27.5 plus specialized enduro 29er conversion

[skyrokz]

So today I finally picked up my specialized enduro 27.5 plus conversion from @jimvreeland, he did an awesome job setting everything up for me. Short breaknown of items purchased/needed for conversion;
-27.5 wheelset with 32mm inner width 38mm outer (any width over 25mm should be sufficient, although wider recommend )
-set of rotors
-new casette
-new tires (wtb bridgers ) tubless
Frame and fork is stock, rockshox pike 29er fork.
After I got the bike I took it straight lewis morris and gave it a test ride, first impressions are simply amazing, it was like riding a different bike, handling was spot on, the bike felt like it was glued to the trails, the semi large knobs of the bridgers bit right into the dirt but the large volume wrapped around all the roots like a glove, climbing was awesome, I didn't loose traction on the rocky uphills as I normally would with my Maxxis minions and the downhills were a lot more confident. Overall this was a great conversion and if anyone is thinking about it, I strongly recommend it, especially for beginners who want a little more confidence and traction.

 

[Pearl]

Interesting, what's the clearance in the rear look like?

 

[jumpa]

Nice bike.

My impressions of it after having rode it as well and having ridden your enduro before.

It did have tons of grip, I don't know if its due to the wheels or the fact that it's an enduro. Or prob cause I ride a hardtail. It didn't feel as nimble though. Whatever weight penalty gained is probably negated by the grip gained .

The front end felt like it wonders on climbs , again prob from the massive amounts of travel you have for lew'mo and not the tires.

It sucks that your rear tire rubbes when I lean into corners, but now in turns it sounds like your riding a old two stroke

I also probably pr'ed that climb today by alot. Again not sure if due to tires or that I ride a single speed and I'm slow on the climbs and gears feel like heaven to me.

All in all, my review is useless, you seemed faster cause you weren't as far behind on the decents as you usually are and your climbs seemed quicker to. I know cause I could hear your tires rubbing a few yards behind.

..also did everyone know that this guys vaps in his full face?

Jelly of the ride bro, looking forward to riding it again.

#washyourbike

 

[jumpa]

Interesting, what's the clearance in the rear look like?

 

[skyrokz]

Interesting, what's the clearance in the rear look like?

Yeh, jumpa pretty much summed it up with the .gif, hehe it was tighter then a German virgin but after some sandpaper magic, taking off the edge by jamming some 80 grit sandpaper between the rear triangle and tire seems to be fine but just to be on the safe side I ordered a wtb trailblazer 2.8 for the rear. Most of the rubbing noise turns out came from the chain slap protector that specialized installs on the rear triangle that was floating into the tires path, quick zip tie took care of that

 

[jumpa]

Yeh, jumpa pretty much summed it up with the .gif, hehe it was tighter then a German virgin

Is that right? I wouldnt know.

Is this response appropriate ? Prob not...

 

[skyrokz]

Nice bike.

My impressions of it after having rode it as well and having ridden your enduro before.

It did have tons of grip, I don't know if its due to the wheels or the fact that it's an enduro. Or prob cause I ride a hardtail. It didn't feel as nimble though. Whatever weight penalty gained is probably negated by the grip gained .

The front end felt like it wonders on climbs , again prob from the massive amounts of travel you have for lew'mo and not the tires.

It sucks that your rear tire rubbes when I lean into corners, but now in turns it sounds like your riding a old two stroke
SOLVED!
I also probably pr'ed that climb today by alot. Again not sure if due to tires or that I ride a single speed and I'm slow on the climbs and gears feel like heaven to me.

All in all, my review is useless, you seemed faster cause you weren't as far behind on the decents as you usually are and your climbs seemed quicker to. I know cause I could hear your tires rubbing a few yards behind.

..also did everyone know that this guys vaps in his full face?

View attachment 26222

Jelly of the ride bro, looking forward to riding it again.

#washyourbike

There is definitely a learning curve to this setup, tire pressures, leaning etc... but right off the bat I felt like I didn't go for the brakes as often on the downs and the grip was great in turns and probably the largest noticeable improvement was climbing without loosing traction.

 

[jumpa]

Time for you to start riding yellow/orange at CR

 

[skyrokz]

Time for you to start riding yellow/orange at CR

I'm still too slow for that, my beginner status has gone up to bacon, still working on the sport aspect of it...

 

[Magic]

There's a learning curve on easier to ride wheels and tires?

Ride CR yellow man! Put that thing to the test on hitec and the billy goat climb.

See you at Jungle!

#washyourbike

 

[skyrokz]

There's a learning curve on easier to ride wheels and tires?

Ride CR yellow man! Put that thing to the test on hitec and the billy goat climb.

See you at Jungle!

#washyourbike

I'll wash it before you see it at jungle, it will sparkle like brain new

 

[icebiker]

I didn't loose traction on the rocky uphills as I normally would...

of what rocks at Lew Mo doeth you speak?

