J.Higgins 

I'd love to have everyone's thoughts and advice on a winter trike that I'm designing. My plan is to make a recumbent tadpole trike with 26" wheels. I'm thinking that studded front tires would be great, but I was considering a 26" fatbike wheel for the rear drive wheel. Do any of you think that's a good plan or shoudl I stick with a studded 26x2.25?

rumrunn6

electrify it!

J.Higgins 

So...

fietsbob

My 26" wheels for studded tires, have All Weather Sports Snow Cat rims,
from 91,
Drum brake hubs , (Old Stumpjumper frame)
44 mm wide , 50 mm tire*, so tire section is a D shape..
thus puts down a bit bigger footprint.

26 x 1.9" Suomi Nokian, Mount and ground W, MTB tire .



Shipped Direct from Finland Back Then,
good for mixed Ice patches & Bare Pavement, seen occasionally, Here..

With Fat Bikes, now, 2" may be considered narrow..







....
....

Bigbus

I like the idea of fat and wide, but then she left me high and dry Seriously, I prefer the wide tire option only because I've ridden semi-fat tire bikes in the snow and found it to be a stable idea that is gaining traction around here. Icy streets are a whole-nother animal. Studs definitely.

J.Higgins 

Bat56

I have not had occasion to think about this, but I think a fat tire in the back is overkill. I have never been on a tadpole in winter, but using my experience on two wheels my logic goes like this: I do not need traction for moving myself forward, I need it for staying upright. Even in situations where I am climbing an icy hill my back wheel can skip and slide but it grabs something to push me forward. So the danger is not that I will not move forward, it is that I will move enough to one side that I fall over. Since you do not have the falling over problem on a tadpole I think the extra rolling resistance will not be worth the marginal forward moving energy benefit that it will deliver.

tldr: fat tire will only help you on extremely icy surfaces and even then not much.

J.Higgins 

I think you are right on. If I were building a trike to ride groomed snow, then fat tires all around would do the trick. Since my trike will be for exercise on the road surface, I think that tall, narrow studded tires will do the job.

fietsbob

Saw the Rally car races on TV, a few years ago , Rally of Sweden was in the winter.
in deep snow

the wheels narrow and very spike studded..

madpogue 

Man, I want that ^^^^^ forward lighting on my truck.

(And maybe half of it on my bike.....)

J.Higgins 

If ANYONE would be an authority on riding in snow and ice, these chaps would be it.

fietsbob

And then there is motorcycle ice racing ...