What do you HATE about your fat tires?

[Taylor57]

I had never ridden a fat bike when I decided to purchase an inexpensive Mongoose Dolomite 26" hard-tail fat bike and install a Luna/Bafang BBSHD 1400W mid drive with front suspension. I completed my installation in January of 2021 and have been running with 4.5" tires. I love how my fat bike will go almost anywhere I point it, with impunity. I recently installed 2.8"(rear) and 3"(front) tires on my Aventon Level. I prefer the 3" tires for most of my high speed riding, and I'm currently building a bike with 3" tires and rear suspension. The 4.5" tires tend to float and slide sideways sometimes when I hit lots of bumps at high speed running sideways on a slope. They are excellent at low speed, a bit "squirrely" at high speed. The 3" tires have more of an edge, and tend to "bite" a bit more, with less floating or lateral sliding, especially when sideways on a slope. When I ride off into uncharted territory, through the woods, brambles, or over fields without any trails, the 4.5" fat tires coupled with the mid drive impart a sense of invincibility, which tends to get me in trouble, and consequently I get hurt a lot.

I will always have a fat tire bike with 4.5"+ tires.
I will always have a bike with 2.8"/3.0" tires. Different applications, YMMV.

Pardon the reposted video: I'm on my 4.5"tire Fatty, trailing my friend on his 3" tire Rockstar.

View attachment 112384

Nice pic!

 

[Tom@WashDC]

I bought my Banana Boss e-bike only because it has a long seat like a motorcycle seat AND because i am able to attach a bike trailer to where the passenger foot posts are located. I remove one foot post and screw in my trailer. I couldn't see any fat bikes that were able to take my trailer.

I find fat tires way too supple. I had a flat in the rear tire and i was not even able to push the bike 10 feet before the inner tube came out, got jammed between the rim and the frame, and caused the tire to not turn - it was dragging. I had to try to carry the rear end of the bike with one hand and steer it with the other hand. No way! I have carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands.

I tried Slime in my fat tires but i am sure the fat tires are far too supple to allow the Slime to work properly.

I like my bike, but it's the fat tires i'm not crazy about. They look cool, yea, but i usually found spare tires and inner tube on abandoned bikes. I'll never find spare 20x4" tires or tubes on the street. So, now i have to spend $80 bucks CAD on each tire once per year. I never had to buy 26" and 28" tires and tubes before.
So fat tires are not my style.

Slime has worked well for me in my 4.5" fat tires. I just installed the Tannus Armour inserts on all of my bikes. Haven't ridden with it yet.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Lightweight -- for a gravel bike without any suspension -- means 20 lbs or less. Of course no e-bike is that lightweight but gravel e-bike below 33 lbs can be found.
Fat tyres give a lot of cushioning at the cost of the heavy bike weight, poor steering, and hunger for power. More lightweight (but still rather heavy) e-bikes gain compliance because of the suspension. Very lightweight bikes are compliant just because of the very low weight. If you rode a gravel bike at least once Gordon, you would understand why.

A true gravel cyclist.

Try to lift a fat tyre e-bike. Here, a Vado SL.

 

[Prairie Dog]

In all fairness to @Mike TowpathTraveler (as well as other fat bike owners in colder, snowy climes), there have been many occasions when I would have loved to run a fattie during the winters up here. After a heavy snowfall, I have to wait for several days to allow the fat bikers to break the trails before I would even consider riding on them. Many of the local winter bikers I encounter ride fatties and I have to admit that I feel a bit of envy on my part as they simply roll through and over everything in their path.

That being said, I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be spending much time in the saddle six months out of the year as my e-mtb is much faster, more maneuverable and efficient on the tight, twisty single tracks that I predominately find myself addicted to during the summer as well as the shoulder seasons. I have managed adequately well during the course of the winter with studded 2.25 ISPs on the Trance but believe me, there are days when I yearn for an e-fb that would allow me to crush the fresh snow laden trails rather than being stuck on the couch waiting for someone else to do it. BTW, has anyone checked the pricing on studded fat tires recently?

