I am having second thoughts about my full sus Boardman, particularly the maintenance of it during winter and was wondering if a hardtail 650b “Plus” bike might be an option?

How do they fare compared to a full sus at smoothing out the trail and little trail chatter that you get? I know they won’t give me bounce at both ends, but is it comfortable enough to remove the back jarring that an alu framed hard tail gives you?

Any thoughts from anyone who’s ditched the full sus for a plus bike?

Thanks

Short version- I gave it a try, didn’t like it much, went back to standard. For me, it was bad at things that are important, and good at things that aren’t, or that normal tyres are also good at. But there’s a big ymmv in there, it depends on your riding. There’s a couple of local trails where it really was good- fast, flattish, rooty singletrack without too much mud or hard use- and if I did more riding like that, I’d like it more.

It would give you more comfort seated on a hardtail, though. But then, the extra maintenance of a full suss is way less than the cost of changing bikes

You still have to wash it, so I’m not sure why it will be better.

I’ve got a bouncer, plus bike and a fatty. Bouncer and plus bike get used Spring/Summer/Autumn. Which one gets used depends on the route I’m planning to ride. The Fatty gets used in Winter and also for bikepacking.

Short version is it depends on the terrain and conditions as to which bike is best.

Someone said recently that Americans are embracing plus tires (sic) but in the UK, we’re just using plus compatible frames for the extra mud clearance.

Do you want 3 inches of undamped suspension ?

I’ve had various plus bikes and full on fatties. As said above it can depend on the terrain but I use mine for when I want a different ride . I took my Prime to CYB last week and rode with the standard 29er wheels then the next day did it with 650b+ 2.8. Much preferred it on the plus wheels .

I have a Solaris with 2.8 s on 30mm rims which i suppose is on the smaller side of plus , been really impressed with it . Have taken it round Inners and on the west highland way and not found it uncomfortable at all , the tyres do make for a comfortable ride .
Saying that i have a full suss and much like psycorp pick the bike that best suits the ride i am doing , not sure i would want it as my only bike .
Having both has made me think that a shorter travel full suss (orange 4 , whyte t130 , bird 120) with these new 2.6 not quite plus tyres would be just about perfect for me for everything .

Another multi bike owner. Full sus is a rare use for me. Plus covers almost all of my riding. It’s comfy enough on rough stuff to handle most terrain, but suffers on larger rocks, drop offs etc as you’d expect. If I had to choose one, I’d get rid of the FS.

My OPEN ONE + covers all bases for me – there was a recent article from Bikeradar on a race which pitted the new scalpel v open one + – I’ll see if I can dig it out
Sold my scalpel only have one MTB

Do you want 3 inches of undamped suspension ?

Why isn’t their a muppet emoticon when you need it? 😉

I nearly went for a plus hard tail for the same reason. But after reading loads of forums and reviews i just got a normal 650b hard tail. I was surprised that a £1000 hard tail was much more comfortable at speed than a £600 hard tail purely because of the improved fork. In fact it’s probably better at full pelt than a cheap FS

Still not as comfortable as a full susser sat down pedalling but for the money saving it’s acceptable.

Plus tyres are scary in the kind of slippy mud you need to cut through to get grip. Now some tyres are appearing with more nobbles, maybe those are better, but they will be like pushing a barge.

I’ve enjoyed riding mine this winter though. Got on the normal bike today and thought that 2.35 minion looked a bit narrow.

Thanks for all the comments, thoughts, etc

Still not sure which way to go – will probably just stay with the full sus for a while and hope that the weather improves and the grinding slop dries up!

Cheers