I’m currently in a position where I’m sharing a single set of wheels between two bikes and have been thinking about options for building up a second set.
The current wheels are 29ers with 30mm wide rims and 2.35/2.4” tyres that I enjoy riding on both my hardtail and full sus bikes. So logic says a second set of 29er wheels and tyres would make life easier, with a set dedicated for each bike, and would be just as good to ride as the ones I have.
But while I’m thinking about a second set of wheels I can’t help but think it might be interesting to build up some 27.5 plus wheels instead. These should run quite happily on either bike (ignoring any extra peddle strikes I might suffer from with the lower bottom bracket) but as I’ve not tried plus wheels/tyres before I don’t know if i will actually like them.
So, what would STW do? Stick with the safe 29er second set or give the plus wheels a try (even if this leads to a continued life of wheel swapping)?
Fast, light 29r wheelset with fast, light tyres.
A set of plus wheels that way you have something different, you can always run thinner or fatter 29er tyres on your current bike so why not have something different.
Well, I guess 50/50 is a pretty STW split on this so I’ll actually have to make my own choice after all. Shame I won’t have someone else to blame when I decide I should have gone the other way after I’ve actually built the wheels up.
I'd usually say go for the difference... But that's what I did and instantly regretted it, 29er is just better than b+ in most cases. Interesting experiment to try though
I have found
29 = fastest but a bit duller, harder to get off the ground and harder to turn.
27.5 = not as fast as 29 but more fun if you like threading your bike between trees or jumping off stuff.
Either is great though. Check your frames bb height for wheel size, not what the manufacturer says. There is a huge difference between brands. Cross check it against other brands geo charts.
How long (time/distance/ascent/rocky) are your rides?
If your messing around for an hour or two in the woods, then 27.5+ might be fun.
If your into 4-6hr max distance / ascent then 29" might be a better choice.
If your hitting loads of rock then the extra volume of plus might be if benefit.
I surprised myself recently, at 5'7" on 29x3 I managed 120 miles / 10000'... all be it rather slowly. I'd have been quicker on standard 2.3" 29 tyres but a lot more beaten up & likely punctured / rim dinged.
Horses for courses innit.
I agree with Querty
I didn't get on with 27.5+, there just didn't seem to be enough volume and the tyres were crap. You'd think that a tyre as big as that would do well in rocks but other than the very, very expensive Schwalbe Eddy Currents I don't think anyone makes a 27.5+ tyre strong enough to withstand even a light scuff of a rock.
I run 29+ with Bontrager tyres and they're amazing, they just handle everything. Really good fun to ride too. If you have newer Rockshox Pike or Revelation forks (2018 onwards) you could maybe try a 29+ front wheel with 29 rear, but if not I'd just stick with normal 29" wheels. Possibly light and fast as Jambo suggests - my Trek Stache has 3 sets of wheels, 29+, normal 29 for riding at Inners/Golfie and a lightweight set for racing.
My bike initially came with 27+ wheels and they're still great fun. Been doing longer XC type rides and got a 29r wheelset last year to experiment with. They're good too.
27+ gives good grip and some amount of suspension (bike is rigid) on what might be called messing about rides, if mostly rough/off road. Feel quite odd if you're on road for any length of time.
I also messed about with + up front and 29r rear and that worked pretty well.
go plus.
my (full squish) bike came as as 27.5+ (38mm internal, 2.8 vee crown gem tyres)
I upgraded tyres to more aggresive. (2.8 dhr/dhf)
I bought a 29er wheelset. (29mm internal, 2.5 dhf, 2.4 ardent)
I have rotors and cassettes on both.
I swap wheels depending on ride type but prefer plus most of the time for shreddy stuff, and winter grip)
I bought another (stans) plus wheelset, a higher quality one that also 38mm internal. put hte dhf/dhr on this, and added cassette and rotors.
I ordered a new HT frame that'll take em all. I'll probably run it mostly as a 29er but have the option of the original plus wheel to park in it if I want the 29ers back on the full squish.
So I will have 2 'bikes' with 3 different modess. plus, agro-plus and xc.
6 styles to choose from...
Ummm..Plus....but get both!
I've got 30mmID 29er on my Jeffsy, 35mmID 29er on my Pace, and 45mmID 27.5+ for gits and shiggles!
Well, I’ve just ordered a pair of 40mm wide 27.5” rims that I can use to build up a set of plus wheels. Because chain reaction have some silly money-off deals on Easton/race face arc rims at the minute I also bought a pair of 29er rims just in case I don’t like the plus wheels.
In total it only cost £72 for all four rims, £48 for the pair of plus rims and only an extra £24 for the 29er pair (after the extra £10 off you get for spending more than £75).
Now I just need to get some Hubs, spokes, nipples, tape, tyres and valves.
