[shelteringsky]

Plus-sized tire for the front: Yes or No?

Current set up is a 2018 Santa Cruz V10 with 26" wheels (Mavic 729s) and 26" Boxxers. Bike jumps and corners really well but looking for a bit more roll over capability for the rocky tech stuff so looking into a plus-sized tire (26x2.8) for the front. Heard the sidewalls on plus sized tires are crap so would probably run tubes. Thoughts/experiences with plus-sized tires?

 

[englertracing]

Um isn't that bike supposed to be running 27.5 on both ends?

 

[shelteringsky]

Um isn't that bike supposed to be running 27.5 on both ends?

“Supposed to”. V10s have relatively high BB heights so hasn’t really been an issue. Bike corners like it’s on rails and is great for jumps.

Me being stuck in the past aside, guess the question is more about plus sized tires in general. Seems like I’m about 3 years late to the party but any fans out there?

Potentially I could have a plus sized wheel for tech but put the regular wheel back on for the A-line style tracks.

 

[englertracing]

I think most "plus" tires are nowhere near dh worthy.
Being big squishy squirmy sacks of shit if you actually ride fast they roll over, if you run pressures high enough not to roll them they bounce off of everything.

Why not wet your feet with a 27.5 front rim?
They easily fit in a 26" 40 not sure about a boxxer tho

 

[jstuhlman]

 

[Da Peach]

Just add volume spacers.

 

[Nick]

3.0 gazzalodi or gtfo.


Im kidding, don't do that.

 

[Jm_]

Those big tires do roll over stuff well, but you significantly decrease a bike's DH ability and general mountain-bike-ness by going with those big tires. You see people raving day in and day out in the fat-bike groups how they are "faster" on their fat-bike or plus-bike. This is because said person rolls at about a walking speed on any other bike and they never carry enough momentum to roll over shit, so for them, this is an improvement, but when you start trying to go faster and push it, the sidewalls fold, your dinky little knobs don't dig in, the massive gyroscopic rigidity yanks the bike up berms and outside the turn, and so on.

And that momentum is an important thing, there are trails I ride where you have to simply be traveling a certain speed. It's kind of scary at first, because at that speed, in that terrain, if you screw up the penalty can be steep, but it's much harder to impossible to ride that terrain slowly. You'll simply crash over and over again because you keep folding the front end. Over time some of this stuff gets crazy-dug out and you swear it's 3x deeper than when you started riding it, but that kind of terrain isn't about wheelsize, it's about momentum/speed. HTA and other factors definitely help, but none of those things will make up for going too slow.

Putting side-knobs into dirt when turning is not helped by overly wide tires. You won't be able to hold a line at speed.

My advice is 27.5x2.5 and 2.5 is on the wider side of what I run these days, but if you go wider from there the performance drops way off, even at 2.6 IME.

If you've ever seen what people do on cross-bikes on off-camber and slippery terrain, that may help you understand. We don't experience this to anywhere near the same degree, but I was being a jackass entering my fat-bike in a cross-race and I got to see the full extreme. The pressure they put on the tire lets them DIG into some pretty crazy stuff.

You may gain some roll-over benefits with 27.5 and I would encourage you to do that for the roll-over, but I would not advise a "plus" tire, unless you are just looking to cruise easy all the time and not hit any really rough terrain.

 

[slimshady]

In my short experience with some trail plus-equipped Specialized, even taking the time to adjust pressures to my weight (or what The Internet ™ says are the adequate pressures for plus tires) the tires aren't worth it. Sidewall support is close to non-existent, side knobs are nothing but decorative, and as @Jm_ says above, the claimed rollover improvements are there only if you are a FAB who never leaves the saddle.

The two guys I know here riding plus bikes are slow as fuck, they even threw a 30t chainring in there, and we don't have anything resembling steepness in ~200 miles.

TL/DR: DON'T DO IT, unless you're thinking of leaving the for emptybeer for good.

 

[Cerberus75]

I eco what's already said. Plus tires squirm and fold at any decent speed. And if there's decent side knows the casing and pressure cannot support them the just press into the tire when leaned on. Or the bounce of everything if you run enough pressure to stop all the above. I personally don't even like trail casing like exo in 2.5 for this reason.

 

[Bikael Molton]

Plus size tires are going the way of the dodo.

 

[toodles]

Plus size tires are going the way of the dodo.

Ironically they're both slow, stupid and ugly

 

[StiHacka]

I love my studded plus tires for ice/snow riding. I see no other useful applications outside of that niche.

 

[shelteringsky]

Okay, well I thought I could hack the extra weight of the plus tires but if they bounce off everything and squirm when cornering hard, that's a hard pass for me. Cheers for the replies guys.

 

[Udi]

Bike corners like it’s on rails and is great for jumps.

But is half a decade behind in performance over rough ground, holes and braking bumps.

I'd start by just putting the correct + intended wheel size on the bike. You'd probably find significant improvements just by putting a 27.5" on the front, but ideally just do both and find another way to lower the BB if needed.

 

[6thElement]

My only experience with plus sized was when @Fool could only get a plus rental bike and then flatted 17 times on the CO ride we took him on - Lenawee plus secret for the locals.

He loved their robustness.

 

[buckoW]

I think there are places where some plus tires work for some people. The 2.6 or 2.8 Magic Mary are the only big ones that work really good for some people.

If you are light enough and don’t square off corners all day then there are definitely some advantages to the plus sizes. My wife has a totally different needs than me she can get away with a 2.8 Magic Mary, Soft, light carcass on her DH bike. I couldn’t. I think they are too squirmy but she’s smoother than me and doesn’t need as much support in a carcass. The more compliant carcass works better for her weight and she only got one flat this year and one last year. That surprises me because those carcasses are so thin. She’s getting way more grip from a lighter and harder compound tire (interesting!). I think if you are under 60kg and don’t drift all day then the 2.8 MM is worth a look if you wanna plus.

In Whistler her bike rolls faster than most people on the mountain and regularly yells at me to go faster on Aline.

 

[Fool]

My only experience with plus sized was when @Fool could only get a plus rental bike and then flatted 17 times on the CO ride we took him on - Lenawee plus secret for the locals.

He loved their robustness.

Plus-sized tires are a minus.

 

[Da Peach]

Plus-sized tires are a minus.

More or less...

 

[Jm_]

More or less...

Less is moar.