While all this ‘plus size’ chubby tyreness seems to be this season’s newest thing, its roots (as we’ll be exploring in a feature in the next issue of the mag) go back a few years. Back to at least October 2013 when Manitou’s engineers started throwing around the idea of a wider fork for the as-yet-invented wider tyres and rims.
The new fork was designed through 2014 and dubbed the Manitou Magnum, ready for tyres up to 3.4in, with 34mm stanchions and a 15mm axle that now incorporated the burgeoning other new ‘standard’ of 110mm ‘Boost’ spacing. It’d come in 27.5in and 29in lengths too. Handily, the same company also owns Sun/Ringlé rims and so the suitably wide rims and hubs weren’t a problem. Forks started appearing in December 2014 and they’re now available. Manitou claims that they’re the first production plus-size forks (cue Jeremy Clarkson voice:) in the world.
The internals of the Magnum are based on the successful Manitou Mattoc (which in turn was influenced by the Dorado DH fork) although Manitou is very keen to point out that the fork isn’t just an upsized version of the Mattoc. From the wider, hollow crown to the revalved damping, it’s been designed specifically for chunkier tyres running lower pressure.
The Magnum will come in 80/100/120 and 140mm versions for 27.5in wheels and 80/100/120mm for 29ers. A guide price is €905 for the Manitou Magnum Pro fork for either wheel size. There’ll be an OEM Comp version too.
A three inch, 10psi tyre deforms more easily than that of an enduro racer running a 2.35in tyre at 28psi, so the fork has been made more sensitive to smaller bumps so that it moves quicker – otherwise, you’d only get suspension action when the tyre had nearly compressed, which is usually a little too late.
The use of these new, chubbier tyres is going to be reasonably wide, from what we can see. Rocky Mountain showed a prototype of its new Sherpa last year and this year unveiled the production bike. It sees it as the answer to loaded bikepacking, while Trek’s Stache is more of a hard hitting fun-time hardtail. We’re going to try to work our way through all of these niches as the bikes start to appear.
As we mentioned earlier, you can’t have a new wheel ‘standard’ without wheels, so turning to the other side of the Hayes company, we find Sun/Ringlé all ready with the new MULE Füt 50SL rim and associated wheels. The rim has a 50mm outer width and 44 internal and is drilled for lighter weight. (618mm for 27.5in and 655mm for 29er).The wheels will be conventional 32 spoke, three cross. No UK prices just yet, but the wheels will probably be around €240 and €360 front and rear. There’ll be Shimano and SRAM xD versions available. Suggested pressure are a fun-loving 10-15psi…
