Originally Posted by
indyfabz
WTH is a "plus bike?"
A mountain bike with 3" wide tires as compared to the "normal"
skinny 2 inch tires. A bit silly if you ask me. 2" tires are heavy enough and provide more than enough cushion, especially when used with a suspension system.
Originally Posted by
CanoeU92
I live in Maryland and do most of my local riding on the NCR Trail (also known as the Torrey C. Brown Trail). And I always spend a couple of weeks every summer riding the C and O Canal (a 4 day tour from end to end as well as multiple day rides). I ride a 2015 Salsa Vaya. When I was touring the C and O Canal a couple of weeks ago, the trail was sloppy with multiple slick spots and washouts, creating a stressful situation and a ride that was less enjoyable than it had been previously. I met a guy who was riding a fat bike, and he rode through / across most obstacles without a problem. He let me ride his bike at one of the rest stops, and I was surprised at how smoothly the bike rode. It got me thinking about N+1.
I am not looking for a bike that I can use to go out and shred single track. I am looking for a bike that I can ride in the rain / after the rain without worrying about dodging mud puddles or bogging down in the ones that I cannot avoid. I think that I would ride in the snow if I had a bike that was capable of handling it. I have been researching fat bikes, and I am liking what I see. When I call the LBS's, none of them have one that I can test ride, and they downplay my interest in a fat bike, telling me that I don't want one of those, but that I really want is a "plus" bike - that they happen to have in stock, costing only $3k (roughly three times as much what I am looking to spend).
I do not ride fast, and I do not ride aggressively. I just want a bike that I can ride whenever the weather is not conducive to riding my Vaya. Is a fat bike that bike, or should I be looking at a "plus" bike?
Although I haven't looked at them extensively,
for touring you probably don't want a mountain bike...at least not one that is in the price range that they are suggesting. Few mountain bikes have any kind of attachments for racks and the more expensive, the less likely they are to have been made with any utility in mind. Given the cost, I would suspect that the bike is a dual suspension bike or a very, very high priced hard tail.
I would also suggest against something with super wide tires because you have to push those tires. It takes a lot of effort to spin a large tire like that. For a 27.5" tire, each one weighs around 1.2 to 1.5 kg (2.6 to 3.3lb) vs 600 to 700g (1.3 to 1.5lb) so you are pushing almost double the weight and, since it is rotating weight, it has more impact on your speed and effort. A 29er would weight even more. A 2" tire is probably overkill for even the roughest of mountain bike trails and certainly overkill for something like the C&O.
I would suggest just a regular hardtail mountain bike with "skinny" tires and an air suspension fork with lockout. Trek has a number of them that even have rack mounts. Look at the cheaper mountain bikes like the Trek X-Caliber or Roscoe. Or look into a used late model mountain bike.