Excuse my heresy and please help, need advice from the fat tire crowd.

[PCeBiker]

I'm probably going with 26" wheels, this will be a road only bike with front suspension, but only seat suspension and a hard tail. Just wondering if fat tires will provide smoother ride or not?

Fat tires are fine on the road You just choose the right tread. A smooth roller with evenly spaced small knobs will be stable on pretty much everything.

I went with semi-fat 27.5" X 2.8" Super Moto-X tires on my ebike.

Then I added a suspension seat post, a spring seat, and a gell seat cover.

I've got a very cushy ride.
I can plow through 2-3 inch deep pot-holes at 20 mph riding no-hands.
It just floats right through.

 

[PCeBiker]

You must be blind not to notice a deep pothole.

I ride through potholes on purpose cuz it's fun and I want to get used to it.

Shadows across the gravel road in front of me can COMPLETELY Hide a 3" deep pothole.

I've been through many that I simply couldn't see until I was on top of it.

 

[Chargeride]

My friends did a christmas ride to Chester, its a bout 50m I think, both on pedal fatties, they found it pretty easy, but had pumped the tyres to around 30psi.
The tyres are actually quite light, but 30psi kinda negates the very purpose of the tyre.
If you want to offroad and on road, 2.6 is the sweet spot.
Two weeks of riding with a friend, my fat tyres were an advantage for about 5% of the ride, 95% slight disadvantage.
Riding beach was no problem to him.

 

[m@Robertson]

Hundreds of thousand cyclist ride fast descents on potty roads every single day. You must be blind not to notice a deep pothole.

$hit happens. And you know this, like everyone else on the planet but again are just arguing for the personal enjoyment of it.

How many thousand of miles have you ridden this year? (I'm approaching 5,000 and including two e-bike races).

I stopped counting at 112,000 lifetime miles, and that was in the 1990s. I realized that bragging about mileage was just preening where the only one who cares is the peacock in the mirror.

How often do you ride downstairs?

When I was younger, kind of a lot, actually. Once I saw it could be done I had to just do it. Same with riding straight up a curb on a fat bike, where I think I was 6 out of 7 attempts. It was the unpleasant failure on #7 that ended the practice.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I would be more interested to hear how much you're riding nowadays and how come most of the cyclists on this planet do not ride fat bikes.
Did you ride your 112,000 miles on fat bikes?
Does my 45,000 km ridden over 5 years on e-bikes (not fat e-bikes), age 58-63 count?

 

[February]

Granny trikes are known for their propensity to tip over at anything over low speed, so don't plan on going fast. If you enjoy noise and fumes, by all means put a gasser on it. At least everyone will hear you approach.

I'd rather go two wheeled, but there just isn't a step through bicycle I could mount a 200 cc engine too. There will be several mods including welds to frames and upgrading the rear axle. The engine will add a sh!t ton of weight to the back which should help prevent tipping. The trike set up will also allow me to stow more. But yes, There is a reason 3 wheel ORVs are banned in the USA. I'm aware of the risk and will adapt to it. Here is the thing about being poor, I'll never be able to save enough to own the beautiful new ebikes most of you can afford, so I have to start out with what I can afford and assemble it piece by piece. If I could do this with a moped, I would, but I can't, so franken trike it is. Trust me, if I could scrape together $1000 I would just buy a vintage moped, but that is out of my financial reach. Nececity is the mother of invention; if I can do a build that costs less than buying what I want on credit, I have to go self build.

The only reason I have an e bike is because without the shipping, It's a $300 e bike. You can't buy a new bike and a new conversion kit at that price point. And surprisingly, I'm over the moon happy with it. It does everything I wanted it to do. It's a street and rail trail, upright commuter. I'm getting cardio and weight training in and getting out more and exploring areas I wouldn't otherwise. I absolutely love it. But, it is a fair weather only bike. If I want the same range or better, regardless of the elements, in my price range, It makes more sense to go with a gas build over an electric build for my trike project. Also, whatever it costs, it will have a muffler that purrs like a kitten.

 

[Cuz Vinny]

My fat tire street bike. Running 27.5X4.0 Johnny Watts. Roll smooth and fast. I don’t have to worry about road irregularities, drainage grates, pot holes, curbs etc. Fat tires with the right kind of tread rule on the streets.

 

[February]

View attachment 186691

My fat tire street bike. Running 27.5X4.0 Johnny Watts. Roll smooth and fast. I don’t have to worry about road irregularities, drainage grates, pot holes, curbs etc. Fat tires with the right kind of tread rule on the streets.

She's a beauty, nice mid drive. I haven't decided yet, but if I can I'm going to go fat tire. There is actually a quad which I would like to get, but it's out of my price range:

 

[PsychoBilly]

I love my ebike, but I'm poor and need something that will work in the rain. While I intend to commence on another gas build, pardon the heresy, I would like everyone to give me their opinions on fat tires vs standard. I'm probably going with 26" wheels, this will be a road only bike with front suspension, but only seat suspension and a hard tail. Just wondering if fat tires will provide smoother ride or not? Pros vs cons?

View attachment 186304

Traditional analog bicycle.

 

[February]

Traditional analog bicycle.

My knees will not take the very steep hills where I live. Its nothing like Appalachia here, but these hills are basically micro mountains. If I lived on flats, I'd already own the lightest upright commuter I could find.

 

[February]

that thing is a nice"piece of kit" how about making it hybrid? EZGO already makes a hybrid golf cart with around 160 miles of range,unfortunately no pedals.

There is actually a township next to mine chocked full of rich people and poor rednecks alike. They're trying to legalize orvs for regular road use. That is a dangerous idea and probably won't get past state laws, but they are trying. The crappiest orvs start around $5,000 here. If I could afford that, I would just get a moped or a compact auto.