When something is touted as the next big thing it’s always worth checking to see whether it’s been tried before. I’ve not been riding off-road for long enough to know, so was wondering if any of the older hands can remember larger (~2.8″) tyres being used on trail bikes before. Obviously we’ve had fat bikes and they have their place, but I was wondering if these larger tyres have been tried on “normal” bikes before and if so, why people ended up going back to tyres of 2.4″ or less.

Yes.
Google Nokian Gazzalodi

You’re welcome 😉

about … 8 (?) years ago i had 2.7″ continental diesels on my hardtail.

it was great, i said so, everyone on here said i was talking shite.

Not in 27.5″ or 29″ but 26″ yes

Was it only tried for downhill bikes before, or trail bikes too? If it was tried fir trail bikes does anybody know why it didn’t catch on?

Tyres were ridiculously heavy and general mountain biking was still very much xc focused

Weight and rim width probably – the Nokians were very heavy, and rims were either too narrow for the tyres or DH rims that weighed a ton.

As mentioned, 3″ Nokian Gazaloddi.

I had some 24″ DH wheels made up that I put some Gazaloddi tyres on, which was about the same rolling diameter as a 26″ 2.3 tyre.

I can’t remember it being particularly grippy, but it was very heavy and therefore made the bike a pig to ride. Pretty stable in the air, with all that gyroscopic effect…

It does sound as though we are going round in circles then (how apt). I see various comments about B+ being heavier than a good 29er wheel “but more fun”. But since when was a heavier wheel really more fun?

It’s a bit heavier. It changes the way the bike rides in a good way. You may not find that fun. Others do.

As to the original question, it kind of has been done before but typically in a DH tyre way which is great for DH but not great for xc/trail riding.

The current + tyres are scaled up trail tyres. I’m not finding them any slower out on the trails even on plain gravel or climbs.

But since when was a heavier wheel really more fun?

2 best/most fun/suited to me and my bike MTB wheelsets I’ve had were also the heaviest. Kujo 2.35s on D521s on a jump-XC bike >15 years ago, now a P35/Ardent 2.4 29er wheelset. I think the importance of light wheels is over-emphasised based on racing marginals or feel-perceptions that are of a greater difference than any timed or wattage-based reality. On a road bike I like light wheels, on an off-road bike it’s less of a concern compared to other stuff (though I’d rather not add pointless weight, like anything on the bike – or rider)

Heavier wheels take a bit more to get moving but no big deal, you get stronger and used to it and it’s really not that much difference overall. They’re also harder to slow down so the ‘flow’ is ‘better’, to be vague. They’re more stable generally. The bigger rims and tyres just work in a way I prefer to skinny/weenie wheels with higher psis. But there’s a point where it goes too far, for my local riding and preferences that’s B+, but for somewhere rockier a B+ or 29+ would be great. It’s about balance imo rather than one aspect always being dominant.