I was told that my tire pressure choice was backwards for a hard tail, told I was thinking like a full suspension rider.
I was happy on my first ride with 17psi rear and 16 psi front.
For my second ride today Into the Single tracks I reversed the pressure F & R and It was better, then I dropped One psi up front to reach a 16F/16R and This was better still.
So naturally I dropped to 15F/15R, And as said In MBA these tires on certain trails can give you too much traction..
Back to 16/16 and that's where they will stay for now..
To any new plus riders, One single psi change with these 27.5x2.8 wides IMO has the same handling effect as a 3 psi change did on my Full suspension Spark with 27.5x2.35's at both ends......
And again getting Into the flow, switchbacks, short drop In's, sketchy G-outs, sweeping turns banked or flat seems to take less upper body energy from me.
As was expected any time I'm getting after it this bike Is still a hard tail and has to be ridden as such even with the plus tires taking much of the sting out of the ride.
But after today I am happy with the bike and the way It gets air, and climbs, and turns, and spins up.
The only place I work harder is on those short nearly straight up punchy climbs. In the saddle motoring up anything Is far easier than the full squish Spark. Out of the saddle steep short burst climbs are harder in very low gears. The back tire finds bite and then the tire flexes and throws a few rocks, then the tire digs In again and moves up the climb.
Smooth pedaling keeps the tire In the bite so on climbs where I'd want to use 1st gear I can pedal smoother In 2nd gear or even 3rd..
This bike will reach It's limits before a full squish as will all hard tails but the benefits of the plus tires Is really worth checking out.
