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Road Plus frameset in Rubystone Red

Road Plus frameset in Wet Sand

The Road Plus is a discontinued frame. This page sits as a reference for folks who may have one and need info on it. The Mod Zero is the replacement for the Road Plus.

When I first saw the Road Plus (Road+) concept on custom bikes from Soulcraft and Hunter at the 2016 NAHBS show, I thought, “damn, that looks like a fun riding bike.”  And fun is really what bike riding is all about.  Right?  It’s not about KOMs or wattage or scales.  It’s about wanting to go out and ride your bike because, dammit, it’s crazy fun.  To me, that’s Road Plus.

What is Road+?  WTB came up with the concept a few years ago.  A Road+ tire is 650b and has an outer diameter approximately equal to a 700c x 30 or 32 tire.  That means a 650b x 47 or 48 tire.  It’s kind of a sweet spot in terms of a large volume tire that can roll at speed on the road, yet be comfortable when the road gets really rough, or completely disappears and turns to dirt trail.  I got the first of two prototype Road+ frames in February of 2017 and ceased riding my current road bike immediately because the Road+ was so much damn fun to ride.

I set up my WTB Horizon 47mm tires tubeless at about 30psi and never looked back.  I rode in fast road groups.  I rode on single-track trails.  I rode it on all the roads I tend to ride my road bike.  And I found that the rides I do on my road bike with 28mm or 30mm tires were ridden on my Road+ bike in the same time.  Road+ was not slower.  But it was more fun.  In West Marin, the roads aren’t in great shape.  There’s some rough asphalt out here.  The Road+ just laughed at those roads.  Floated right over the beat up road surface.

I ride almost every day through commuting, but the days I actually go out for a ride are not as many as I’d like.  The Road+ was so much fun, I created more reasons to go for rides.  I wore out several chains in short order.  But I didn’t wear out tires because at lower pressures, a higher volume tire will last longer than a skinny, high-pressure tire.

Here it is, the Black Mountain Cycles Road+ frame.  Designed around the WTB Horizon 650b x 47 tire.  It has an outer diameter of 685mm, so a 700c x 32 wheelset would also fit.  I did run a 700c x 32 wheelset for a while, but went back to the 650b wheels because those big ole floaty tires were so much fun.  Disc brakes front and rear with the same Soulcraft designed dropout as the MCD frame.  The tubing is the same as the rim brake road frame, so it will have that nice plush, snappy feel.

Have I mentioned that this bike is fun to ride?

Rubystone Red

Wet Sand

With the multitude of standards on bikes these days, the “need to know” info on any Black Mountain Cycles frame is simple, proven, and reliable.

• The frames are optimized to fit 650b x 47 or 48 tires.  700c x 32 wheels/tires will also work fine.  Up to a 35mm tire will be ok too.  The maximum tire size that will fit is a measured 50mm of tire.
• A 650b x 42 tire will reduce the bb height to a point where pedal strike in corners is likely.  I do not recommend using a tire smaller than 650b x 47.
• Brakes – Disc brakes with IS standard mounting front and rear – 160mm or 140mm rotors in back, 160mm rotors up front only.  Use a post mount caliper with an IS adapter.
• Headset – Standard 1 1/8”/34mm external cup. A variety of headsets are available with frame purchase on the shop page.
• Bottom bracket – Standard British 1.37” x 24tpi threaded x 68mm wide.
• Crankset – because the chainstays are optimized for big tires, there is some limitation on the crank/chainring. For 2-piece crank designs, a chainring size of 50/34 or 46/36 are considered maximum – 53/39 is not compatible. Three-piece cranks with square taper bottom brackets are my favorite because chain-line and q-factor can be tuned easily with bottom bracket length.
• I want to run a 1x, will that be ok?  Sure, as long as the crank is based on the same chainline as a SRAM Rival/Force crank and the chainring is 42t or smaller, you’re good to go.
• Front hub spacing – 100mm x 12mm x 1.5 tpi threaded thru-axle (not included)*  Outside-outside width = 124mm.  NOTE: Dedicated 15mm thru axle hubs, such as those from Shimano, are not compatible, even if with an adapter sleeve.
• Rear hub spacing – 142mm x 12mm x 1.5 tpi threaded thru-axle (not included)*  Outside-outside width = 168mm.
• Seat post size – 27.2mm.  Run a 350mm or 400mm length post.
• Seat clamp size is 30.0mm.
• Front derailer size – 28.6mm.
• Cable routing – full housing for brakes.  Front and rear derailers have threaded down tube cable stops.  Down tube shifters not compatible.
• Fenders –  Ideally, I would have liked to fit a 47mm 650b tire with a 62mm fender.  However, given a somewhat shortish chainstay, need to fit road double cranks, and a 47mm tire, a 47mm tire can be set up with a 62mm fender with a bit of modification to the fender at the chainstay.  All that is required is a bit of trimming of the fender at the chainstay.  Anything narrower is no problem.  The fork has a direct mount braze-on inside the bottom of the steerer tube for fender mounting.
• The frame is treated with black electrophoretic deposition coating, which acts as a rust-preventative layer, before paint is applied. The paint is a wet paint with a clear powder coat. The combination of this entire process costs more, but provides a super durable finish.
• Rear dropouts are investment cast from stainless steel.
• Steerer tube length is 350mm.
• Rack and fender eyelets front and rear.
• The fork has mounts for a rando-style mini rack and mid-blade mounts for low-rider racks.  There is also an M5 threaded boss inside the bottom of the steerer tube for fender mounting.  New with the V1.2 frames are triple “anything” cage mounts on the fork.  There may be clearance issues if you’re running wider than 48mm slick tires and/or larger bags on the cages.
• Bottle mounts – Three bottles on all frame sizes.  Two inside the front triangle and one on the bottom side of the down tube.

* Suggested thru axles that are compatible

Front – all versions
DT Swiss RWS #HWQASM00S2023S or #HWQASM00S1460S
Paul Components – unfortunately, there is not a front Paul skewer that is compatible.  The 127mm model is too long and the 119mm is too short (Paul – make a 123mm axle!)
Robert Axle Project #LIG505

Rear
Road+ V1, V1.2 frames – 12mm x 168mm x 1.0tpi
DT Swiss RWS #HWQASM00S2961S or #HWQASM00S9909S
Paul Components 12mm x 166mm x Fine 1.0
Robert Axle Project #LIG603

Road+ V1.3 frames – 12mm x 168mm x 1.5tpi
There is not a DT Swiss axle that is ideal for the V1.2 frames.  Overall length needs to be between 163mm and 169mm and the DT models are either 163mm or 171mm – little bit too short or a little bit too long.
Paul Components 12mm x 166mm Coarse 1.5
Robert Axle Project #LIG612 165mm x 12mm x 1.5t (to be superseded by #LIG629 12mm x 168mm x 1.5t)