Salsa – 26 Plus is coming

by 10

First seen on bikes like the Surly Instigator 2.0 the idea of a 26in x 3.0 tyre has been bubbling along for a while. For riders who’ve only just got used to the idea of 27.5in being a ‘thing’ it leaves room for riders to try out the 3in Plus Tyres thing without necessarily swapping frames.

Salsa Cycles launched the Redpoint just before the Sea Otter this year, which is a burly, 150mm 27.5in bike. However, at its booth at the Otter, it also had a bike built up with WTB’s Ranger 3.0 tyres for that whole semi-fat experience.

Salsa Redpoint 2
It’s a rad Redpoint with 27.5in x 2.3in tyres
WTB RAnger tyre
But what is this crazy talk? A 3in 26in tyre? Is this the Gazzaloddi all over again?

For riders who remember the original Nokian Gazzaloddi tyre from the mid-90s (I’m looking at you Bobby Proctor – Dremelling out the brace on your Boxxers so they’d fit…) this is nothing new, but for the new skool of mountain bikers who like the idea of the bigger float of a large tyre, without the heft (or the outlay for a new frame) then a 26 x 3in does seem to fit in many 27.5in bikes.

Salsa Redpoint
Add some big rubber and you have a dry, dusty trail machine

We’ve already seen brands like Turner crowbarring a 27.5+ tyre into a 29er frame and there are obviously bikes out there now like the Santa Cruz Hightower designed for either 29 or 27.5in, so what crazy mash-ups are in store for us next?

WTB Ranger 3

Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 22 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

More posts from Chipps

Comments (10)

Leave Reply