 

[skyrokz]

of what rocks at Lew Mo doeth you speak?

Rocks my friend rocks... not boulders, plenty of loose rock trails at lewmo, especially on a few climbs although I do apologize for lacking the skill to attend trails with "real rocks" maybe one day...

 

[soundz]

On the 2 tires side by side picture, are you comparing it with a Minion 2.50?

For some reason, I doubt that you were going faster on the uphills. My experience is that weight normally plays a far greater role on climbs than traction (unless you have to dismount). What you "feel" and the actual measured times can sometimes be wildly different. If you do Strava, I'd like to see your times compared to lighter tires. Not sure how much weight difference there is between Minion 2.5 and WTB 3.0.

 

[skyrokz]

On the 2 tires side by side picture, are you comparing it with a Minion 2.50?

For some reason, I doubt that you were going faster on the uphills. My experience is that weight normally plays a far greater role on climbs than traction (unless you have to dismount). What you "feel" and the actual measured times can sometimes be wildly different. If you do Strava, I'd like to see your times compared to lighter tires. Not sure how much weight difference there is between Minion 2.5 and WTB 3.0.

I don't usually strava but I might start to see the two different wheelsets compared, I don't think there is a big weight difference in weight between both, @jimvreeland weighed the wtb 3.0 under a 1000g with packaging (don't know how much the minion 2.5's weigh. Both minions and wtb's are on carbon rims with comparable weights. The reason why I felt faster was because I always ride with jumpa at lewmo and he's always much faster but today I manged to stay pretty close on his tail both on climbs and descends. I don't necessarily think that it was weight or size of the tires, what I think attributed to the increased speeds on descends was the fact I felt much more confident with the grip and on climbs the tires made going over roots and rocks effortless as they wrapped around and never lost momentum or traction which in turn made the climbs smoother and more efficient. I'm not a racer so actual times mean nothing to me, the fact I feel confident to just point and shoot with a lot less hesitation makes all the difference which in turn I'm sure will make me an overall better rider.

 

[soundz]

Yah the Minion 2.5's are listed at 1000+ grams, so I suspect the weight difference is a wash. Just for fun, you could try some 500 gram 2.1 tires and see if you can hang with Jumpa going uphill.

 

[skyrokz]

Yah the Minion 2.5's are listed at 1000+ grams, so I suspect the weight difference is a wash. Just for fun, you could try some 500 gram 2.1 tires and if you can hang with Jumpa going uphill.

I'm sure I can, but I could gurantee you that it won't be as comfortable and the rest of the ride would suck at least to me. Hell I seen guys on cross bikes ride singletrack, more power to them as to each is own, but I think I'd rather hike then be on a skinny tire and I hate hiking.

 

[Monkey Soup]

You know, if you further convert to 26", you'll realize even more agility and quicker handling, but that's just crazy talk.

You should not be having any traction issues with Minions, up or down. And 2.8 and 3.0?!?! Where do you think your riding? That's beyond DH rubber. Why do that to yourself with the rotating weight? If you can't get the traction you need with 2.35 minions or 2.4 HR 2's, it aint the tires.

 

[skyrokz]

You know, if you further convert to 26", you'll realize even more agility and quicker handling, but that's just crazy talk.

You should not be having any traction issues with Minions, up or down. And 2.8 and 3.0?!?! Where do you think your riding? That's beyond DH rubber. Why do that to yourself with the rotating weight? If you can't get the traction you need with 2.35 minions or 2.4 HR 2's, it aint the tires.

Like I said before, it's not that I don't have traction with minions or 2.35 or what ever other tire, I do, but with the 3.0 with a much larger volume which is only about 1/4" less radius then a 29er with a 2.35 tire the contact patch is much wider and gives me more confidence, I am a beginner and I stated that in my initial post, in my opinion this tire size isn't aimed for xc racers or anyone that's looking to go super fast and hammer with his full rigid noodle tire bike, this or any other setup is subjective, to me it works, it helps in areas I'm lacking in, it ain't magic to where I'm twice as fast or 50% better in technical stuff, but it does greatly improve my confidence in cornering, going faster and using less brakes on downhills, holds more momentum and is much smoother on the climbs, now maybe someone that's 5'3" 125# with camelback on wouldn't have the same benefits but at 6'3" 195# I like the bigger wheels, I like the volume and I love the way the bike feels now. You might like 20" wheels and a bamboo frame and iF that works for you then great. And as far as your traction argument, @jumpa was in front of me on the climbs and I'm sure he can confirm that when he was spinning his rear wheel shooting babyheads from underneath the tire I was right behind him eating all that shit up with the larger volume, I can now clearly see what the fuss is all about with true fat bikes.

 

[rick81721]

I was also interested in the weight difference between the two wheelsets. Also what pressure are you running in the 3.0s?