Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year or so, you’ll probably have heard a lot of speculation about plus-size tyres. Everything from far-fetched marketing nonsense to vitriolic condemnation has been plastered all over the internet: often in all capital letters, so you know it must be true.
At BikeRadar, we like to find out for ourselves what really works and what doesn’t, so we set out to try and answer a simple sounding question: could plus-tyres ever be faster than normal ones?
Since 27+ wheels have a similar outer diameter to 29ers, it’s possible to install 29in wheels in a 27+ bike (or in some cases, vice-versa). As if to underline the point, Scott’s Rémy Absalon used a pair of 29in wheels in a plus bike to win the 2015 Megavalanche.
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This gave us an idea. Why not use a 27+ bike to compare both 27+ and 29in hoops? That way, everything other than the wheels can be kept the same. By comparing times over seven different tracks, totalling no less than 56 timed runs, we’ve learned a lot about those funny-looking tyres. It's fair to say it was an eye-opening test – read on for all the details, and check out the video below…
The bike
A Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Comp 6Fattie was the test subject of this experiment. With 150mm/135mm travel and based on the original Stumpy 29er, it represents a fairly typical trail bike, just with fat-tyre compatibility.
Geometry wise, the 437mm chainstay, 51mm fork offset, and 67-degree head angle would not look out of place on a 29er.
The wheels
The weight problem
Getting the measure of the 6Fattie Stumpy
The experiment
Rolling resistance: the bottom line
Technical riding
Trail one: the rooty traverse
Trail two: the trail centre descent
Trail three: the muddy corner track
Trail four: the rooty DH track
Trail five: the rocky black run
Conclusion
The future
You can read more at BikeRadar.com
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