After a ride on a Stache yesterday I've got an itch for plus sized tyres. My solaris is off for painting at the moment and I'm now wondering about getting a 650b+ wheelset for it.
Anyone got any pointers for this? It'll be a 125mm rear hub and ideally 100mm front hub. For starters Hope do a Hoops set with a 35/40mm rim I believe.
Ta.
JRA Traildog i35/i29 £350..? Cotic are speccing those rims with the Solaris full builds.
Isnt the clearance tight on the Solaris for plus tyre's so not sure you'd want to go 40mm?But someone who has some actually experience might give you a better idea.
Disclaimer, I have no experience of said wheels and a Solaris, but those jra wheels get good write up.
Can't help with your 650b quest but have you checked what the tyre clearance is going to be like? 2.2 Trail King's on mine and there's not much room left.
There is a v slight difference in clearance between a mk1 and mk2 i believe
If ever ive had a query, i have spoken to Cy at Cotic and had a quick and helpful response
Cy recommends a 29mm (internal) rim and a 2.8" tyre for the rear on the Mk2 Solaris. That barely scrapes into Plus category IMHO.
I've got the Alpkit Rumpus B+ wheelset with 3" WTB Bridger up front and 2.8" Trailblazer on the back. Not the lightest but lets you use a B+ set for not too much outlay.
Currently I'm going on what the Cotic website says i.e that the mk1&2 Solaris take up to 2.8 when running 650b
Having found the 3.0 Chupacabra sketchy on proper muddy sections yesterday I'd be happy with something a touch narrower and more aggressive.
Maybe not proper plus but a chunk wider than I'm used to.
Thanks for the ideas so far, please keep them coming.
That recommendation for the i29 rim/2.8" tyre is on the Solaris page
I went with an i35, nice rim but as above re the Solaris.
I'm building up a B+ bike at the moment and have gone for a pair of Hope tech 35W wheels.
How old is your Solaris?
I know the Mk2 is rated for B+ due to wider chainstays in addition to a number of other frame tweaks to support longer forks etc, but certainly my Mk1 with a 2.3" Vigilante on an i25 is getting about as close as I'd want to push it for mud clearance...
TBH, I've not even bothered trying to build up a plus wheel to try it out due to rim cost on what I expect to be a wasted effort. Does this actually fit a Mk1? Sorry for slight hijack! 🙂
Trailblazer 2.8" (closer to 2.5" in real world figures) on a 45mm internal width rim just fits on the Mk1, there's about 3mm gap. There's no way you'd get a proper 3" tyre in there.
The TB is what Cy trialled and then recommended for the Mk1 - see the Cotic site for the blog entries about it.
It's a mk1 frame and the archive webpage for the frame comments on it taking plus sized 27.5" tyres.
I've emailed Coric with a couple of questions and will look further into the website and blog.
Thanks!
When I tried this (with a MK1, about 18 months ago) I just bought the wheels from Cotic. Worked perfectly as you'd expect.
Well looks like there may be a few options. Paul at Cotic has been back to me very quickly and reckons that with a 2.8" tyre rim width isn't too restricted and that with a Trailblazer you can go up to 45mm internal rim width with 30-35mm being optimum. Hopefully this will help others and I'll report back if I manage to get fitted up.
Depending on the fork you might squeeze something bigger in front. I'm awaiting all the 2.6 tyres that are coming out with baited breathe.
Fork will be a Pike or Yari once I've found the right deal. Might order up a pair of wheels and a 2.8 & 3.0 tyre and see how it goes.
I'm running a mk2 solaris with 30mm internal rims and maxxis 2.8 tyres, clearance is fine however I believe there is a bit less on the mk1.
I ran roverpigs wheels after him on my mk1 (i29/trailblazer rear, i35/2.8 Nobby nick on the front).
Back was fine (but not a true 2.8 tyre) but I got rub on my Reba's (some nice grooves developing after circa 10 hours riding in mostly dry conditions (never rode them in any real mud).
There was a thread (started by Northwind iirc where Cy turned up and said he reckoned 35 with 2.8 was the way forward (best performance v weight). 3" on scrapers on my Sherpa sure ain't light...
