cyber.snow

Sitting here drinking a nice pale ale and watching what I hope is the last of the Spring snow storms, dreaming about the upcoming season.

Anyone know of a decent 27.5+ hardtail that would make a good touring bike? I am thinking that it would be flexible with fat tires for those "off the road" tours and thinner 29" tires for road trips. Good or dumb idea?

GamblerGORD53

That is doing it backwards. You have to go from skinny 700c to fat 650B and keep the similar height, but it is still too much different anyway. It's about 27 1/4 to 26 1/2 or 3/4. 700 x 36c is 27 9/16.
I just bought an old 590 wheel bike and going to 584 because it's the only way to have Dyad rims and 38c Marathon tires. Even so I had to get blemished rims or wait 7 weeks. 584 is the realm of mtb size tires and bikes. I wouldn't touch 559ers at all, yuck.

cyber.snow

I am riding a bike with 700cc wheels now. No room for fatter tires. They are great over 90% of the time, but I do ride on sandy/stony gravel/muddy roads in the back country the rest of the time. I did rent a fat tire bike recently and it took that kind of a ride with ease. So now I am thinking "Is there a bike that I can buy 2 sets of wheels for and ride the typical 50 mile road rides and then go climb the mountain?"

bikemig 

I've been thinking of picking up a fargo gx for a touring bike,

FARGO GX 2X10 | Bikes | Salsa Cycles

VO piolet would make another good platform, VO Piolet Frameset

Also soma monstercross.

None of these have suspension forks. That would be my preference. A MTB with a suspension fork and 27.5 tires would be a good choice as well.

tyrion

A proper bikeforums member would simply buy 2 bikes.

Cyclist0108

I was thinking about this (very similar to what bikemig linked) for similar reasons:

FARGO RIVAL 27.5+ | Bikes | Salsa Cycles

I think the frame has sufficient flexibility that you could put 700c road wheels on it (well, those are the same as 29ers, apart from the hubs I guess).