taz777

As tyres play a much bigger role on fatbikes I was wondering what tyres your fatbike came with, whether you were happy with them, and whether you’ve decided to upgrade them.

My Cannondale Fat CAAD 2 has Schwalbe Jumbo Jim Snakeskin 26x4.4inch tyres. The bike is too new for me to get the upgrade itch just yet and so far I’m happy with them. I’m still experimenting with pressures to smooth out the ride.

HerrKaLeun

Mine came with Maxxis 4.8. they are fine and work well on trails and mud AFAIK. but i don't have a comparison and bought Vee rubber studded tires for winter. no snow yet, but they worked well without snow at 25°F. by well i mean just a bit harder to pedal and a bit more noisy due to studs.

FrozenK

Jumbo Jims are good all around tires. If you need studded tires Dillingers rule. Yes, they are expensive. There is a reason for that. Second to Dillinger are Terrene Wazias. Good tire, a bit cheaper than Dillinger, also a it slower rolling. Terrene also has the Cake eater this year that is supposed to be a more direct competitor to the Dillinger. But I haven't seen any Cake Eaters in he wild yet.

Vee Rubber Snowshoes are not a good tire. Yes, they work but they are not a good tire.

limey245

My Salsa Blackborrow came with Lou 4:8 both front and rear, i found that the front tire would like to self steer at times.
So i changed it out for a Bud, has more of a directional tread way better.
In the winter i run Dillinger 5 awsome grip with the studs and fast rolling.

jefnvk

Mine came with the same, but 4.8". I've gotten comfortable with them around 6.5#, not sure if that'll stay when I start getting more into the snow.

Hypno Toad

My Pugsley came with Nates, they're good tires, but heavy and slow. I bought some Panaracer Fat B Nimble tires for summer riding - I use them for gravel centuries, and they are great for summer, terrible winter tires. Early this year, I added a set of 45NRTH Dillinger 4 studded tires, everywhere in my area was a skating rink and I didn't have another bike with studs (broke the frame on my old 26er). The Dillingers are amazing tires for winter, never ending grip but lighter than the Nates and roll like a dream. I really need to get ride of the Nates, I can't image going back to them.

Tire pressures are really a challenging equation of weight, conditions, tires, preference....

Here's a thread I started a while ago that may be insightful: Fatbikes - Tire Pressure Explained in a Photo

Jseis 

Shaved BFLs ‘cause beach sand.

taz777

I thought I'd revive this thread rather than start a new one.

I'm starting to think about the tyres on my fat bike. It's a leisure bike so never sees a trail, sand or snow. Thus, the tyres on it, the Schwalbe Jumbo Jims, are probably not ideal and they're going to wear out very quickly due to being the bike being ridden on a road surface exclusively.

When the time comes to replace them, does anyone have any recommendations for fat tyres (4.4 to 4.8 inch) that are designed more for road (US = pavement) riding?

I guess I need tyres that are less 'knobbly' and a little slicker? However, I haven't seen any for sale yet.

rangie

Nothing you find is going to be much of an improvement on the Jumbo Jims. They are the fastest rolling fat tire and the newer compound in them wears well enough, and if you burn the knobs off who cares? You didn't need them anyway.

Vee and Surly both make a slick and they both suck. Heavy, stiff, auto-steering junk.

taz777

@rangie, that's what I suspected! They are great tyres so I'll keep going until the knobbly bits have worn away completely and then replace them with more of the same.

I did see slick Surly ones on the Internet but they seem impossible to get hold of, whereas the Jumbo Jims are not too difficult to find here in the UK.

HerrKaLeun

I have to update on those Vee tires just so everyone is warned no never buy any Vee tires:
- turned out they were pretty bad on snow. The studs worked well on ice, though. After 250 km of riding the studs started to wear out. Vee sent me replacement studs. At the end of the season (only 250 km) I realized they only have 4 mm tread (My Maxxis that came with my bike have 7 mm!). So I gave up on them to be used in winter. It also seemed the tread on the center was less than on the side, indicating it wore 1-2 mm over the 250 km I used them. (I hadn't measured them when new, so that part is speculation)
- As cheap as I'm i decided to de-stud them and wear them out over the summer. So I'm riding this summer season and it seems I'm a worse rider with less confidence on sand and single track than last year. Sure, I'm a novice, so not much to expect. it was all a bit twitchy and less confidence inspiring. I realized the front tire is the most important one and this week i mounted the Maxxis tire on the front (rear still has the Vee, or whatever is left). Man, what a difference! Riding was much better, steering off-road much better, much more confidence that the bike goes where i steer/lean it to.
- Now my plan is to keep the (good) Maxxis on front and just shred the rear Vee tires to death and to never ever buy cheap tires again.

With the fast wear the cheap tires are more expensive. If you crash because they lose control where better tires wouldn't, it gets really expensive quickly.