Timberjack: 27.5 x 2.6 Tires?

[oldmanknees]

TLDR: Can you run 27.5 x 2.6 tires on a Timberjack NX1 (even though Salsa doesn't recommend anything < 2.8's)?

Full Story: I'm looking at an '18 Timberjack NX1 (27.5 x 2.8 tires stock). I've never had a plus bike, and the tires feel massive to me, almost awkward. I've never had a proper mountain bike, I'm upgrading from a cheap dept store 26er with questionable trail worthiness. That's probably part of the reason the 27.5 x 2.8's feel so unusually large to me.

Anyway, I'd like to have the option to run 27.5 x 2.6" tires if I don't like the 2.8's (and I'm not interested in going 29er). Salsa says they don't recommend anything less than 2.8's, primarily due to changes in geometry like BB height - but has anyone tried that with success?

[ST_Paul]

You can run 2.6 and I'm pretty sure you can run 3.0 too. Just remember some brands tires run smaller then they advertise like Maxxis, a 2.6 is like a 2.5

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