drowling23

I just got a Salsa Blackborow with 27.5/3.8 tires. Unfortunately, Finland is completely iced over and there are no spiked tires this size (if you know of any, do let me know). I've got a pair of 45NRTH Wrathchild 27.5/3.0 tires lying around, so wanted to ask - what would happen if I were to put those tires on the 80mm rim?

CliffordK

Are your rims really that wide?

Are you running with tubes, or tubeless? You'll probably find tubeless would be a little tougher to mount.

Otherwise, the tires should fit, but may flatten out a bit, without covering the edges of the rim well.

Try it and see.

drowling23

The rims are 80mm external, around 74mm (3") internal, with tubes.

Sadly I cannot just 'try and see', bike is in one country, tires in another. I can either take the tires or not take them, and I'd rather do so only if I'm sure it will work.

CliffordK

How big of tires does your bike take? Here's the "Cake Eater".

https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...s.php?id=94002

You likely would be able to mount either the 3" or 4" tires on your rims. The question is which is better, and would it be worth spending an extra $400 for the upgrade?

FrozenK

The 3" tire will be stretched out and have a low profile (think stanced Honda Civic). I remember back in the day people trying 2.5 or 2.8 tires on Large Marge (65mm) rims and some of them worked. Kinda, sort of, not quite, well... You know.

As for 27.5 studded tires the only other option I can think of is Bontrager Gnarwals. Another option would be to stud your own tires using Gripstuds or similar.

drowling23

Jesus H Christ, $200 per tire, I'm really not made of gold, you know. Also I don't think 27.5/4.0 will fit. At least it doesn't fit according to the spec, which might be lying.

Leebo

3" tire not going to work, as said, bontreger, Terriene and 45 N all make studded 27.5 fat bike tires. 4.0 should fit, just measure your current tires.

drowling23

Thanks for your replies! The bike manufacturer has updated their specification, now stating that the bike can support 27.5/4 tires. So I guess it's problem sorted, I just need to order studded 4" tires and I'm good to go.