OP buys into latest fad without actually understanding the implications.
In the industry? Only in the same way that Im in the car industry because I own a car…. 🙄

I’d say I’m a pretty handy rider, I like it. I live in the Peak Distict so we don’t really do mud, and most people have the decency round here to avoid the few trails that do get sloppy.

I like the extra traction, extra give and it’s given me better times on most things on Strava compared to my old hardtail. It’s arguably better suited to trails with big rocks everywhere rather than pootling around the Surrey Hills though.

This is pretty interesting as well, from a very fast rider who knows what he’s talking about. A plus tyre, even on the rear, makes you faster.

just a little tweak here! 🙂 Bit of both, sure, but the choice definitely enables the decency!

Mine’s 29 plus. Pure, distilled marketing.

(I’d previously written it off as complete attention seeking nichemongery but when built up as a proper mountain bike rather than a jumped up tourer it’s great).

Sad.

True dat

That’s one of the reasons I’ve just sold my Cannondale Beast of the East. I loved the bike for its outstanding grip, until the mud comes along. Absolutely no bite at all, unless the mud is as sloppy as water.
I would rather compromise and lose a small percentage of grip through the three seasons and gain a large percentage through the winter.

I find full fat different but tbh I’m not totally sure why 😆 It does struggle with standing water/loose mud and float but not so much with mud. Maybe it’s the stability of the stupid things, I’ve saved slides that you’d swear would end in doom. Normal bikes (including plus) fall over pretty fast when you lose the front. Or maybe it’s the bigger footprint, finding grip that the plus tyre just misses.

But I think mostly it’s demeanour. Plus bikes are very normal feeling, so when they do something shit it’s just normal bike shit. Whereas fatbikes are stupid feeling, so when they do something shit it’s lol stupid shit. Riding steep and nasty things on the fatbike is hilarious and rewarding. Riding steep and nasty things on the plus setup I had was just like riding it with proper tyres, only bad.

Bit drastic?

Winter tyres?

There is really not much choice of winter tyres for +bikes. I also did say that it was one of the reasons I sold the bike, not the reason.

Do people ride with normal width summer tyres in the winter? It seems a bit unfair to compare proper mud tyres with dry weather ones, especially with the plus tyres currently available.

When people start using the Maxxis DHR/FHR tyres (for example) in the mud then we’ll have a much better comparison as those tyres work pretty well at regular width in the British winter.

Do people ride with normal width summer tyres in the winter? It seems a bit unfair to compare proper mud tyres with dry weather ones, especially with the plus tyres currently available.

It’s fair to criticise it for that lack of availability tbh, if you have the bike now it’s no help that a better tyre might be along some day.

I’m not sure there’ll ever be a good, full-on winter plus tyre tbh. To overcome the width it’d need bigger spikes which means more carcass to support it, and that all adds up to weight and drag and most likely short life. Do you want an 1800g 3.0 Shorty that rolls and wears like a wetscream? Even an XC mud is asking a lot to balance all those factors (because while grip becomes less important drag becomes more)

I could be wrong but I think the usability limits are going to be around the minion level, which for a normal bike is pretty midrange in terms of capability. And I also predict that the plus minion isn’t going to be as effective a tyre in winter as the 2.3 anyway.

And it’ll always be competing directly with 29er tyres which are just plain more suited to the job- even once that mythical winter plus tyre comes out it has to be as good as the skinny equivalent, I’d be astonished if it is. Same as plus tyres have an advantage elsewhere. It’s just that where plus seems to be worst, is the conditions where tyres make the biggest difference and have the hardest job.

I’m quite a fan of really low BB heights in the mud, as it makes balancing a two wheel drift that much easier – so if I had a plus bike I’d be tempted to put non-plus mud tyres on for the winter, sticking with the 27.5 rims, rather than going up to 29.

As long as there isn’t more than about 55mm of BB drop it’ll work just fine!

honourablegeorge where did you get hold of them? Nowhere seems to stock them yet in the UK.

Given the width of the tyre and the weight of bike and rider, you will be floating so no grip in the mud as you aren’t biting in to it…a drawback of balloon tyres and something the marketing bs doesn’t cover…

Get (much) heavier or get (much) narrower tyres…

Having read more of the thread replies, my stuff has already been covered…

What Plus tyres have you tried?

Got mine here, seem to be best price wise too (still outrageously expensive, but some sites are asking 110 euro). Have a 3C DHF front with a Rekon Dual rear.

https://www.bike-components.de/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=minion&filter_category_id=755&filter_manufacturer_id=&order=manufacturer_asc&limit=20

I got a pair of the Alpkit Rumpus 650B+ wheels to try out on my Solaris. Fitted 3″ Bridger on the front 2.8″(hah! yeah, right) Trailblazer on the back, the frame won’t take a bigger tyre.

Great fun but once conditions aren’t “quite right” then they exaggerate all the effects that 2-2.35″ tyres also exhibit. So when you get a cm or so of wet surface material you slide out much earlier than you would with the narrower tyre. You need to ride them a while to get used to them rather than just trying them for a ride here and there. Once you know how they handle then you can swap them in and out for particular rides.

Someone mentioned about UK winter slop essentially being a niche, the biggest MTB market is the US and they ride very dry trails for most of the time.

They won’t be my main wheel/tyre but they are useful to have as an option. It’s a cheap(ish) way to effectively get a new bike.

Edit, following pigyn’s post: the point about “not cutting in” is very true. The 3″ tyres are most of the way to full fat and you get many of those benefits: large tyres and low pressures = less ground damage.

I’m assuming motorbikes bypass the problem by having big knobs.
What would the down side of having a big knob on a fat bike be?
(Behave!)

Can only speak to my own experience, but I’m running 3.0 NNs on my Stooge and find them excellent in the mud.

I also ride a fatbike and took a couple of rides to adjust but found both tyre combos I’ve tried to be very good. Started off with VHs front and rear (which I liken to huge Swamp Things – my favourite ever mud tyre), but am now on Bud front, VH rear. It’s a great combo with the Bud having slightly better control out front.

The reason i took a couple of rides to adjust is that you do get an initial slide/float when you hit mud, but you are so stable on the big tyres you just ride it and wait for the bite.

Only caveat for all this would be that I’m riding forest trails and mountain tracks in the Highlands. If I wasn’t riding mountains I’d maybe have a different view.