Full Suspension vs. Fat Tire

[Alaskan]

Haibike SDURO Full FatSix Review | ElectricBikeReview.com

Price: $5299.00 | Model Year: 2016 | One of the only full suspension fat electric bikes I've seen, quality hardware including 20 speed Shimano Deore XT drivetrain, solid 2 year motor and battery warranty with 5 years on the frame

electricbikereview.com

 

[Nomad]

Haibike SDURO Full FatSix Review | ElectricBikeReview.com

Price: $5299.00 | Model Year: 2016 | One of the only full suspension fat electric bikes I've seen, quality hardware including 20 speed Shimano Deore XT drivetrain, solid 2 year motor and battery warranty with 5 years on the frame

electricbikereview.com

Have you noticed that trying to find the whole available line up is hard? Does anybody no how Haibikes numbering system works I heard it's not just up or down?

 

[Nomad]

Scramjett: As poster @Nomad noted, they do have direct sales. But they also have a dealer network as well. Propel, Crazy Lenny's, Electric Bike Center (this is the shop that Court has done many bike reviews working with the owner, Sam and the bikes he brings for the test.)

Just based on the review that Court has done on Bulls, as well as the magazine reviews of Bulls in Electric Bike Action, I come across with the impression that Bulls is a premium brand; well designed, well built with a good drive system and well specced components.

I don't believe Haibike has a fat tired ebike in their lineup for this year. Bulls has the fat tired Monster in a hard tail or full suspension model, with the Bosch drivetrain.

look deeper I think they do I'll try dig it up. I notice it's hard to find there full lineup.

 

[Nomad]

Scramjett: As poster @Nomad noted, they do have direct sales. But they also have a dealer network as well. Propel, Crazy Lenny's, Electric Bike Center (this is the shop that Court has done many bike reviews working with the owner, Sam and the bikes he brings for the test.)

Just based on the review that Court has done on Bulls, as well as the magazine reviews of Bulls in Electric Bike Action, I come across with the impression that Bulls is a premium brand; well designed, well built with a good drive system and well specced components.

I don't believe Haibike has a fat tired ebike in their lineup for this year. Bulls has the fat tired Monster in a hard tail or full suspension model, with the Bosch drivetrain.

Haibike XDURO FULLFATSIX 10.0 & XDURO FATSIX 8.0 and there may be more

 

[Mike TowpathTraveler]

Haibike XDURO FULLFATSIX 10.0 & XDURO FATSIX 8.0 and there may be more

Whatever was sold in the US for the 2019 model year sold out quick as it's no longer even listed on the US website. I don't even believe the 10.0 Full FatSix was ever brought into the US for sale; though it was for Europe. That one features the PW-X drive as well as Sram Eagle componetry. Hopefully a dealer representative could chime in to tell us when the F FatSix is coming here for the 2020 model year.

On another postive front, the 2020 Trekking series features a Yamaha drive system to go along with the bigger 2.3 Super Moto-X tires that were exclusive to only the Bosch drive. I would hope this bike would be compatible with the Haibike modular system, that allows an external battery (found on the Bosch Trekking bikes for the '19 model year as an option that could be upgraded by the owner later on)
Link: https://shopsandiegoflyrides.com/co...ucts/2020-haibike-sduro-trekking-4-0-low-step

 

[Nomad]

There's a good chance that we will be seeing soming by july but maybe not.

 

[Admin]

The first part is: since it seems to be one or the other, which is best: full suspension, fat tire, or wait for someone to have both? The second part is: why are so many ebike brands either/or and not both? Is it a cost thing or something else?

Good question, and sorry it's taken me forever to respond! My preference is full suspension with at least 2.25" tires... road or off-road. A full suspension with 2.6" is awesome. I prefer the lighter weight and nimble feel of regular sized tires and much prefer good full suspension to fat tires. Cheap full suspension is about the same as fat tires and possibly worse if it adds a lot of weight or introduces frame flex. I'm not a huge guy, I don't ride on soft sand or snow very often, so to me... fat tires just produce friction, add noise, and change the steering dynamic where you have to oversteer like you're riding a motorcycle. BULLS has a full suspension fat tire ebike (2018/2019 review, 2017 review) with the Bosch motor, and it's pretty neat in theory. In practice, I find it to be a niche novelty. I hope this helps, and thanks to everyone else with the great replies

 

[tomjasz]

oversteer like you're riding a motorcycle.

