is not limited in terms of gearing either due to this sliding dropout...and they start around R30k for the Alu model all the way up...so not "too" expensive.

 

As it is with any plus bike.. 

 

I can fit 29", 27.5+ and 27,5+ 

 

The only one I cant fit is 29+

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