I see there have been a load of new tyres announced at Sea Otter, besides the reservations I have about plus size tyres not offering the full advanatges of fat bike tyres and none of the advantages of normal tyres – I am at a loss as to understanding why manufacturers seem to only be designing them for 29er frames.
Why are Surly the only company making a 26 inch plus tyre, won’t there be a wider audience for 2.8-3 inch tyres if they make them compatible with 650b frames?
I’ve also noticed that Rocky Mountain in regards to their Sherpa 650b+ have noted that “Also, more volume means their sidewalls are taller than traditional tires, limiting cornering stability. A Landcruiser isn’t great at the race track, but hits its stride when things get rough.Rocky also wants to stress that the Sherpa and its wide 27.5+ wheels and tires aren’t meant to replace more traditional bikes, but rather be another alternative for those who want to get out there and do it on something a bit different.”
Should fatbikes/chubby bikes be thought of as All Terrain Bikes as opposed to Mountain Bikes?
Another thing that bothers me is that Manitou have tuned their new Plus sized suspension to be a lot softer so that they operate more easily with high volume tyres, surely this is going to end up exacerbating the issues bicycles have with fork dive. They already have to tune them quite soft in comparison to motocross bikes to give small bump sensitivity.
