Morning all, this should have been a simple question for a French friend who doesn't know STW but was delayed by me crashing on the way home yesterday, followed by hospital, painful night etc.
Starting with said question, 'Sylvain' his real name, has a 2016 Santa Cruz Highball frame (thus https://www.santacruzbicycles.com/en-US/bike/highball/2-al), running 29er wheels as intended. He came to ask me about getting a titanium fatbike made in China, which sounds fun but suggested he might try a plus wheelset first as a cheaper option. His frame is non-boost and is specced as having clearance for 29*2.35 tyres. Any ideas what size 27.5+ he could sensibly squeeze in there? Many thanks in advance.
As for my crash, no other party involved. I am lucky enough to have a well-maintained 6 km fine gravel+clay cycle path from home to work, with three road crossings and.... three wooden bridges. All three are set at dog legs to the path and, when wet, are like greased snot. No texturing whatsoever so if you don't take them completely straight, down you go. And that's what I did yesterday. Wasn't going fast at all but dropped attention for a fraction of a second and hit the gravel on the far side rather hard. A couple saw me fall and asked if I was alright, which I appreciated but laughed off. Cue a few hundred metres later when I begin to suspect my right wrist is broken. Getting home I find my keys are also missing but wife was home, drove me back to bridge, where the keys had been ejected from a side pocket and landed in the ditch. Then hospital, x-rays etc bla bla bla. Wrist not broken but I had a previous break 4 years ago and it felt like that one. Also noticed my trousers had blood stains but didn't want to show the nurses as I realised I'd put my underpants on inside out 🤣. Doc had a look though, usual gravel rash but that sticking to the bed one side and the wrist unsupported t'other has made for a cr@ppy night. I work in a rather strictly controlled safety environment so will have to declare the accident today. Don't mind actually as the slippery bridges could be easily solved with some textured bitumen strips or similar. Lots of older people walk in the area and for them it could be a bust hip etc, so I'll escalate with the two mairies concerned. Whinge over. It hurts but most importantly the bike is fine.
So, the 27+ compatibility for Sylvain?
Cheers, Oli
two mairies
?
You're trying to talk him OUT of buying a new bike? What's wrong with you!?
You need to go away and think about your place on this forum!
Don't think that frame will take Plus wheels.
Get well soon.
@RD, sorry, live in France with two villages communes responsible for the trail on the way to work, so 'town hall'.
@Daffy, as the ashamed owner of 18 bikes (not the lovely Yorkshire company) I try to save others from my fate, but I see your point.
@Dawson, thanks. I'll see if he can bring it to work and we can measure it up. My plus wheelset is boost though, so can't just jam it in there. I do have some non-boost 27.5 wheels, which might help with measuring?
We look after something like 350 wooden decked bridges at work. They’re lethal after a while in the wet.
Any of them that carry cycles or horses are usually grip stripped with bitumen strips or roll. You can even buy screw down strips now that are tough as hell and last ages.
Don’t know how occupiers liability works in France but that’s a foreseeable accident given what we know about how slippery the decks are and the use of the trail.
Hope you get back on the bike soon.
He'll not be able to fit anything much wider than the 29er wheels he already has. Certainly not anything near to being a fatbike.
Do you have/have you ridden a fatbike yourself?
I have a 27.5 plus frame and it runs 2.8 tyres as standard. If I run it with 29" wheels 2.35 is as big as I can go. So from a rolling diametre point of view your mate would have no problems fitting 2.8 tyres in his frame. However, he may run into problems with the width at the chain/seat stays. Tell him to have a measure up. If there is 3" width there then crack on with his plus adventure.
Thanks very much all.
Yes, I have a Cube Nutrail on 4.8s but haven't ridden it for a couple of years (SRAM brake problem, too lazy to re-fit). I run 29s on my Kingdom X2 but have a 27.5+ set too. I know they've gone out of fashion a bit but I found 2.8 Nobby Nics really good when I rode the Transmaurienne in 2018 - great for slow painful climbs, tough enough for a clumsy descent. I'll get Sylvain to bring his bike in and we can measure up.
Reported the bridges to our townhall this afternoon. Not fussed about suing, just an obvious problem with a simple fix. I've tried as a private citizen but will get my work on to them if they don't listen.
Hand bloody sore but thigh is just behind in nuisance terms.
Important distinction. 18 bikes is in Derbyshire.
2.8 on 35mm internal rims are ~ 25mm smaller diameter than 2.3 on 30mm internal 29er and 10mm wider. very roughly.
@doc, mucho sorry! Never been but exchanged emails once.
@Del, also thanks. Calipers are the way forward!
😀
Is your bike OK though?
no worries. measurements taken at my ride pressures, across a selection of schwalbe, maxxis, and spesh tyres, so take with a pinch of salt, but it'll give you an idea. if you need more specific info shout.
Its all in the width where the tire will sit. So you need to measure the current 29'er tyre and the spare clearance you have left. There is TWO places where to measure as it might fit at the bottom but not at top(seatstay). I read you have or had some 27.5 wheel, have some too that I can measure if wanted. As you most likely know 2.8 can be quite different from one tyre model to another as well in height as width.
Diameter should be fine or slightly smaller so can be ignored. But this might be interesting for width if as seatstay shape 1 cm further back might be wider.
18 bikes respect, you are probably the first person who admits to having more bikes then me and who doesn't own a shop. I have definitely more then ten but no idea how many exactly.
Dites bonjour et bon rétablissement a Sylvain.
@hofnar, it is, as Daffy said, probably best he just gets another bike. I wouldn't be keen on the ChiTi route personally, perfectly happy to pay a few hundred more for a Chinese made frame with a European contact/guarantee (like Kingdom). I also showed Sylvain the Sonder Vir Fortis frame as a build option.
Regarding the eighteen bikes, I should clarify. They are not all mine but I bought them and maintain them. My son has two (trail+jump), my daughter one (trail), my wife two (trail+road) and I have five 'active' (Ti hardtail, steel full-sus, stainless commuter, alu mtb tandem, alu fat) and three fixer-uppers, plus I run a fleet of five mtbs in Myanmar for my archaeological team. Does that make 18..., yup!
@gaidong counting wife and kids bikes thats a bit overkill 😉
I don't have kids and no wife anymore(the last one had 4 bikes well maybe 5).
Do have some bikes for visitors if I count them I should probably have 13 bikes currently, thats if I remembered them all(have managed to forget a travel bike at a friends and was handed it back three years later).
Eying up a new road bike, in my defence I have sold and old one recently to a mate.
Think I have a bit of a cycling issue, recently started counting spare tyres not mounted on wheels and gave up when I got to around fifty
But but but I built them all 🙁 🙁 🙁 and ride my son's and wife (mtb). Anyway, reached a natural limit now, no more room!