Countersteering isn't as clumsy feeling on a motorcycle.
Good thoughts and I completely agree.

 

[Scramjett]

@Nomad and @Mike TowpathTraveler:

Thanks for the great feedback guys!

 

[Scramjett]

Good question, and sorry it's taken me forever to respond! My preference is full suspension with at least 2.25" tires... road or off-road. A full suspension with 2.6" is awesome. I prefer the lighter weight and nimble feel of regular sized tires and much prefer good full suspension to fat tires. Cheap full suspension is about the same as fat tires and possibly worse if it adds a lot of weight or introduces frame flex. I'm not a huge guy, I don't ride on soft sand or snow very often, so to me... fat tires just produce friction, add noise, and change the steering dynamic where you have to oversteer like you're riding a motorcycle. BULLS has a full suspension fat tire ebike (2018/2019 review, 2017 review) with the Bosch motor, and it's pretty neat in theory. In practice, I find it to be a niche novelty. I hope this helps, and thanks to everyone else with the great replies

Thanks for the great feedback Court! You and everyone here have given me great feedback. The consensus seems to be yes on full suspension regardless of the tire and fat tire depending on weight, intended use, etc. I weigh over 200 lbs so I’m thinking the following:

FS fat tire: if I’m riding mud, sand, gravel or snow most of the time
FS regular tire: if I’m riding dirt trails, rocky trails or other more technical trails most of the time.

Does that sound about right?

 

[dryots]

Good grief, some of the information passed on. Most of it is good, alot misinformed!

Scramjett: I'm the owner of two fatbikes. The first, a Specialized Fatboy. Hard tail, no suspension save for the Cane Creek Thudbuster LT I installed. 4.6 inch wide tires, ridden up to 20 psi on asphalt roads. I have about 4000 miles on my Fatboy; bought new.

My other bike, which has effectively knocked out further use of the Fatboy, is my Haibike Full FatSix. One of the premium fatbikes out there, with top tier components compared to that Bixtrix fatbike mentioned elsewhere. Yamaha PW drive. Fully decked out by me with front and rear racks to accomodate all kinds of Ortlieb bags for day rides or touring. Front Schmidt SON28 dyno hub powering up a front German made Schmidt Edelux II headlight and Schmidt Son rear tail light. Tubeless tires. Cane Creek Ergo bar ends on a 60mm riser bar by Spank. Ergon saddle. Abus Bordo lock.

With that out of the way, I ride this bike anywhere, anytime, any condition except water fording. As it should be with any other ebike.

The Fatboy convinced me I could ride this bike on asphalt, albeit it's gonna be averaging about 13 mph. But no bike ever made me smile as to the "feel" of the bike when starting out on every single ride.....there is simply no substitute for the feeling of control and stability on the fat tires. None.

Unlike skinnier mtb tires, my fatbikes easily go through the deep sugar sand of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. THIS is where a fatbike really shines, sugar sand and snow. It's just a matter of airing down to 6 or 8 psi and you are good to go. Done with the deep sand? Air back up and bike on!

Truth is, most of my miles accumulated on the Haibike is on asphalt roads. Last count, 9400 miles on the odometer after putting her into full time service in the late spring of 2017. Asphalt roads mean nothing with this Yamaha ebike drive. In the height of summer when I am in the best of cycling shape, I can linger at 19-20 mph at the motor cutout on a 16mph plus average speed on a 20 mile run that I typically make.

Any ideas of a fat tired ebike not good on riding asphalt roads is rubbish. This past summer, I ebiked the Full FatSix from home on the western side of NJ, to the east coast of NJ at the Atlantic Ocean, then turned around back home. Summer time, 90 degrees plus, 95 miles. All on asphalt.