 

[tomjasz]

Actually a big problem for me is the riding position. I’ve been riding Townie and Townie style frames for 8 years.

 

[Mike TowpathTraveler]

Think of the energy you're spending to overcome the rolling resistance.


While you're using your fat e-bike to a good effect, I cannot even imagine that a single e-bike could do it all.

Having said the above, I can tell you my 2" tyre Vado 5 can take me almost anywhere.
View attachment 112381
Because there is something Mike you didn't mention: the e-bike weight. What happens when the trail is blocked by a fallen tree and there is no way around it? I would personally not be able to lift a fat e-bike but I can lift my Vado SL with one hand...

Downed trees? Stefan, we've got downed trees for ya!

Sometimes the canal towpath's are so washed out that no one is allowed passage.

On one of my Delaware Raritan Canal towpath rides closer to home, I came upon this fella while I was heading north. Since the end of this towpath was but a few hundred feet away from this photo, discretion was the better part of ebiking that hundred plus feet. This....following one of those 80mph thunderstorm locally isolated microbursts that did a hell of alot of damage here and further north on the Pennsylvania canal's Delaware and Lehigh Canal, especially above Allentown.

March, 2018 and the entire 4 mile section of D&R towpath from Bordentown to Trenton was filled with winter downfalls. This one, at Bordentown, was the biggest.

Stefan, the H-Bike stock weighs 52 pounds. With my bags, racks, dyno hub, lights, spare tubes, pump and other gear, she has to be pushing 70. Unfortunately for me in this photo, I did not anticipate these downfalls. But I was determined to get through and photograph everything on the ride up. I normally don't carry my battery lock key with me and it would have come in handy here. As it was, I removed the bags and placed them on the north side of the downfall. Moving the bike over this 3 foot step over was a great struggle indeed; with that battery still attached to the bike.....

I want to head something off at the pass right now....... I respect every single solitary person posting on this site and here is why: You guys and gals are out there making it happen, having fun, getting some exercise in the process; seeing things you would not see if you were cooped up in your home or apartment. I don't care if it's a Bosch or YammyHa or Brose or Bafang. Neither care if it's a hub drive or a mid drive or a gas/electric hybrid or one of those Copenhagen front wheel hub drives. I love what @PedalUma is doing with his classic bike conversions in California and I like what @Stefan Mikes is doing in Poland and what @PatriciaK is doing in her neck of the country. I like the idea that a guy like Al Hicks, at 71, is still out there making it happen on his ebike and I like what @tomjasz is trying to do with his new e-trike. I like the wise ass humor of @Gionnirocket and I like the things that a guy like @Ravi Kempaiah has done for ebikes and continues to make happen with his engineering background. The idea that we are all out there having fun with these bikes is the most important thing to remember, as far as I'm concerned. Sometimes I think we may carry things a bit too far in defending what we are riding as the best thing under the sun ever invented. In the end, it's more important to get out there and have fun, no matter what our ride is.

Folks may ask about the noise or the inefficiency of the fat tired mtb or the reduced range per battery charge or the heavier weight and I guess my answer would be this: If this fat tired mtb is the only Ebike I know; how would I know and begin to understand anything else except what I know? If I can go 100 miles on the bike; arrive at the end all refreshed; how can it be any better than that? Are the percieved inefficiencies of the fat tired bike so dramatic, that to not have the capability of exploring in places others cannot go with a thin tired bike is something worth having and means complete dismissal as the fat tired mtb as the All-Everything Ebike? I know, with the miles I've done on the H-Bike; the places I've gone and the different weather conditions I've ridden in; that the Fat Tired Ebike cannot be just dismissed as a clown bike or a single purpose bike.

