hauksi

Hey
I was wondering if someone have experience in biking in sand. Do I need an fat bike / mountain bike or is my regular street bike enough?

Bmach

Sand as in at the beach?

mixteup

For beach sand you want wide-as-possible tires, relatively smooth tread, and low pressure.
For hard-pack sand, like on a road or trail, narrower, gnarlier, and maybe higher pressure.
It's all relative - Define "sand".........

xroadcharlie

My limited experience on soft beach sand makes me think a wide tire, perhaps a 26 x 2.3" minimum. I'm thinking a medium stud tread for control up front and traction pedaling.

I tried with a mountain bike with 26 x 2.125" tires with light studs and a smooth center line. After some practice was OK. I think if I used 26 x 2.3" medium stud tires with low pressure, perhaps 15 - 20 psi I would be fine.

I tried the loose sand with my new X-Trail bike with 26 x 1.95" semi-knoby tires too. That did not work well. It might have been OK on firmer damp sand by the water with low pressure.

2manybikes

For soft sand like at the beach you need a fat bike, I suggest tires over 4.5". I tried 4.5" tires on a fat bike and then tried 2.35" on my mountain bike. The 2.35 tires were terrible. Possible over short distances only. The fat bike floated on top of the sand, it barely made tire tracks. The pedaling was easy.

DomaneS5

The hard packed sand near the tide is nice to ride with any mountain, hybrid or cruiser. The soft sand sucks. Even a fat bike will dig into soft sand.

xroadcharlie

I feel better now after reading your post. I thought when people referred to beach bikes, It ment they worked well in soft beach sand too. I wondered why my mountian bike with the 2.125" tires was so tough to ride there. I thought it was just me.

Perhaps I'll try the damp sand by the water with my new bike's 1.95" tires one of these days.

DomaneS5

Biking on the beach is fun when you have a tailwind on the hard packed sand near tide. A headwind on the beach can be brutal... but it's a good workout.

livedarklions

I thought this thread was going to be about my arch nemesis--sand on pavement.

jefnvk

Define "sand". There are many "sand" surfaces I'd have no problem riding my road bike down. There are "sand" surfaces I wouldn't attempt on my fat bike. What are the specifics of the sand?

fietsbob

Wet sand right by the ocean is firmer because of the water ..

... but you will have to wash the bike off promptly to get rid of the grit & salt..

rumrunn6

this "back dune" sand was OK with my mountain bike, 2.25 tires front at 21 psi, rear at 25 psi. but when I hit the regular soft beach sand (at the end) I was stopped dead in my tracks


would love to try a fat bike on a favorite 2 mile stretch at Race Point to watch the whales. I usually walk it, except for years I get an oversand permit for whatever 4x4 I'm driving

NomarsGirl

Me too. The road rash is just healing up from a spill I took last week because of sand. I've never been happier to see the street sweepers.

livedarklions

I did that last year about this time. A very nice high school kid helped untangle me from my bike and got me up. One of my clients asked me about a couple weeks later if I'd had an accident at that spot. Turned out the nice kid was his son.

Some of the road rash was on my face. Sand tastes bad.

dmanthree

Fat bike. Why fight it?

Lemond1985

You're gonna be biking over Amanpour? Use wide tires. And bring some ear protection, definitely.

canklecat

That's what the Schwalbe Big One and G-One were developed for -- sand racing, where big light balloons work best. They'll fit any frame with enough clearance. A friend used the Big Ones tubeless on his gravel bike for a few months and liked 'em -- they're fast, comfortable and stable, but wear quickly on gravel. He switched to something else after those wore out.

I kinda wish I'd bought a set a couple of years ago when Jenson USA was blowing out the then-discontinued Big Ones at around $15-$20 each. But they'd fit my bike only if I removed the front derailleur and switched to a single chainring. Instead I got the Continental Speed Rides, which are nominally 700x42 but measure closer to 700x38. They'll clear my bike and are good on gravel but not quite wide enough on soft sand. Unfortunately the agency that maintains the gravel paths on our MUP uses plain sand to fill potholes, and if you don't watch very carefully it's easy to wash out on those patches.

blekenbleu

Exactly. FWIW, I rode beach sand daily for years, and nothing less than 5 inch front tire at 6-8 psi sufficed in soft beach sand. I could get away with a 4.5 inch rear tire, provided momentum was maintained.
Momentum becomes problematic when hitting trampled sand, which bounced enough to lose control unless lower pressure, which made pedalling too hard... I ended up with a Lauf Carbonara front fork to absorb vibrations
and rode that combination pre-dawn to scout for sea-turtle nests, texting crews to mark or relocate them before beach replenishment resumed at daybreak.