Any 24" FAT tires with a folding bead?

Looking for a 24" FAT tire with a folding bead for possible tubeless setup. I am having trouble finding this size online without a wire bead. Does anyone have any recommendations?

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What do you consider fat? I only know of four models that are 24"x4"

Chaoyang Big Daddy
Duro Fleetwood
Specialized Ground Control
Vee Mission Command

Fleetwood has very, very minimal tread but does have a foldable version. The others do not. The Mission Command (minimal tread but more than the Fleetwood) is not foldable but it does state on the side that it is tubeless ready.

Yes, 24x4 is what i am looking for.

I am currently running the Specialized Ground Control FAT now with a tube. I have seen older version of a Mission that is 120TPI with a folding bead but it looks like Vee discontinued that model and now only sells the wire bead version. Not sure if they would take special orders on the older one though.

Ill look into the Fleetwood since it has a foldable version. Thanks for the feedback!

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Just double checked my Vee Mission Command says that on the side of the tyre, as I started to doubt myself but it does

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Out of interest have you ever used this in the snow and if so how do you find it? I have the Vee Mission Command. Like all fat tyres it is great for spreading load over softer snow and absorbing bumps but it lacks traction up steeper hills (10%+) with harder packed/smooth (or slushy wet) snow, meaning I start to slip.

I have wondered if the Specialized Ground Control or Chaoyang Big Daddy might be better.

I just started riding the Ground Control over this past summer so i have not had a chance to ride it in the snow but if i get out this winter ill let you know. I have not really had any traction problems with the tire at about 1bar on steeper hills in wet, muddy conditions. I have found that the tire does have some autosteer and significant rolling resistance when running lower pressure <13psi which i dont like.

On a similar note, how is the Missions at low pressure for autosteer and rolling resistance? the V like tread pattern looked to be better suited for reduced autosteer so i thought it might handle better at lower pressure.

Hmm… hard to answer to be honest. If you asked me a couple of days ago I would have said autosteer was pretty bad (worse than I recall) but now it is bothering me a lot less. Perhaps I just needed time to get used to the tyre again. I have had it for over a year but only used it a handful of times. I have always had some issues with it but slowly now over the last few days with some longish rides it starts to feel better and less annoying it that regard. My other problem with giving you an honest answer is my lack of fat tyre experience on unis or even bikes. Prior to this tyre my biggest tyres were all 3". I don’t know how much my experience with the tyre is common to all bigger tyres and what is specific to this tyre.

For example, what I like is that it rolls over many things really easily and that it ‘floats’ on snow. What I don’t like is that it isn’t great on camber and it autosteers. See? Perhaps this could be a description of any fat tyre??

In summary my gut feel is that there are probably better tyres but to be honest I guess I don’t have a clue.:man_shrugging: Sorry I am not more helpful

im actually in a very similar boat, i have only been riding a FAT since June so i am new to the overall FAT experience as well. I also had a similar experience with my tire. The camber and autosteer seemed a lot worse when i first began riding on the new tire but after adjusting to it i noticed it less and less. Camber can still be tough but im learning to predict what the unicycle will do and correct for it now. Im sure there are probably threads on autosteer and pressure for FAT riders i just have not dug into the forums that much.

There are reviews here of various fat tyres but they are primarily for 26" fat tyres. There is also a far greater selection for 26" wheeled tyres anyway. As I said, I only really know of four for the 24" size. In addition none of them are studded, which would interest me as winter usage is my main focus in fat tyres to be honest. I therefore, strongly suspect a 26" wheelset is really the way to go for fat usage.

That all said, I was out four times in the last three days on my 24"x4", with a total distance of 38.1km (23.7 miles), 844m (2769ft) of elevation, and over the course of 3h and 26m. So… I am still very much enjoying myself. :wink:

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True that off-the-shelf studded tires are the easiest. However, you can also buy carbide studs with a self-tapping base and a tool to stud any tire with sufficiently big tread (cannot remember if it was mentioned in a thread by @saskatchewanian or another user). This solution should be simpler and stronger than the ghetto screws solution :stuck_out_tongue:

Quite possibly me as I have done it to a 3" Duro tyre before


Using these https://www.best-grip.no/produkt/bestgrip-1000-pigg-for-sykkel-moped-rullestol-sko-og-stovler/

However, you need deeper tread than that found on the Vee Mission Command

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Thanks for chiming in @ruari. I got my northern stars all mixed up :stuck_out_tongue:

@ruari I ended up finding a 24" Vee Mission 120TPI FB tire online. It came in yesterday, I will be running this in the spring tubeless! so stoked!

Report back when spring comes. I’m interested and I am sure others will be as well, given the small selection of fat tyres for 24". I have the lesser Vee Mission (only 72TPI, as you can see from my image above).

I must admit I am getting more comfortable with it and therefore enjoy it more, as I get a feel for how it moves. I have much less issues with autosteer now and while camber can be annoying it is largely manageable on the routes I frequent. The ability to roll over imperfections on trails or even curbs on roads, is very much appreciated.

My biggest problem is still the minimal tread. I wish it was slightly more aggressive because on steep inclines I get some slippage, especially when snow is warmer/wetter and a bit slushy (or alternatively so hard packed it is almost ice). I have gotten better at picking lines on trails and keeping my pedal movements smooth and these two things certainly help (i.e. jerky, fast movements up a hill, on parts of the trail where the snow looks bad tends to go wrong). However there is only so much I feel I can do, at the end of the day I would like more raw grip from the tyre. (Maybe I expect too much? :thinking:)

For my ride this morning, with warmer weather (hovering around melting) I actually took my 26"x3" (self-studded Duro Wildlife Leopard [shown above]), instead of the 24"x4" Vee Mission. The grip was so much better on snow on the hills. However, on the flip side with fairly deep snow in parts it was a LOT more work. The wider 4" tyre spreads your weight better and ‘sits’ more on top the snow. The more narrow one sinks in a bit more, vastly increasing rolling resistance. You also, obviously feel more of the bumps, even though I had the Duro down at 1 bar/15 PSI/100 kPa (the lowest it is recommended for).

A 4" tyre with a more aggressive tread, would seem like the best of both worlds but perhaps I have to give up on the 24" wheel size if I want that. :wink:

That all said, obviously my interest is snow. Yours is not, perhaps (I hope) the tread is good enough for the types of conditions you ride in. Good luck, and I have no doubt you will continue to enjoy yourself. I know I do.

I will for sure let you know. I am interested to see how the 120TPI will do on rough terrain as it may be more prone to punctures than my 60TPI Ground Control. I am mostly interested in how tubeless will ride from an autosteer and rolling resistance perspective.

Your note on tread is well taken, i dont usually ride in snow so the most i have to deal with is wet/muddy conditions which ive actually had to ride in a lot over this past fall. So i will let you know how it does in these conditions from a traction perspective.

I am in the same boat as you when it comes to the possibility of running a 26" tire in the future as there are so many more options available. The only real issue i noticed when going from a 26" to a 24" (i used to ride a 26"x3") is the reduction in momentum which is definitely noticeable to me but the 24" is also easier to maneuver in technical sections of the trail. There will always be trade offs like these but i think it just comes down to how to best optimize your setup for your riding style. A 26" tire has many more options for snow riding no doubt and if youre not concerned about maneuverability then that makes the most sense to me.

More to come in the spring!