Fat Tire Review Thread: Tires > 3"

I’ve got the Ground Control on my fat bike and love them. I intended to try them on my fat uni, but I’ve been running the Surly Lou 4.8 and it rocks. Curious how you like the Ground Control.

I just picked up the Vee Rubber Bulldozer 4.7 for something a little more rugged for non-snow riding. Not that I’ll be able to do any non-snow riding any time soon. For only an alleged. 0.1" difference it has a noticeably slimmer profile than the Lou and is heavier. Performance is to be determined.

guess my setup :smiley:

Starts with a “Sur-” and ends with a “Lou!” :wink: :stuck_out_tongue:

:slight_smile:

So, where are you folks getting your On-One Floater tires? I was hoping they’d be a cheap fat tire solution.

http://www.on-one.co.uk/brand/q/On-One wants $120.82 to ship to the US.

http://www.planet-x-usa.com/i/q/TYOOFLOAT/on-one-floater-120tpi-folding-tyre wants $120.90 with shipping.

If I have to pay that much, I’d rather shop local and get a Surly Lou for about the same price.

I bought mine from on one last summer and got free shipping for purchasing two tires. I think I paid around 120 bucks when all was said and done, but that was for two tires.

PlanetX USA has some for $55. Not all the colors are available but there is still some choice.

Otherwise, you can have a look at the sales notification thread or just have a look on eBay (you can get some good deal if you are lucky).

I emailed the U.S. Company and asked when they would have some in stock again and they said “soon” and got my information. The next thing I knew they were shipping a tire to my door step. :slight_smile:

Not a fatty rider, but I just found this on my usual rounds of t’net.

Apparently it’s a Vee Rubber Snowshoe 2XL, and measures at somewhere between 5 and 5.2". I guess the 32" wheel is officially obsolete… :smiley:

Didn’t see any mention of Kenda Juggernaut tires, made in 4.0" and 4.5" widths:
http://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.asp?id=231803
http://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.asp?id=231804

Both sizes listed here:

Weight seems reasonable for 60 tpi and wire bead…

There’s a new fat tire from duro: The 26x4.0 Big D

From this angle, it reminds me the arrow - shaped tread of the Surly Larry :smiley:

A brief endorsement for a Surly Lou 26"x4.8" tire on a Surly Rolling Daryl rim on an Oregon frame: it’s good! Did my first dirt ride yesterday. The tire seemed to go where I pointed it, and it will roll over anything. I found myself aiming for bigger roots, just to see if I could even feel them. I note that I bonk my legs on the tire a little more than usual. Hopefully my knee/shin pads won’t get too ripped up before I figure out how to keep my legs off the super wide tire.

I’ve been playing around with fat 650b tires, though I still prefer my Hans Damph Gravity 2.3 for general riding cuz it’s fast and durable, there are some 650B+ tires coming out that are worth looking at for a mid fat:

Vee Rubber Trax Fatty, this tire uses the same pattern at the 36er muni tire, but wider, much wider. There are three widths, which is very cool, I have the 3.25" which actually measures out to 3.25"! There is also a 2.8" and 3". This tire is relatively fast, has good grip on firm and rock, and the sidewall is very burly. I think my 3.25" weighed in the low to mid 900gms.

These are tall tires, on par with a tall 29er tire, so you need frame clearance vertically as well as horizontally; an Oregon or similar. In the smaller version you could probably squeeze into a Oracle 29 or KH 29; certainly the 2.8", but the 3" could be tight. This tire would be my first choice for anything “tire abusive” that wasn’t overly slimy; tread is thin so it might not be the best for wet weather riding.

I am looking at getting a narrower 650B+ to run on my 29" Oracle frame, something in the 2.8-3" range, feedback to follow…

Tires to consider, but with caution:

Fat B Nimble, a very lightweight 650B+ tire that has super thin sidewalls, take care if you are riding rock as it could fail.

WTB Trailblazer 2.8, user reports are that the tire measure closer to 2.4, so it’s not actually much bigger than an Ardent or a Hans Dampf. And it weighs 900gms!

What is still lacking is a 650B+ with aggressive tread, but I’m watching :slight_smile:

For those people with experience with multiple tires, what’s the 26x4" tire that has the least auto steer?

Nate, Lou, But aso…
Those with little rubber on the ground cause of the rough tread are the once with little auto steering.

Larry is ok to ride in most of the situations.

The Knard is a bitch on smooth surface, the king of autosteering.
It sticks like heck and therefore you go where Knard wants you to go :roll_eyes:

And 4’8 is not harder to ride than 3’8.

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Thanks for the feedback! I ordered a Surly Nate 120 TPI and I’ll see how that goes.

I dont know how you guys do it. It looked awesome to read, so I took Mister Fatty out on a muni ride to work… HOLY CRAP IT WAS AWEFUL!

I kept hitting trees because I couldn’t control my uni, it was just self steering on everything. The trail was very bumpy as well, I thought that would be great for rocks and roots. Turns out it rode like a piece of caca.

I ride a Surly Nate, I had about 15psi. Anyways, it’s the second time I take it muni-ing in the last 2 years. I’m sure it wont be the last time, but both experiences were aweful haha. I’ll keep it in shape for winter instead, because I love it on snow :slight_smile:

What rim are you using? What is the TPI? Mine is 120 and I can’t believe the positive difference over the other tires I tried. I started with a Mission Vee on my 24" freewheel unicycle (Large Marge rim) and it was unrideable at all pressures. I then tried a Origin8 Devast8er on a 26" fixed wheel (Large Marge rim) and I was constantly wrestling the wheel at all pressures. I’ve ridden my Surly Nate 120 TPI at 18psi on a few trails now, including the one that made me give up fat wheels for a long time, and it’s been an absolute dream. One trail I ride has been eaten up by sand in the past year and was becoming impassable on a 3" tire but is great to ride on a fat wheel. It may be counter to what you’re trying to accomplish but maybe you should try bumping up the pressure a little bit to see if that helps.

I’m using a 27tpi Surly Nate on a Rolling Darryl. Honnetsly I’m not planning on riding it more haha. I have my 650b which is just excellent. I just wanted to try out the fatty, it doesn’t really fit my riding style anyways. I like my stiffer setups better for my terrain. The fatty is the snow machine here!