A fat tired ebike can go anywhere a mtb can go....and then some. It may not be faster (who really cares about that?) or lightning twitch-quick maneuverable on some Alpine Pass (who really goes down that stuff on a forum such as this one?); but it is like a Jeep Rubicon of all bicycles, hands down. The Rock Shox front and rear suspension on the Haibike takes out the dips and crowns of the local roads I ride here in NJ. Suspension on high end bikes are nothing like the dual suspension bikes that first came out in the 1990's. They are a real game changer in rider comfort!

Some pics of the Fatboy and the Haibike Full FatSix......

Full fat six rocks! Goes anywhere, any terrain. Beach, sand, dirt, street, grass, mud, rain, snow.

 

[baxterblack]

Agree 100% .

 

[TomD]

This guy seems to be lukewarm on his full fat six.

 

[smorgasbord]

To the OP: you said you wanted to use this bike for commuting. What do you carry when you commute? The rack situation on most Full Suspension bikes is problematic, especially if you're going for a carbon frame to boot. WIll you commute with a backpack?

 

[ruffruff]

I have one of each, fat tire for the winter trails, Emtb for the summer trails and asphalt trail cruising with the Mrs.

The fat tire has a throttle which can be a God send getting started uphill in the snow and the Emtb does not have the throttle with a Yamaha PW mid drive.

I feel both of these bikes have their place and one really doesn't replace the other. I don't think I really want to be on snow covered trails with the narrow MTB tires and I don't want to be on the dirt trails with the 4" Fat tire.

 

[Scramjett]

To the OP: you said you wanted to use this bike for commuting. What do you carry when you commute? The rack situation on most Full Suspension bikes is problematic, especially if you're going for a carbon frame to boot. WIll you commute with a backpack?

Hi! No, this is mostly for recreational off road/MTB stuff. Maybe bike packing too some day. I already have a commuter.

 

[GypsyTreker]

This is actually what I wanted to know. Some of the direct sale bike companies, like Rad and Juiced, have "off-road" bikes that are, I'm assuming, meant to appeal to mountain bikers but they have fat tires and no full suspension. In fact, they likely have no suspension at all! Are they trying to market these as a sort of "poor man's" mountain bike and keeping costs low by using fat tires in lieu of suspension?

I have an Ecotric 26" fattie. It is marketed as a beach, snow eBike. It is a rigid frame/fork bike. It's an all around play bike, something akin to the street legal "Enduro" trail bikes Suzuki or Honda produced in the 70's.

Sometimes being honest with real use needs can save a lot of $. I have modified my fattie somewhat, I installed front suspension, I'm waiting on my Brooks seat (sprung saddle) to arrive and I am still under a grand, total out of pocket. Like many folk on here I have old school MTB and competition m/c exp and I can tell you without hesitation a fat tire eBike provides an amazingly fun experience. I plan on taking it bikepacking when my wife and I move back up to Asheville at the end of March. So if you can determine what you need to have fun vs purchasing "spec sheets" a Fattie might work well. The suspension I added simply removes the "jarring" part of riding. I can also "air down" a smidge if I want but have yet found a situation to do so. If you can lure some of your skinny tire friends to a single track with some sand wash you can float by them in PAS 5 for the sake of getting the last laugh in.

 

[Holatc]

I took a full suspension Raleigh Kodiak IE and added Schwalbe MotoX tires 27.5 x 2.4 after 2 flats with Nobby Nics. Great commuter bike with loads of comfort, especially on and off curbs , sidewalk trails.

 

[bob armani]

I took a full suspension Raleigh Kodiak IE and added Schwalbe MotoX tires 27.5 x 2.4 after 2 flats with Nobby Nics. Great commuter bike with loads of comfort, especially on and off curbs , sidewalk trails.

Nice setup you have with accessories. I have always been a fan of the Kodiak and the Redux ie. I have Nobby Nics that came stock. Have you found that they do not perform well? I thought they were a quality tire after looking at their website. I have over 1500mls on mine and they are still going strong.