Curvy plus sizes are all the rage

There’s no doubt that plus sizes are popular these days –  be it distracting TV chefs like Nigella Lawson or those bizarre 29er+ size bikes championed by folk like Charlie the Bikemonger . We’re definitely fans of things built for comfort rather than out and out speed, although the new 27.5+ size that’s about to infiltrate the mountain bike market may be more versatile than anyone realises.

In case you don’t know, here are the eight main facts you need to know about 27.5+ wheels:

1. 27.5+ uses tyre sizes from 2.8in – 3.0
2. A 27.5+ 2.8in tyre offers the same external wheel size as that of a 29in wheel with a 2.3in tyre
3. 27.5+ wheels are stronger and lighter than 29in wheels
4. 27.5+ wheels are used in 29in frames that have enough clearance, or specially designed frames – not in 27.5in frames
5. 27.5+ uses wide rims – the highly sought after WTB Scraper is 45mm wide
6. The OEM tyre of choice – the WTB Trailblazer tyre is 2.8in, weighs just 980grams and is incredibly fast rolling thanks to the central tread strip
7. By running low pressures, vast amounts of grip and comfort can be achieved
8. 45mm wide rims offer excellent tyre support

For 2016 Charge Bikes have gone in whole hog, and after a lot of testing, have unveiled their 27.5+ range – made up of six bikes, based around their excellent Cooker frame – with adjustment to factor in the bigger 2.8in tyres that 27.5+ offers.  Unlike other brands that are opting to go for the new Boost Standard, Charge use standard sized 135mm rear drop outs, meaning users can can plug existing 29in wheels in to the frames.

Heading up the Charge Bikes 27.5+ range is the flagship Cooker 5, which features a Titanium frame with Tange Ultimate tubing and a SRAM 1×11 groupset.

The 27.5+ wheel size will prove popular with bike packers, adventure riders and all round mountain bikers. This Cooker 5 is using the awesome looking Rockshox RS1 fork, whereas production bikes will have a Rockshox Reba.

Doing it different

Hailing from North Somerset, Charge Bikes have always done things a little differently – read our story about their unique approach here – and once they’d discovered the benefits of 29in wheels on the hard tail frames they specialise in, they quickly left them behind. 650b – or 27.5in – was the next wheel size to upset the apple cart, but after a lot of testing the team at Charge Bikes decided there just wasn’t enough of an advantage on a hard tail to warrant producing another wheel size; other than for the Asian market which had a need for smaller frame sizes that weren’t possible with 29in wheeled frames.

Once the Charge crew had spent some time on the 27.5+ size however, they were sold. Riding back to back against 26in, 27.5 and 29in wheel bikes, they found the semi-fat size to excel in nearly every situation. The team also appreciated the fact that a lightweight 29er race wheel could plug in to the same frame – reinforcing the hard tail as a truly versatile bike, and one that will always be there.

Here are a few shots of some of the models in the Charge Bikes 27.5+ six-bike range, which spans from a bargain price point of £699-, up to the flagship Cooker 5. Full specifications are yet to be released – we’ll let you know when we know!

Cooker 0

The base model Cooker 0 retails for £699, and comes in a sleek battleship grey paint finish, and comes set up single speed with a neat eccentric bottom bracket system.

The tidy bottom bracket area uses a eccentric design to allow for chain tensioning – rather than horizontal drop outs as found on many other single speed style frames.

Single speed – simple, no frills and a great idea for a simple winter hack bike.

 Cooker 1

At £799, the Cooker 1 represents brilliant value for money, and comes with a suspension corrected fork for when you are ready to upgrade the bike. As you can see, the Cooker 1 has been quite popular at Charge Bikes – still filthy from a recent West Country night ride.

Even thick Somerset mud doesn’t prove much of an issue on the Cooker frames, despite the bulbous 2.8in tyres

Although a little odd looking, the tall fork means the Cooker 1 is ready to accept a suspension fork and has huge mud clearance should you fancy bumping up to a 3.0in tyre – though the Charge team tell us the secret weapon on these bikes are the light, fast rolling 2.8in tyres. Any bigger and handling starts morphing to wards fat bike territory due to tyre weight, and the way a thicker tyre carcass feels – there is far less elastic stroke on a thick side-walled tyre, so comfort actually decreases even though the tyres get bigger.

There’s something nice about simple post box red. It’s a classic colour and the Cooker 1 looks great in it.

 Cooker 3

Glossy chocolate really brown shouldn’t work on the £1199 Cooker 3 – but actually looks great. It’s a classy finish.

Plenty of clearance on the Suntour fork with Boost compatibility.

SRAM X1 offers excellent shifting and performance on this sub £1200 27.5+ ripper from Charge Bikes

Cooker 5

The stunning Cooker 5 won’t be shipping with the RS1 inverted fork – it should have the Boost compatible Rockshox Reba RL, but we are waiting confirmation on full specs. Other than that, the spec is right, and the bike will retail for £2999

High end Tange Ultimate tubing offers a lovely spring to the ride, is corrosion free and will look as good as this several years down the line.

No probs with tyre clearance on the Cooker 27.5+ size frames.

The OEM tyre and rim choice for several big manufacturers – so much so that WTB can’t keep up with the demand. 2016 is going to be a big year for 27.5+ – and Charge bikes have, well, charged to the front on this!

And in case you wondered how the 27.5+ bikes fare out on the trails, check out this howling mad video featuring utter lunatic Rob Jarman tearing the ass out of North Yorkshire. Note that the trail he’s riding absolutely flat out, has been used in DH races in the past!

Rob is riding the Charge Cooker 5, as seen above.

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