Hey everyone,
I'm on a five year round the world bike trip, having spent the first year and a half riding a Surly LHT; initially with panniers and then converted to bikepacking bags when I realised that I wanted to be off road as much as possible. It's been surprisingly capable with flat bars, but obviously it has limits. I've now convinced myself to switch to a different machine, one that let's me ride tougher and rougher routes without taking such a hammering.
I've done my research and scoured the Internet, but haven't been able to decide on what platform to get. I'm torn between going for a full fat like the new Surly Pugsley, or a 27.5+ either from Bombtrack or the cheaper Genesis Longitude (I'm from the UK and am currently in Europe).
I was just wondering if any of you had experience with both of these as a touring platform? I'm aware that conventional wisdom would be to stick to the 26" LHT for remote touring (my next continent will be Africa) but I'm prepared to ignore that.
Replacement parts might seem to favour the plus bike as they can take standard bottom brackets, and regular 27.5 bikes are spreading fast so I could mount a 27.5 regular tyre in a pinch, whereas I'm not sure if a regular 26" tyre would go on fat bike rims.
Mainly though I'm looking for performance comparisons. In either case I'd be riding rigid, so how much extra 'suspension' from the big tyres would a fat bike get me? I'll probably not be doing much riding on snow, but probably a fair bit of riding on sand through Africa. For rough dirt roads and singletrack of varied surfaces , which will likely be better? Does the extra grip and cushioning of a fat tyre offset the extra weight, or is a plus bike better for dirt touring? Speed isn't a big deal for me, but is the fat bike likely to be much slower?
Unfortunately I won't have the opportunity to try both before buying, so opinions would be a big help. Apologies for the essay
Cheers,
Tristan
