For the last couple of years, Pinnacle’s Ramin range has kept surprising me. Proving themselves to be versatile, well specced, capable and very hard to beat in the value for money stakes – in fact, they’re a similar bike to the one I’ve just described above. This year Pinnacle have introduced the Ramin 3+, a bike that was probably designed with YOU in mind.
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| Plenty of clearance … even for the worst UK summer. |
Straight out of the box, the Ramin+ is fairly striking, dressed in it’s ‘not quite orange, not quite red’ satin livery. It’s not subtle but once outside under natural light, it’s not that gaudy either. The aluminium frame incorporates some nice touches including three sets of bottle mounts, shimmed seatpost, bolt-on cable guides and an ebb. Propping up the front end, is (thankfully) a steel fork and on each leg you’ll find a set of three bolt cage mounts.
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| ebb’s a nice touch for single-speed and hub gear fans or those who like to fiddle. |
Your physical efforts are transmitted to the ground via Sram Firex cranks with a 32t ring, KMC chain and Shimano 11/36 cassette. Should your legs become tired, a Shimano shifter will transmit your desire for an easier time to a Deore Shadow + rear mech’. It’s simple straightforward stuff that won’t cause you any grief or let you down. There’s a bottom bracket mounted chain device nestling in there too, it’s pretty unobtrusive but if you wanted it gone, a quick switch to a thick / thin profile ring would see your wishes granted.
When gravity takes hold and progress becomes a little faster than is comfortable, a pair of Deore stoppers with sensible 180mm front / 160mm rear rotors, will quickly bring you down to a more sensible speed. The contact points and finishing kit are Pinnacles own and appear well suited to the task in hand.
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| Don’t worry, your chain’s not going anywhere. |
One of the most striking things about ‘plus’ bikes is obviously the wheels and tyres. I’ll admit to being very surprised here, I was expecting the tyres to be wrapped around unbranded generic rims but no, the Ramin+ rolls on WTB i45 Scraper rims. I’m still struggling to get my head round quite how a bike costing this much and showing no obvious spec’ downgrades can be equipped with such desirable items. However, mine is not to reason why, so I’m just happy to accept the fact and move onto the tyres.
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| Do you know how much these things cost? |
WTB rubber is fitted in the form of a 3″ Bridger up front and a lighter, faster rolling 2.8″ TrailBlazer out back. It’s a good combination that places the rubber where you need it most and helps reduce the potential negative effects plus sized tyres can produce. Although fitted with tubes, both rims and tyres are tubeless compatible, so a conversion is both cheap and painless.
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| Be honest, hasn’t that got ‘FUN’ written all over it? |
I've been always riding cyclocross/adventure bikes with different set of tyres everywhere – paved roads, gravel, bridleways, even MTB trails. But there are situation when I need something more grippy, especially when it's super wet and muddy, or little bit more suspension on rough stuff. Usually I was saying it's not enough to justify another bike (there's very little space at home), unless it performs in absolutely different way than my current bike (no functional overlap). Just recently had a chance to try my friends fat bike and I liked that super grip and floating over everything feeling, just I don't think it would be agile/fun enough on fast technical trails. Do you think 27.5+ could be that gap filling bike for me? How does it behave on loose sand or mud compared to oldschool 2.2"/2.4" mtb? Never tried plus bike before, so hard to decide :/
B+ would certainly offer something different to a 40c shod cross bike but the difference probably won't be as stark as it would riding a fat bike. Personally, I find 'plus' much more practical than fat for general riding (fat seems too big a compromise in 80% of situations). As for sand / mud, in reality much will depend on your chosen tyre. I can't say that plus is better in mud than a 29er fitted with 2.2" tyres because again tyre chouce and the type of mud will effect things.
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