Fat tire mountain bike

[Mike TowpathTraveler]

I had ridden road-bikes, hybrids, gravels all my life and then a friend gave me an old Walmart-type fat bike (Iron horse). I was skeptical but fell in love even though I only rode it on road and didn't do any jumps or use it on trails until a long time later. Then I did some long distance rides to test my crazy idea of bikepacking on a fat bike and then gave away my other bikes. I started bikepacking with my fat bike in Colombia some 6-months ago and have loved every moment of my time with it as it's well suited for every terrain we have encountered. It also helps me make friends of strangers as people are curious if I have a motor, why I have tires bigger than those of some motorcycles and jus Why?

Please let me know if you are into fat bikes and what purpose do you use them for? What's been your memorable experience on a fat bike?

I bought my Specialized FatBoy in 2015. Set it up for touring, with a Schmidt SON28 dyno hub feeding a B&M front light. Surly racks, front and rear. Ortlieb bags for front and rear and handlebar. I put about 6 thousand plus miles on it, riding a 75/25 split of asphalt and trail riding. 12 months out of the year. Average rides were a 20 mile trip, almost daily. When I got on the canal towpath trails, I'd do on an average, 50 miles, with a couple of near-Centuries tossed into the mix.

Then, in 2016, I "found" this website and Court's reviews of the Felt Outfitter and Haibike FatSix. Later, he reviewed the Full FatSix and suddenly, the idea of pedal assisted fatbike riding, took control. After finding a FFS at Crazy Lenny's at a price that was too good to pass up, I recieved the above pictured Haibike in March, 2017. Again, riding predominantly on asphalt, with occasional towpath rides on dirt as well as deep sugar sand in the large NJ Pine Barrens forests, I found the fat tires allowed this type of bike to be truly a "go anywhere, anytime, anyplace" ebike, unlike the stuff that people here like to preach that a fat bike cannot do. I've proven over and over and over that a good fat tired mid drive ebike can do what a gravel or trekking bike can do.....and then some. Here we are, 2024 and the FFS is sitting on close to 20 thousand miles (and at that, having sat out riding over a year to tend to my ailing Mom). No problems, no issues with the bike at all.

Some memorable rides that come to mind? A trip from the Delaware River to the New Jersey shore, over 100 miles, 100 percent road riding....... But the best rides are off-road, away from the cars and the noise and the people. The NJ Pine Barrens are always a favorite, as too, the nearby Delaware and Raritan Canal towpath and the adjacent Delaware and Lehigh Canal towpath in Pennsylvania.

 

[Rome]

Yamaha FFS. S is Six.
Haibike. I'm going to put alert on Facebook marketplace and Craigslist to flag this ebike if becomes available.
I want it.

 

[Mike TowpathTraveler]

Yamaha FFS. S is Six.
Haibike. I'm going to put alert on Facebook marketplace and Craigslist to flag this ebike if becomes available.
I want it.

Rome, my model year FFS has the Yamaha PW drive. 70nm of torque. The later ones had PW-X drives and I believe the last year (Europe sold only as H-Bike had abandoned the US market) has the PW-X2 drive with more torque at the crank.

 

[Chargeride]

I use a throttle on my fatbikes, which pretty well solves the pedal hit issue, they are superb for finding traction in rock stewn tight trails, but they also follow their own path and have a tendency to just pull you into ruts and then can't get back out of them.

They are also terrible in slimy mud if you don't have a very treaded tyre , but if you lower the tyre pressure for more grip and a smoother ride of rock gardens, you will end up with a pinch flat, tubeless can be hit or miss as well.

 

[Rome]

Ffs. I find out 3 inch tires are more better to ride fast thru. Mud cracked crevices with 5 inch tires i would have to create a new line of tracks hit that line 28mph every time of day.

 

[m@Robertson]

What's the fat vs. plus cutoff? Other differences?

I'm not sure there is a formal cutoff so to speak, but if I were to take a shot at it, I'd say anything 3.5" or below could be called a plus size. Look around at some of the better 'fat' bikes out there and you will see even 29" wheels shod with 3" tires and those are quite capable.

Basically you can give yourself the stability and comfort of the fat tire without the extreme weight. Look at how few options there are for flatproofing (no such thing as a fat thorn resistant tube as it'd weigh a ton).

Perhaps off-topic, but given your experience with sandy beach riding, what do you see as the minimum tire width for loose, dry sand? (My 2.3" hybrid tires are fine in damp sand — the kind available within a hour or so of low tide — but worthless in the loose, dry stuff.)

The fatter the better I would say The minimum I have used in sand is probably about 4.7", but without 2wd that tire was kaka on loose sand in dunes because of the front tire's desire to submerge, being pushed by the back tire.

My Big Fat Dummy just got shod with 5.05" Snowshoe 2XLs specifically for sand riding. Those tires are capable of taking 20 psi, but they are hard as rocks at 10 psi which is fine for my ride to the dunes. Down to say 5 psi for the sand. Maybe 3. Its amazing how firm such a big tire is on almost zero air pressure.