While some makers of 27.5+ products–and ones that Jeff has spoken with–are pushing the 27.5+ size as a conversion for existing 29ers, an announcement from Fox today is making me rethink that stance.
Fox has just announced a brand-new Fox 34 designed specifically for 27.5+ wheels/tires, according to Enduro Mountain Bike Magazine’s report.
This version of the Fox Float 34 fork offers up 110-150mm of travel for the tweener wheel size coupled with larger tires.
The fork will run a 15mm x 110mm hub size, which means that if you want to run this fork, you’re going to need a new hub.
What the hell is 27.5+ anyway?
The introduction of this fork busts this question wide open. Seriously, what the hell is 27.5+ for? Until now we’ve seen it as a conversion on 29er frames to offer wider tires, and we’ve even seen it demoed on long distance bikepacking bikes from brands like Rocky Mountain. But with the introduction of this fork, I think we’re going to see 27.5+ veer off in a totally different direction.
Right now we’re heading into the realms of supposition, folks, so this is just me ruminating–take it as nothing more. But generally, fork brands like Fox and Rock Shox won’t launch a fork unless they know there’s a bike coming that will spec it stock. And with such an untried wheel size, I think that would be doubly true. So sometime soon–Sea Otter, if I had to bet money–we’re going to see a brand-new bike rocking this long-travel 27.5+ fork.
Now if we have a long-travel bike rocking this 27.5+ specific fork, I’d also bet money that it’s going to be a trail/enduro bike completely designed around the wheel size. And that, my friends, is going to be interesting.
If you ask me, the 27.5+ size is essentially taking what Ibis has pioneered with their aggressive, ultra-wide rims to its logical conclusion. Essentially Ibis was already creating rims for burly all-mountain/enduro bikes that were wide and fat. Rolling out a fork and a bike that will address existing clearance issues and standardize sizes and spacing on an already-proven formula just makes sense. (Side note: Yes, there are already 27.5+-specific wheels, but so far they really haven’t really been used in the trail/enduro spectrum.) And, of course, this will give the bike industry yet another “standard” to sell, because it’d just be wrong to put 41mm Ibis rims on just any old bike, now wouldn’t it?
Stay tuned…
That’s a lot of supposition, and only time will tell if this will all pan out. But I can’t have been the only one to ride Ibis’s new rims, a 29+, and a full suspension fat bike, love all three, and think, “hmm, I wonder how we can combine the best factors of all of those bikes into one enduro wonder bike?”
We’ll keep you posted as the 2015/2016 product season unfolds.
