IT'S A FREAKIN TANK!
Last week,
@Mr.Moto was generous enough to loan me a RSD Sergeant... a 27.5 Plus bike with 3.25 tires... I think. Took her down to Nassau last week and hoping for snow, did a short ride at HM this morning as well. Didn't want to mess around with the bike too much so all I did was adjust the saddle height and position, switched over to clipless pedals and rotated the handlebar to a more upright position. I am prolly going to regurgitate what has already been said about plus bikes but here it goes. On the steady fire road climbs, it took a bit more effort to get it going. On asphalt descents, the bike had a mind of its own and it did kinda steered itself. It was a bit scary when going at high speeds. The fun really started once I got it on the trails. The thing just rolled over everything and it was relatively easy to maintain speed on technical terrains. Even at HM, I did not miss the full squish bike all that much. On the short punchy climbs, no need to worry about body position and I was able to get off the saddle and whale down on the pedals without having to worry about the rear wheel slipping... unless it was crazy steep. Traction was just incredible. I would get knocked off the saddle because of rear wheel slippage on my skinny wheels but not on this thing. Just pedal and next thing I know, I'm at the top. Not to mention... I had no pedal strikes at Nassau or HM.
Only negative was that the bike didn't fit me well. It had a shorter reach when compared to my Trance and I started getting some backaches about an hr into the ride. Had too much weight up front and really had to shove my ass back whenever the trail pointed down. Was a bit scary on the steeper ones and on the longer descents, arm pump was an issue too. If this was my bike, I would prolly slap on a wider bar (to control the self steer) and a longer stem (to help extend the reach). I would prolly also want a slightly narrower tires to see it will further correct the self steering issue since I ride out to the trails. On the log overs, the front of the bike felt like a pogo stick. Prolly an adjustment to the rebound would have fixed it but again.... didn't want to mess around with the bike too much. Either way, if I was to get a plus bike, I can see myself going with a rigid fork.
Beta noob's conclusion? I don't think I would replace my skinny FS bike with a plus HT. This definitely would be a n+1 bike for me. I think I would miss the thrills of the skinny FS bike. If I was feeling lazy and wanted to go out for a slow (slower than usual) cruise, this would be the bike. Also, if a fresh noob wanted to start mtbing, I would put them on a plus HT. They would walk away with a grin ear to ear just as I have. Do I want one? Absofreakinlutely! Can someone please buy my Talon?
Thank you
@Mr.Moto for the bike and I need to return this back to you before decide to I move out of NJ, quit mtbnj and change my phone # and identity.