 

[fooferdoggie]

a few things I question here is fat tires dont add more drag. but thats not true in any way shape or form. I have tested tires a lot on my long wheel base recumbent with fairing. I coasted down the same hill every day and tested tire size and PSI. just the difference between a 1" and 1.5" front tire gave me upto 2mph coasting speed difference. when I got a loaner ebike that had 2.5" tires I pumped to 70psi same as my bike with 1.5" tires at the same pis. man that thing was a dog coasting down the same hill. I hate the feel of a heavy bike and how it responds. a good mid drive helps but you still feel it if your alert and have ridden a lot of bikes. so yet a fat tire bike will eat up more battery for the same speed. the noise is what gets me I can hear a lectric from a ways away. we tried some more knbby tires on our tandem the same 1.75" wide I think we had them at the max 50psi. the ride was smoother then our marathons but man you could feel the extra work with them. it was costing us several extra watts per mile on the flats.

 

[tomjasz]

I respect every single solitary person posting on this site and here is why: You guys and gals are out there making it happen, having fun, getting some exercise in the process; seeing things you would not see if you were cooped up in your home or apartment. I don't care if it's a Bosch or YammyHa or Brose or Bafang. Neither care if it's a hub drive or a mid drive or a gas/electric hybrid or one of those Copenhagen front wheel hub drives.

All are one! Thanks for the fresh air!!! You make this forum a positive fresh breath.

 

[Nvreloader]

Thanks Guys for the info and praise of fat tire bikes, I can't wait till I ride mine,
I am waiting for it to get here.

Held hostage by the shipping company,
"We only have one driver, so your bike will be delivered when we get a full truck load, for your area,
some time around the 12 to 15th of Feb?"

I am spitting nails.............

Jon A,
Great info you you gave,
Sound like you are in the Western part of the US?
I am in Western NV, 110 miles NE of Reno, NV.

Tia,
Don

 

[Tom@WashDC]

All are one! Thanks for the fresh air!!! You make this forum a positive fresh breath.

So True Mike and Tomjasz! It's all about the fun, camaraderie, and the journey. When I bought my first ebikes, two Aventon Levels for my wife (58) and I (63), I thought they were the Bomb! My casual friend, a life long MTB'r, who rode several days a week, was inspired by my Aventon to install a BBS02 on his 20 year old Giant MTB. Bingo! next thing you know, he and I are riding together 2-3 hours every single day, for the last year, weather permitting. His expensive Trek MTB is collecting dust and rust. We ride with Sena Blue Tooth helmets and laugh and cut up the while time. Three months after getting my Aventons, I built a BBSHD mid-drive fat bike with a cheap-ass steel frame and dual batteries. Now we are riding off-road, exploring territory we never dreamed of. Then he gets a Sondors Rockstar, and I'm working on a dual suspension, double-battery, torque sensing mid drive, with a Rohloff rear hub and Gates Carbon Belt. The journey continues. It doesn't matter what kind of bike you start off with, or what you are riding now. Hell, one day, down the distant road, you'll probably end up riding a recumbent ebike, because your children will take away your two wheel ebike! It's all about having fun on the journey, and sharing the knowledge and the joy. IMHO

Ride On

 

[AHicks]

I've said it a hundred times. That first e-bike requires a huge leap of faith. Having made that leap, and finding out what a game changer it is, it's EASY to make the jump into something that suits YOUR mission better. Your a MUCH smarter buyer for starters, and speaking for myself, very likely not as concerned about an investment you know you're going to use frequently....

 

[fooferdoggie]

I've said it a hundred times. That first e-bike requires a huge leap of faith. Having made that leap, and finding out what a game changer it is, it's EASY to make the jump into something that suits YOUR mission better. Your a MUCH smarter buyer for starters, and speaking for myself, very likely not as concerned about an investment you know you're going to use frequently....

thats why test rides helps so much. I thought I wanted a mid drive but test rode a hub drive. pretty much took care of that question.

 

[teskow]

Not crazy about the noise on some surfaces but other than that they allow me to ride where I see others pushing or carrying their bikes. Keep them aired up to max pressure and the rolling resistance and noise are not a big issue.

