Plus tire for wetter/looser conditions -Surly Dirt Wizard 27.5+

Many reviews have commented about a lack of good wet conditions tires for plus bikes. Obviously for a lot of you British riders this is a huge drawback.

If you are plus-curious but wanted a decent ‘winter’ tire, look no further than the Surly Dirt Wizard 27.5+.
This is NOT the same tire as the 29+ or 26+ versions.

It has big knobs (center knobs are at least 5mm tall, side knobs over 9mm tall), widely spaced for mud shedding, soft compound and a super strong casing to run low pressures without squirming and to reduce tire bounce, all for maximum control in poor conditions. The spacing is much wider than it looks in the Surly photos. It reminds me of a cut down mud spike.

I don’t work for Surly, just wanted to let people know THERE are options, and the tire has been available for a while, not some vaporware. It seems like every plus review I’ve read lately laments the lack of decent, sticky, sticky tires.

Here’s someone else’s review:

http://theradavist.com/2016/03/surlys-dirt-wizard-is-the-shredliest-27-5-tire-ive-ridden-morgan-taylor/

http://surlybikes.com/parts/tires/dirt_wizard_27.5_x_3

1225g though.

Maxxis Rekon 3c is 790g. That’s more or less a full pound.

I don’t mind paying for a good tyre but they’re both over £60.

Would a WTB Trail Boss cope with winter and offer reasonable sidewall strength? At £26 from CRC they seem a bargain.

Nobby Nic 3.0 works well in most conditions, 906g on my scales and a lot cheaper. No need pay Surly niche tax.

-hongeorge, yep they are heavy. However.look at the number of >1000g regular tires out there, and you’ll see that many people choose not to ride the lightest tire out there for various reasons. The same goes for plus tires, some people get on fine with a lightweight tire, some don’t.
-scotroutes, that’s the first time I’ve heard Schwalbe tires described as the budget option! Usually they are the most expensive tires of all 😉

If the NobbyNic works for you, great, however, I have read so many reviews of plus bikes(many with the NobbyNic) lamenting the lack of sidewalk support or wet weather traction, probably because prod managers specced
Lightweight tires to keep the weight at a less shocking level.

So I just wanted to point out that the option exists, for the people looking for some ‘big meats’ for their plus bike.

I do wonder how most plus tyres manage to have stiff enough sidewalls considering they’re no heavier than a decent trail tyre…

^ because they have more air in them 😉

Anyone tried helium? 👿

tjaard – Member
-hongeorge, yep they are heavy. However.look at the number of >1000g regular tires out there, and you’ll see that many people choose not to ride the lightest tire out there for various reasons. The same goes for plus tires, some people get on fine with a lightweight tire, some don’t.
-scotroutes, that’s the first time I’ve heard Schwalbe tires described as the budget option! Usually they are the most expensive tires of all

95 Euro for the Dirt Wizard versus 60-75 for Maxxis and 37-43 for Schwalbe.

Find Scwalbe too light as a rear, but front grip is OK. Maxxis hopefully a middle ground in weight, price and durability

https://www.bike-components.de/en/Tyres-Tubes/MTB-Tyres-PLUS/

I buy my tires at my lbs, so I was going by actual msrp, which in the US is $90 for Schwalbe Evo tires, not just this model, but all of them, and $80 for the Surly.
I don’t know what the msrp is in Europe for each of them, but I can’t believe it’s really 45 euro for an Evo tire.

Specialized plus sized tires are coming with their GRID casing, and they are usually very well priced both in the US and in Europe.