What 27.5 PLUS tyres for winter/mud?

I’m completely sold on my 27+ wheels but I’m aware that come the winter deluge, they’ll probably be pretty slidy compared to my 29er mud tyres. Given the choice, I’d rather stick with my 27+ wheels rather than the 29er ones so…

What tyres for…

Are there any mud specific 27+ tyres out there? Most seem to be more like my trailblazers which are decent all rounders but clearly not mud-specific

Trailblazers are pretty free-rolling. Specialized Ground Control and Purgatory look to be a good mix for winter.

Are spesh doing them in plus size? Great if so.. off to google..

Oh, ground control, not storm control – how are they in horrible mud then? The storm controls (my 29er mud tyres) are spot on so I’d have loved those in b+ size but it doesn’t look like they’re available.

Only had my Charge Cooker less than a week but will be looking for winter tyre/tyres too.

Trailblazers as standard but can only go with a 3 inch up front and the spech looks fav.

Anyone tried removing a 27.5+ tyre yet…any more difficult than a normal MTB tyre??

Shouldn’t be any more difficult. I’ve found 4″ tyres to be very easy.

I reckon the maxxis rekon will be quite useful.

That or I’m slapping my 29″ front back in.

I’m keeping 27.5+ rear though

I reckon the Spec Purgatory if you can fit a 3″ tyre at the front, otherwise wait for the Maxxis Rekon+ as that looks great and will be slightly (fingers crossed) narrower @ 2.8. Has anyone seen any dates for the rekon+ yet?

Nope – looks good though!

Nobby nics available now too

The Spesh tyres come out wider than most – realistic 3″ (80mm). Struggle to get them in non boost forks I reckon.

Nobby nics available now too

Where please?

Iv just fitted some vee rubber Trax fatty ..They come in 2.8 3.0 3.25

The 3.25 Vee was working splendidly last night

A little bit self-steerie on tarmac, but on the trail it was rocking

What about the Duro 3.25[/url]

Haven’t tried it, but looks OK

Nobby nics available now too

Where please?

Bachebrothers in lye ay it
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You’ve linked to Bache Brothers in god Lye

For mud you’ll be relying on the large contact patch, rather the tyre cutting through the mud- or the drag would be crippling. My Fat B Nimble at lower pressure, to shed mud seems OK.
Why would you not just stick 29″ wheels and mud tyres on though?

I could do – as I say, I’ve already got 29er wheels with mud tyres spare but I really like the bike set up as b+ so if I can get tyres that work in the mud, I’d rather stay on b+

Any Contis in 27.5+ yet?

So, who’s been out in proper claggy mud now that the weather has definitely turned? Reports on what plus sized tyres are working well (or not)?

(checking in to thread with a view to B+ ing my mk 1 Yelli Screamy – hello).

Hello 🙂

No one been in the claggy mud yet then?

I did a race in a claggy mud at the week-end on my Pact 27.5+. I was on panaracer fat b nimbles 3.5″ (actual width 3.0″). They clogged up pretty quick but still provided plenty of grip up muddy slopes. They were pretty rubbish when turning or on off-camber sections though probably due to rounded sahpe of tyre and low knobbles. Thinking of checking out the specialized tyres mentioned above.

One extra 27.5+side effect i had was the tyre dumping mud onto the chain which clogged the derraileur faster than other racers. This would be mitigated by a narrower tyre, but i can’t bring myself to do it.

The kind of mud is making a big difference.

I live in a chalk and clay area with plenty of flint… I know, aren’t i lucky!!

Had a few rides in the rain or diving out between downpours and the semi fats worked lovely, the Crown Gem on the front was very good and the TB on the back gave good traction on climbs but offered very little grip in the corners. I actually like the grippy front slidey back combo so all good.

No rain for a couple of days, mild temperatures and high winds have seen the loose mud turn to sticky clag.

The semi fats are now something of a training aid, heavily clogged with mud and super adhesive thus gathering up impressive amounts of leaves.

Narrow, widely spaced knobbed mud tyres definitely work better here, espescially 29ers.

So will I be swapping my wheels about… possibly maybe.

For mud you’ll be relying on the large contact patch, rather the tyre cutting through the mud- or the drag would be crippling.

Agreed.

So, who’s been out in proper claggy mud now that the weather has definitely turned? Reports on what plus sized tyres are working well (or not)

Waiting for a sample tyre to arrive to try this but I suspect it’ll be bad to hopeless based on local conditions – ie plus size tyres in mud depends on what sort of mud. Locally we tend to get a layer of wet clay/chalk slop with firmer stuff underneath, or simply wet firm clay/chalk, so unless you cut through or well into it you have little grip to change direction. Just adding more surface contact area won’t help since the surface is often so soft. Also, anything that needs to push a large volume of slop or mud away slows you right down when hitting soft bits at speed, even 2.4s feel noticably bad there compared to 2.2s. Storm Control 29″ is my benchmark proper winter tyre.
It’ll be interesting to see how a B+ copes since the combo of 2.0s and roots is never great, hard to see how the B+ will balance out better overall though. We’ll see. Part of the appeal of B+ to me is being able to pop 29er mud wheelset on for winter w/o messing with overall geometry too much (can be done with full fat also I know but it never had much appeal for local trails)

My Specialized ground controls have been good on the wet loamy trails but I have fallen off several times riding through big muddy puddles on the way back home through the woods… Thinking about a purgatory for the front.

I have a purgatory on the way so we’ll see how that goes…

I’ve finally given the Purgatory a decent go in proper mud and I’m happy to report that it worked really well. In fact it tended to grip well beyond what I expected.

Interestingly I found the Trailblazer ok on the back today but for the front, the purgatory is miles better.

Cool. Still trying to decide between Purgatory and Nobby Nic for something beyond the FatBnimbles

I’d be really interested to see how a NN compares to the purgatory as the NN looks much more like a mud tyre usually looks.

I started with Purgatory front, Ground Control rear, back was still too slidy in the mud so have now gone Purgatory front and rear.

First outing in proper mud yesterday and the otherwise brilliant ground controls did lose the plot a little in deep wet forestry mud recently churned by harvesting operations.

Liking the Bombolonis as a decent all rounder. Despite low knobs the soft compound and sipes make for good mud performance.

I realise this is thread necromancy but what’s everything thinking for this Winter?

WTB Trail Boss looks decent?

I’ll be keeping the NN 3.0 on the front. Still have a FatBnimble on the rear which I don’t mind so much, as long as the bike is going where I’m pointing the front.

I realise this is thread necromancy but what’s everything thinking for this Winter?

Maxxis Beavers on 29er rims.

The last two winters have provided wet slop over a chalk or clay base – not something a plus tyre works well on.

Agree with above. Will be swopping out the Nobby Nic on the rear for a Maxxis Beaver. Worked well for me in 29er format don’t see why it should be different for 27.5. Besides don’t need the ‘suspension’ plus gives me in the winter. Need the mud clearance!

So… resurrecting my own thread… anyone using a WTB b+ Trail Boss for mud yet?

My Purgatory was great last night but unfortunately a little frame flex plus very wide side knobs resulted in rubbing at the chainstay so I need something just a little narrower.

(I’ll be selling the Purgatory BTW – works great on the front too)

If it’s anything like the standard sized trail boss, then mud isn’t it’s best surface, great for fast and loose rock, but not mud.

Hmmm. Shame as they’re good value. Any other suggestions – basically something with a decent size carcass but without overhanging knobs(!)