 

[Nvreloader]

The thing I hate most with having a fat tired bike, is finding the proper width of front/back,
FULL LENGTH fenders, at around the 125MM wide.
All I have been able to find is those short chopped up ones.

Tia,
Don

 

[Jon A]

Think of the energy you're spending to overcome the rolling resistance.

Those JJ's will have less rolling resistance than many popular MTB tires (there is a huge variance within fatbike and MTB tires, depending upon the exact tire of choice). This is an issue exaggerated way beyond reality. When somebody posts about a new eMTB with an aggressive set of tires, nobody seems to act like they're made of concrete the same way as fat tires, when the reality is pretty close with the Enduro, downhill casing-type tires that are popular with eMTB's these days.

Because there is something Mike you didn't mention: the e-bike weight. What happens when the trail is blocked by a fallen tree and there is no way around it? I would personally not be able to lift a fat e-bike but I can lift my Vado SL with one hand...

Again, you have an exaggerated view of the weight differences. My fat bike is actually lighter than my MTB. Same type of bike (both dual suspension), just slightly higher end build on the fat bike (more carbon, less aluminum). But if you saw them sitting side by side you would assume the fat bike is dramatically heavier. It's not with a quality build.

Here are the weights of the complete wheelsets for comparison:

And the fat wheelset has 220/200mm rotors vs the 200/180 for the MTB.

If 1 lb, 7 oz makes the difference between being able to lift a bike over a tree or not, both bikes are way too heavy for the user on that trail. I went on a ride recently and had to do that a good 10-12 times (lost count).

And yes, it sucked, but mainly due to all the crap bolted to the bike (dual batt setup, rack, panier filled with heavy crap, etc). The fat tires themselves were but a minor contributor. Finally threw in the towel when I ran into this:

That's why some smart people invented e-bike suspension I use Redshift ShockStop on my lightweight e-bike and can ride it comfortably even at high inflation, 35 or 38 mm skinny tyres.

There is no suspension that offers the small bump (trail chatter, etc) compliance that fat tires can.

The 4.5" tires tend to float and slide sideways sometimes when I hit lots of bumps at high speed running sideways on a slope. They are excellent at low speed, a bit "squirrely" at high speed. The 3" tires have more of an edge, and tend to "bite" a bit more, with less floating or lateral sliding, especially when sideways on a slope.

Have you tried any different tires on that bike? The Juggernaut's are really pretty crappy offroad tires. Throwing a set of Vanhelga's on there would be transformative.

That being said, I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be spending much time in the saddle six months out of the year as my e-mtb is much faster, more maneuverable and efficient on the tight, twisty single tracks that I predominately find myself addicted to during the summer as well as the shoulder seasons.

Out of curiosity, what fat bikes have you tried? If you haven't tried a dual suspension bike with modern trail geometry and 27.5X4" tires, you don't really know how fast and nimble a fat bike can be in summer conditions. A lot of people get a little experience on a rigid fat bike with 20 year old geometry and cheap, extremely heavy wheels and tires and assume all fat bikes handle like that. Thankfully, that's not the case.

 

[Jon A]

Jon A,
Great info you you gave,
Sound like you are in the Western part of the US?
I am in Western NV, 110 miles NE of Reno, NV.

WA state and Montana. I think NV sounds like fun. Fat bikes are great for desert riding. I love watching videos from these guys:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmb_LiOZdtgWLgN9ygQCG-g

I just noticed, they picked up an SN04 (that's my non-E fat bike)!

 

[Nvreloader]

Jon A
Thanks for the video's, I'll watch them..............
Fat tire bikes are kinda new around here, as I have never seen one before. Lots of the skinny mini rode bikes around,
I'll change that when ever mine gets here, some day.
Question for you,
Have you ever had any problems with the rear derailleur be damaged while in the sage brush/trail riding etc?
Tia,
Don

 

[rtp]

The idea that we are all out there having fun with these bikes is the most important thing to remember, as far as I'm concerned. Sometimes I think we may carry things a bit too far in defending what we are riding as the best thing under the sun ever invented. In the end, it's more important to get out there and have fun, no matter what our ride is.

