Talk about kicking the dead horse but with ultra-aggressive marketing of 27.5 wheels these days and some publicity/input from WC pros I had to ask about this...
The biggest advantage I seem to hear of is that they are just more stable at speed. I'm going stay away from the whole "better traction because of larger contact patch" or "smoother on the bumps because the wheel is bigger" arguments because people who claim to feels those are the same kind of people who claim that Ti springs are plusher.
Personally, I think it's all about the angular momentum. But my beef with this is that the same symptoms can be achieved by simply running heavier wheels. These are the same things I feel when going from a lighter to a heavier wheelset. More sluggish in the corners and accelerating but it doesn't deflect as badly at high speed.
The "larger diameter of the wheel making it smoother over bumps" argument is a valid one but it's not independent of suspension quality and compensating with one for the other is possible in this regard. Another remark relevant to this that I heard was in Andorra the 27.5 riders were running 26's because they fell into the braking bumps easier making braking easier. But if this isn't bull then it seems the opposite is valid as well (27.5's will get you moving over braking bumps easier).
Thoughts?
The biggest advantage I seem to hear of is that they are just more stable at speed. I'm going stay away from the whole "better traction because of larger contact patch" or "smoother on the bumps because the wheel is bigger" arguments because people who claim to feels those are the same kind of people who claim that Ti springs are plusher.
Personally, I think it's all about the angular momentum. But my beef with this is that the same symptoms can be achieved by simply running heavier wheels. These are the same things I feel when going from a lighter to a heavier wheelset. More sluggish in the corners and accelerating but it doesn't deflect as badly at high speed.
The "larger diameter of the wheel making it smoother over bumps" argument is a valid one but it's not independent of suspension quality and compensating with one for the other is possible in this regard. Another remark relevant to this that I heard was in Andorra the 27.5 riders were running 26's because they fell into the braking bumps easier making braking easier. But if this isn't bull then it seems the opposite is valid as well (27.5's will get you moving over braking bumps easier).
Thoughts?