Home > Bike Types > Mountain Bike

First Look: Felt Developing New Plus Sized 27.5″ Hardtail, The Surplus

12 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

Prototype Plus Size 27.5 Felt Hardtail

Plus sized bikes are here and like many manufacturers, Felt has been testing and evaluating the new platform. Their experience lead them to design the upcoming Surplus model, which is apply named, as it offers a little something extra between the stays (and has the word plus in the name).

The new model should be available later this year and will be spec’d with a 120mm fork and 3.0″ tires. 

Prototype Plus Size 27.5 Felt Hardtail-7

In order to accommodate plus sized tires, the Surplus was built around the new Boost 110 & 148 standards.

From a consumer standpoint, this is interesting because there are no direct mount 8 or 9 speed front derailleurs currently on the market. There are also no front derailleurs currently offered with a 3mm offset. Until these options become available, Surplus frames with be sold with a 1×10 speed drivetrain, with a wide ratio 11-40 Sunrace cassette, which is compatible with both Shimano and SRAM systems.

Prototype Plus Size 27.5 Felt Hardtail-5

Due to the popularity of plus size models, Felt strongly feel that manufacturers will soon be producing new front derailleur options which will open 2x possibilities. In anticipation of those products, their Surplus features a straight seat post stay that ensures the frame will be backward (or forward?) compatible with future drive train options.

This will also open the possibility of equipping 2×8 or 2×9 drivetrains on future models, which will help make completes more affordable.

Prototype Plus Size 27.5 Felt Hardtail-6

Other small features of the upcoming Surplus model include a forward facing seat tube slit to reduce contamination, an option for internal dropper post routing, and angle set compatibility.

Prototype Plus Size 27.5 Felt Hardtail-3

The new models are tentatively priced at $2,499 and $1,799 and should be available this Fall. 

Felt Bicycles

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

12 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
von.kruiser
von.kruiser
8 years ago

That bike is badass! Looks insane fun to blast on any terrain… I’m all about 27+.

BillBob
8 years ago

Now that’s a nice basher bike. Should be very affordable too.

Greg
Greg
8 years ago

I am confused, about the FD options, will ‘boost’ in the rear not work with a 10 or 11-speed cassette? Or, what am I missing?

von.kruiser
von.kruiser
8 years ago

Boost will work for 10 or 11s cassette. Most hubs now are 11s and you use a thin spacer over the cassette body to make it 10s. The issue w/ FD is that there are no lower cost FD options for fat tires. The side swing is for fat tires like 3.0 but I think only goes down to XT, XTR level right now… not 100% positive on that. Also Specialized and Trek only made their frames compatible for single front. If you were to put on FD on their boost bikes it would hit the tire. Companies like Felt, Pivot, Jamis have frames compatible boost and a double front.

von.kruiser
von.kruiser
8 years ago

Clarify… the chain would hit the tire not the FD on the Trek and Specialized.

Busto
8 years ago

isnt the proble with boost hubs in the additional 3mm offset? With boost the front rings are 3mm further outboard and there is no FD to support this new standard yet…

von.kruiser
von.kruiser
8 years ago

Pretty sure the side swing is the boost FD. If anyone can verify this it would be cool. The Jamis 27+ uses a non-side swing FD.

Floyd
Floyd
8 years ago

Is boost is code for beta. Is it an unproven standard with many drawbacks?

von.Kruiser Who is making 11 speed mountain hubs?

vincent
vincent
8 years ago

@von.kruiser- Side Swing has a shorter cage, which helps allow for shorter chainstays because it reduces clearance issues. I would guess that this would help it to work with plus sized tires as well, but it would still need to be moved 3mm further out due to the modified chain line.
As to whether there is a boost specific version, I’m not sure. I haven’t seen that on any bikes yet that I can recall.

I like the look of this bike- Ive spent some time on a Niner ROS9+ and the bigger tires inspire a lot of confidence. Those massive hoops aren’t for everyone though. I’m glad to see some options popping up that should work for more riders. Felt is making some excellent mid-range hard tails (including the double double fat bike) and I’m glad to see 27.5+ will be an option soon.

Alb
Alb
8 years ago

“There are also no front derailleurs currently offered with a 3mm offset”

It’s called a limit screw – easily accommodates +3mm of adjustement.

von.kruiser
von.kruiser
8 years ago

Alb – Thank you for the clarification.

King County
King County
8 years ago

Cool bike! I like the dedicated geared dropout and threaded bb, as well as the basic finish.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.