Folks may ask about the noise or the inefficiency of the fat tired mtb or the reduced range per battery charge or the heavier weight and I guess my answer would be this: If this fat tired mtb is the only Ebike I know; how would I know and begin to understand anything else except what I know? If I can go 100 miles on the bike; arrive at the end all refreshed; how can it be any better than that? Are the percieved inefficiencies of the fat tired bike so dramatic, that to not have the capability of exploring in places others cannot go with a thin tired bike is something worth having and means complete dismissal as the fat tired mtb as the All-Everything Ebike? I know, with the miles I've done on the H-Bike; the places I've gone and the different weather conditions I've ridden in; that the Fat Tired Ebike cannot be just dismissed as a clown bike or a single purpose bike.

Amen! Would sure be nice if everyone realized their preferences, opinions or perceived 'needs' - don't extend to others, and don't need to, whether it's brand, price, motor, model, options, budget - whatever. It's great to share info but not to try to ram your (and assume sometimes, it may be yours alone) opinion down someone's throat, or worse, turning them off of forums or bikes altogether. Everyone has their own unique take, desires, budgets and bashing anyone having fun getting out on an e-bike or analog bike, assuming they're not terrorizing the neighborhood or wrecking trails - should be able to do it and share their enjoyment of doing so. I hope I'm still riding in my 70s or beyond - and maybe I will be because I picked a bike <someone> might not like and am out riding it now.

Wish I could give some more likes on the part above (the pics were great as well! )

 

[rtp]

I've said it a hundred times. That first e-bike requires a huge leap of faith. Having made that leap, and finding out what a game changer it is, it's EASY to make the jump into something that suits YOUR mission better. Your a MUCH smarter buyer for starters, and speaking for myself, very likely not as concerned about an investment you know you're going to use frequently....

It does. Some go into analysis paralysis and some just jump and go for it, whether it's based on budget, seeing the right 'color'/look of bike, whatever.
Whatever it is, I doubt there's any of us that can say we didn't learn something, maybe many things - from the first one.

My first - was a fat tire bike. A full suspension one at least, coming from motorcycles and dirt bikes, but a fat tire heavy pig nonetheless.
And - you know what? Crappy forks and all I've had it airborne (ok, not very high but still...), rode it all over the roads and trails, and can still see how they have some appeal. I didn't like some things about it, mostly the cadence sensing (BBHSD) and battery drain and the weight, although when riding it it's not noticeable.

Nope, I don't care one bit about someone's Specialized screenshots showing how they could travel X% further - great, you get a cookie, now STFU and let people enjoy what they have. I worked around the cadence sensing best I could, and geared higher and went to lower PAS so I was always contributing and not ghost pedaling. And yes, I did indeed carry it over some things, although I wouldn't want to do it for long or far.

Heck, I even debated on my subsequent bike 'to fat tire or not?' as heck, they're fun. Yeah, they're heavy and not exactly made for super-tight technical trails, but not everyone needs that as Mike's pics and others show. When I saw the Biktrix Monte Capro, I thought about going with 2 wheelsets - fat and regular-ish 2.x-3" before just going with normal MTB tires.

There is no perfect bike; you're lucky if you can find a (near) perfect bike for you, which in itself means great, but it's probably not perfect for <not you>.
If my fat tire bike was 20 lbs lighter and torque-sensing, I might've not moved to the next one, but as it was, as much as I love my current bike for many reasons, I wouldn't have minded having the fatty when we were at the beach recently.

So back on the original Q, do I regret it? Nope, helped me to sort what I liked most and didn't.
Would I get another - maybe, possibly as 1 of multiple. Ask again in 10 years.

 

[ruffruff]

I bought mine as a tool and I knew what I wanted it for. I needed an off road, all season bike that handle anything. So far I've not been disappointed with my fat tire.