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

[Stefan Mikes]

Oh, @SpinningGears, old dear friend in a disguise The photo you are so laughing at is from a ride where my brother rode my own Giant Trance+ Pro 2 (a 2.6" FS e-MTB), and he had no issues with that trail. I later gave him the Trance for free as he deserved that e-bike. Clear?

theres nearly 300 miles of Pennines waiting for that race still

I invite you to any of 3 Poland's gravel races that allow e-bikes: Sudovia, Varmia, and Great Lakes. Only it has to be a 25 km/h production e-bike (DIY e-bikes are banned). Come along!

 

[gromike]

And sometimes you just love your skinny:

 

[m@Robertson]

That may only happen on a steep descent. A normal e-bike is nimble and you'd rather avoid the pothole. While a fat bike would ride straight onto it.

No thats completely wrong. I cruised on a commuter fat bike at that speed on absolutely flat ground. And of course any type of bike can avoid things. sometimes you fail though and it has nothing to do with the bike. Which is reality we all know. You are pretending otherwise to prosecute your argument.

You just jump onto the curb. A fat bike is too heavy to do that.

No. This is the sort of conclusion that is reached with a complete lack of experience but an abundance of attitude. Keyboard cycling doesn't count.

Any MTB will do that. Suspension.

You are moving the goalposts and deflecting. Your false assertion was that fat tires had no advantages other than loose ground. It was never that mtb's could not ride down stairs and I even said I had done it myself. But I have also done it on a fat bike and fat tires have an advantage in this case.

Any MTB will do that. An MTB is nimble, a fat bike tries to ride like a tank.

Which it does well. Learn to embrace differences and make them advantages. Your commentary lacks this.

On the latest XC ride, the group leader had as many as six punctures on his fat bike. No other rider (except one) experienced a flat. I rode XC trails on 42 mm tubeless tires on the same ride.

So one guy's life sucks on one ride, and you think that is somehow related to the platform. It isn't and I am sure you are smart enough to see that - when I put it that way - the assertion is ridiculous.

The group leader is fond of GoPro and a drone. I could watch his ride in his own video. It was fascinating to see how he was losing control while riding over tree roots on his 4.4" Jumbo Jims.

Again it is silly to assert you watched a video and it informed you on an entire class of bike, and not for instance the rider, or the tire pressure, or all the above.

I rode in a race that lead through singletracks and gravel roads of very varying quality, sand and potholes:
Those were 700x47 mm tubed gravel tyres, and a 50 mm front suspension. I achieved the max speed on a steep descent full of potholes and with patches of sand in the forest. I hope you'd survive that race on a fat e-bike Especially when you had to carry the e-bike above terrain obstacles

A fat bike is not for racing. Its for going places other bikes cannot. It can be adapted to street use where it does have advantages over normal bikes if the builder does their job right.

I can play the same stupid game and show places my fat bike can go, where not-fat bikes cannot and I would be an imbecile or at the least intellectually dishonest to assert that somehow normal bikes sucked because of that... which if we flip it around is the game you are playing here.

Tell me something I don't know

You know things. But you offset that with your behavior.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

You are pretending otherwise to prosecute your argument.

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

No. This is the sort of conclusion that is reached with a complete lack of experience but an abundance of attitude. Keyboard cycling doesn't count.

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

You are moving the goalposts and deflecting. Your false assertion was that fat tires had no advantages other than loose ground. It was never that mtb's could not ride down stairs and I even said I had done it myself. But I have also done it on a fat bike and fat tires have an advantage in this case.

How often do you ride downstairs?

I even won't waste time on your other comments. In my opinion, fat bikes have been a special purpose rarity until off-shore e-bike manufacturers taught Americans a fat-ebike (possibly a 20" folder with a throttle) was the principal e-bike type.

 

[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?

 

[kevinmccune]

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


View attachment 186379View attachment 186378


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.

me like!

 

[kevinmccune]

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

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.


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.

had a friend who not let you agree with him,kind of a shame too,he was really bright and clever.

 

[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: