 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
seen quite a few people who run 2 wheelsets on their fatbikes enabling 29plus for a seemingly quicker ride. It got me thinking ..roughly ( very roughly ) on similar quality rim/hub builds both running tubeless is there a big weight difference between the 26 X 4ish inch set up versus a 29 x 3.00? presumably the 29 plus will be lighter but apart from that ( if that's the case ) how does the ride differ from a subjective point of view ? A fatter tyre may offer more cushioning/grip but a bigger diameter wheel gives easier roll over etc .
In my experience, about 200gms difference* in weight between the two, so 29 plus with lighter rim and lighter tyre spins up a bit quicker. Main benefit of 29 plus is the greater flywheel effect once moving - to me it seems to barrel along much better. 26 wins massively on soft ground obvs. Didnt find much difference on tight and twisty singletrack. 29 plus seems to have a greater roll over effect on rocks and roots where a 26 x 4 might hang up a bit more.
(BR710 700gms, Jumbo Jim 4.0 1000gms. ARC 45 x 29 690gms Chupacabra 850gms)
Mine are similar difference and echo Andy above. Faster down (cos gyroscope) faster up (less draggy) and even tarmac is now OK. (JJ 4" to Ranger 3")
I rebuilt my Fatsno hubs so only have the one set. Early days but it'll prob stay 29+.
I have a 29+ and a fat bike - I have 2 pairs of wheels for the fat bike - 65mm rims with 4" tyres and 90mm rims with 5" tyres. I tend to use the 29+ more in summer where the slighter bigger wheels roll noticeably quicker over hard-pack - average 1-2kph. Given that the frames and components are near identical, it simply comes down to the tyres. The 29+ is a great format for covering big miles - for a rigid bike it has great stability at high speed - you can just point it in the right direction and let it run.
My 29+ wheelset is only ~100g heavier than my 29er wheelset.
Both Chris King, both carbon - the 29er wheelset weighs 1.612kg on 30mm rims, the 29+ wheelset weighs 1725g on 50mm rims.
There's not a huge amount in the tyres either, 120g difference at the front and 180g at the rear.
There is a BIG difference in rolling resistance.
I'm soon to be building up a set of 29plus wheels for my fat bike. What rims would people recommend? There'll be going onto DT swiss hubs and I'd be aiming to get the build reasonably light if possible but strong enough to take some abuse. I weigh 90kg for a start (without bike gear on) so very lightweight rims are out the question.
I used cheap WTB Asym i35s from Wiggle
Wouldn't go any narrower though. But cheap and 610g iirc.