Whether plus bikes should be accused of dumbing down trails is just a negative terminology debate, born from machismo perhaps. They can boost confidence and may even help riders clean more obstacles, both climbing and descending. They enable us to choose lines a little less carefully. Bigger tires allow more traction, better rollover and unprecedented stability. It’s evolution, not a battle for the appropriate yardstick of radness. Whether the onus for ride improvement lies in longer travel, knobbier rubber, fatter tires, more moving parts, or a combination thereof, a mountain bike - no matter the type - is a tool for the style of riding that one wishes to tackle. I kid, but for what it’s worth, I think that as long as there’s not a motor or *ahem* batteries, there’s no such thing as cheating. After all, that’s the original criterion on which this sport was built. Maybe they reduce the margin of error on classic lines? Why then have long-travel bikes not garnered such judgement do they not make trail riding easier by smoothing out the rough edges? How about dropper seatposts that’s taking an obstacle out of the equation, no? If any body chooses to deem a rider less-than because of their choice of bicycle, I think the accuser should be limited to a singlespeed 26” rigid bike with 2” tires and a coaster brake. So what’s behind this chastisement? Perhaps big tires offer too much traction for the purist mountain biker? I’ve never heard anyone complain about too much traction. Rocky Mountain even offered a sarcastic take on such slander with the release of their own 27.5+ Pipeline and its ‘ Dumbing Down the Shore’ campaign. But now that real full suspension mountain bikes are mutating, shod with wide rims and 3” doughnut rubber, these bikes and their riders are taking jabs. They passed as an eccentricity limited to rigid frames and a mostly older crowd. Prior to the 2016 crop, plus bikes didn’t get much mainstream attention, nor reap this type of belittlement. It was more of a monologue, really a young employee was giving his ‘expert’ opinion to a customer that “fat bikes are stupid” and plus bikes - rigs with 2.8-3.2” tires - are just an industry fad for lesser riders who “feel the need to dumb down trails”. A couple weeks ago I darkened the doorway of a small bike shop and caught the tail end of a conversation.
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