Mid-fat. 27.5+ on the shore?

Sometimes floating is a good thing:

methow is rad, need to spend more time there. old schoolhouse is good brew, as well. in all, you present a compelling argument.

how do you account for the thousands of people riding fat tires on snow and sand - mass hysteria?

Something like that, maybe a new age cult?

Something like that, maybe a new age cult?

ugh, yeah, you guys need to learn about

You want to push those heavy tires without the rollover of 29"?

No thanks.

I honestly don't want the rollover of a 29er though. I had that for a year and I started taking a book with me riding. Riding trails that I like such as 7th Secret on my hardtail with 650Brah x 2.4" tyres is super fun. Make it easier and it just gets boring. 26+ would have the same dimensions as my current ride but moar traction which seems like a good thing. Also if a 29+ tyre weighs under 900g (but is probably going to be utterly shit around here) I don't think a 26+ would be heavy with current technology.

This guy probably now rides a 275+ or 29+ ;)

You bet, but the difference isn't as huge as you think. The wheels keep rolling over stuff and you use less energy working the bike but of course expend more to keep spinning along…

I guess it's all relative. At the end of the day as long as most companies are making their Plus bikes easily convertible to 29'ers without messing up the geo, you always have the option for prime conditions and long days even if you're a Plus aficionado.

Upsides…

Personally, I do see one HUGE upside of Plus+ bikes. If Boost was necessary to get there I'm even okay with it.

Once every company is making bikes like SantaCruz's new Hightower that are both 29'ers and Plus+ bikes I'm hoping that market pressure will lead some of them to new niche bikes.

Particularly, I would love an XC-Race-Like 4" travel 29'er with a slack headangle, long front center, and short(ish) rear center. I have a feeling it's coming and I can accept that it's Plus bikes that are going to make it happen.

You're obviously really sold on Plus, which is cool, but I'm curious if your go-to bike is a Plus bike now and if not why not?

Particularly, I would love an XC-Race-Like 4" travel 29'er with a slack headangle, long front center, and short(ish) rear center. I have a feeling it's coming and I can accept that it's Plus bikes that are going to make it happen.

I don't think it's Plus that will bring this bike. That's pretty niche as well as it doesn't really fit a type of rider. The only bike I can think of right now is the Process 111.

You're obviously really sold on Plus, which is cool, but I'm curious if your go-to bike is a Plus bike now and if not why not?

Go-to bike? What's that? ;)

Go-to bike? What's that? ;)

It's the one with new tires. The tires that change on a weekly basis.

It's the one with new tires. The tires that change on a weekly basis.

Oh man I've got that addiction right now too! Tire of the month club.

New bike syndrome in my case. Onset is an accute case of millimeteritis with contact points and controls, then develops into the more serious condition of obsessive compulsive tire disorder.

As to the OP:

My buddy rides a plus bike exclusively, and I've ridden it some too. I concur with all above. Absolutely WTF(!!!) amazing grip in inclement conditions- like you can't even follow their line because you'll die. Or get mud on your clean shorts.

In normal conditions though, all bad- slow, just unprecedentedly slow, and a hindrance most everywhere.

Big fat tires are slow but grippy , what a revelation… Soo much special Koolaid around these days:)

It's not "grippy", it's GRIPPY. Like stay inside during inclement conditions and be a Dad and stare at your GT (I resemble that remark), or go outside and OWN it grip. If I lived somewhere consistently shitty I'd tackle one out of the salesmen's hands. For regular riding though it's not my cuppa (koolaid).

I didn't find it that slow. Plus the energy you save on climbs by being able to spin up anything is huge.

In normal conditions though, all bad- slow, just unprecedentedly slow, and a hindrance most everywhere.

I have not experienced this AT ALL with my bike and I've run three different sets of tires. Bike rolls just as fast as my 26" Chromag if not better and has all the other benefits you speak of. As long as the tire pressure is set correctly the bike rolls great.

I have not experienced this AT ALL with my bike and I've run three different sets of tires. Bike rolls just as fast as my 26" Chromag if not better and has all the other benefits you speak of. As long as the tire pressure is set correctly the bike rolls great.

It is entirely possible that you have way more experience with this and are spot on.

When the conditions are buff I do run up on my buddy's bumper a lot though. He gets all whiny. On paved roads it's really blatant…not sure if paved road descending performance is really a thing that anyone should care about though :)

It really says something that my buddy always pulls this bike out from the quiver though, regardless of conditions.

So Maxxis released the 'Wide Trail' versions of some of its 27.5 tires (DHF, DHR2 and Shorty). Apparently optimized for use on 35mm+ rims so they stay a big more square in profile. I saw some on a bike yesterday at Lynn Valley. They looked really big but that was more likely because they were 2.5s.