New plus tire ride

NJ-XC-Justin

KY-DH-Freddy
I really like the idea of the 27.5+ tires as I'm just five six and don't love a true 29er, and have shit technical skills and like the idea of a wider contact patch. But even with the cushy tires, would you regularly ride a hardtail in our rocky northern NJ woods? I'd love to just bring home an entry level (comp) Spesh Fuze hardtail and avoid the cost of the Stumpy which is a full 2k more if you want the mid fat tires. But I always loved full suss on my 26er. So while the bigger 27.5 wheels and 3.0 tires will help, I'm trying to decide if the cost (3500 vs 1500) is worth it.
 

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
FS>Plus tires.
For smoothing out rocky trails and helping to keep flow with less effort a good full suspension bike is more effective then plus size tires.

Plus tires will provide better grip then conventional tires but you will see even greater performance in rocks with a FS bike verses a hardtail, especially going downhill.

Combining plus tires and FS is what you are looking for. You won't be as happy with a plus tire hardtail.
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
FS>Plus tires.
For smoothing out rocky trails and helping to keep flow with less effort a good full suspension bike is more effective then plus size tires.

Plus tires will provide better grip then conventional tires but you will see even greater performance in rocks with a FS bike verses a hardtail, especially going downhill.

Combining plus tires and FS is what you are looking for. You won't be as happy with a plus tire hardtail.
is there a B-plus FS bike in the Spesh line? @jimvreeland
 

domo

Well-Known Member
Fatboy on 3.8s gets my vote. Because I ride rocks up here without a choice. Lol

But to be honest, my best ride in Ringwood was on a bucksaw carbon. That was simply awesome.

Trek is coming out with a Farley EX and there's rumors that spesh is working on their own FS full fattie. I hope.

Because of those reasons all my bikes are for sale.
 

NJ-XC-Justin

KY-DH-Freddy
FS>You won't be as happy with a plus tire hardtail.

Good reminder iggy. I want plus AND full suss of course but I forget the next in line should be full suss and not plus hardtail even if standard spacing like 26ers may be outdated in the next few years.

I also got carried away with my young son getting his first mtb which is a hardtail of course and me thinking it's wrong to rock full suss when he's on a HT.
 

jnos

Well-Known Member
and have shit technical skills

Go hardtail. Save some dough. Having to pick a good line and control your position on the bike a bit more (because you don't have FS to compensate) will make you a better rider.

This is my biased opinion. I ride a 26er singlespeed hardtail and am extremely cheap.
 

NJ-XC-Justin

KY-DH-Freddy
Go hardtail. Save some dough. Having to pick a good line and control your position on the bike a bit more...

I'm pretty thrifty too man. Well, as far as cyclists go anyway. But I don't race anymore and want to enjoy my rides, which can include faster dudes. I know I'll lag on a HT. And get beat up. But we'll see.
 
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jdgang

Well-Known Member
5'6" here and I love my 29er hardtail for our northern NJ woods. Granted its a ROS 9. So steel/130mm/16.8 chainstay/67.5 Head tube angle might make a difference.
 

knobbyhead

Next off the Island.
Can you ride some demo bikes? I live in central NJ and I would think a 27.5 + HT would be the way to go. However, up north maybe I would go 27.5 + FS. However, I recently went from a short travel 26 " FS to a 650b HT with a nice 120 mm fork. I don't miss the FS at all.
 

NJ-XC-Justin

KY-DH-Freddy
Can you ride some demo bikes? I live in central NJ and I would think a 27.5 + HT would be the way to go. However, up north maybe I would go 27.5 + FS. However, I recently went from a short travel 26 " FS to a 650b HT with a nice 120 mm fork. I don't miss the FS at all.

No question I'd nab the Fuze if I lived somewhere less rocky. But Ringwood, Alpine, Wayway etc all rocky.

To the original question, it's worth it. I just got a 27.5+ w/ 2.8s and I went from Richard Simmons to Rich Froning.

What did you get?
 

knobbyhead

Next off the Island.
No question I'd nab the Fuze if I lived somewhere less rocky. But Ringwood, Alpine, Wayway etc all rocky.



What did you get?

Jamis dragon 650b with the 853 frame. Just picked up is a relative term and I used that term loosely. Really, I picked it up last year. After I read what I wrote, I realized some people here would have bought at least 2 bikes since I bought mine. However, I tend to keep my bike a long time.

If you can swing the $, fs is the way to go up north.
 

skyrokz

Well-Known Member
To answer your question in a very simple way....
Full squish 27.5 /29er great bike all around
Hard tail 27.5/29er great bike for climbing, not as comfy
27.5 plus hardtail great for climbing, better than a regular hardtail for descending,
27.5 full squish.... fu--ing awesome!!! point shoot and ride, super comfortable, grip like mad
My skills aren't any great and the plus full squish is a very forgiving machine, you will lean more, you'll take lines you otherwise wouldn't, you'll sometimes forget to use your brakes because you just want to go faster. It's not a race bike but it's fun as shit. Go test one and you won't be disappointed. If I only had one bike it would be full suspension 27.5.
Keep in mind now there are plenty companies that have plus bikes that sell 29er/27.5 compatible frames so you wouldn't be limited to one wheel size
 
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