A 2.8 Trailblazer on a 35mm rim is basically a 2.5, there has to come a point where you admit you've not got a plus sized bike at all surely?
I don't think he was talking about trailblazers, think it was a Ranger, Trail Boss or the other one I forget what it's called.... Y'know [i]actual[/i] 2.8" 
Here you go, from Northwind B+ disappointment thread:
cy - Member
I've done a LOT of tyre testing on B+ this year with the new MAX bikes coming out (granted only on WTB, but they're my supplier, so, y'know).Currently I'm completely sold on Plus for my hardtail. I love 2.8s on my Solaris and can find very little in the way of drawbacks. It's fun and grippy and comfy and not a deal heavier than the setup I'd normally ride. I also have timed testing data on everything from rocky to smooth singletrack trails which shows they're as fast or faster than 29er wheels on the Solaris which helps me get over myself when the 'feel' slow.
It gets a little more complicated on FS. As someone mentioned the MAX bikes only go up to 2.8" on the rear anyway so that's what I have been working on, but in my experience the higher grip you have on FS and therefore the higher cornering loads you can generate - particularly on anything even mildly supportive/bermed - presents Plus setups with difficulty with tyre roll and feeling like the tyre is coming off if you're running low enough pressures to get the advantages on bumpy/rooty sections. I couldn't find a sweet spot where I could leave tyre pressures alone for most situations, but found they worked brilliantly as low as 10 front/12 rear on off camber roots and tech sections, but needed as much as 18 to stop tyre roll on high energy bermed trails (I'm 85 kg btw, so if you're lighter you might get away with less). So, on FS I think you have to take Plus tyres as something else you tune, like suspension, and perhaps have to be a little location specific about it. One thing I haven't managed to test yet is how the stiffer Tough casing works out for the rear as we have only just got these in. My guess - based on running Tough 29er rear on my RocketMAX - is that it will help.
This is all on 35mm internal rims, which was the decision we made based on the balance of weight vs performance. You do get more support from wider rims, but there's also a big weight penalty. The WTB i35 rims weigh around 600grms, which is already over 120grms more than the KOM i25 29er rims we use on the equivalent 29er wheels. The Scrapers were over 700 grams each! This had a significant effect on the feel of the bike. Of the WTB range, the Ranger 2.8 Light weighs 800 grms and the Tough version we just got in 1050. This is similar the 29 x 2.3s I usually run so the big differentiator in wheel weight becomes the rims and over 200 grms per wheel is a serious increase in weight. Unless you go carbon there's still a line to walked in terms of width/support/weight I feel. WTB showed the Scraper i40 at Eurobike which might hit the sweet spot on that compromise a little better. We'll see.
This opinion might also be related to using the i35 rims, but I prefer 2.8s myself. They are less pressure sensitive whilst still having plenty of float and being 10% smaller than the 3.0" tyres they're 10% lighter too which seems to put 2.8s into the 'on the heavy side' category rather than the 'how heavy?!' of some 3.0. See the Bridger for example. We use 3.0 front with the Trail Boss which is a great tyre, but I am CONSTANTLY nagging Mike at WTB to make 2.8 Trail Boss. These front and rear would be MINT. IMHO. YMMV.
POSTED 3 MONTHS AGO # REPORT-POST
That was a pretty whiny thread from me but it did generate some good chat from other people at least 😆
Yeah, it really did. But it was good, you don't like em, it's valid. It's what this place [i]should[/i] be like
Damn you to hell Northwind, if you hadn't started that whiney thread I'd have never bothered emailing Cy about his ideas and I wouldn't just have ordered/bought a new SolarisMAX... 👿
Running a Mk1 with 29" 30mm ID LB rims and On One Smorgasbord 2.25" tyres and clearance is very tight. I got my wheel dish slightly off and had rubbage it's that tight.
Dunno about on the smaller diameter wheels.
I have no intention to go wider though. Big fat heavy tyres are silly 😉
Yeah, but us big fat heavy types loves 'em.... 😆