Finally got round to setting my hardtail up thus at the weekend, then took it for a ride today…

Anyway… Good fun! Missed a suspension fork surprisingly less than I thought I would. I had it setup rigid for Mountain Mayhem (but with narrow mud tyres), but riding it on “proper” trails that usually bounce you around a fair bit more than the mud of Mayhem was all good. Incredibly, if anything, with the 2.4″ Rubber Queen on the Mavic 729 rim tubeless at about 15psi, it’s smoother over the very small bumps than a normal tyre at higher pressures with a suspension fork. I suppose it just steamrollers them. Of course though, any bumps over a couple of inches immediately get felt, and you have to look further ahead and pick your lines way more carefully than you do with a decent amount of suspension travel.

It also grips like poo to a blanket! Not even that slow rolling either. Definitely more fun and more useable than I was expecting, having got used to suspension for the last 16 years!

So… What is it then? 1/4 Fat?

Semi-skimmed.
See also Krampus.

So… What is it then?

A mountain bike.

I run those tyres on one of my bikes. Doesn’t make it a new niche.

Doesn’t make it a new niche.

I wasn’t looking for a new niche, I was trying to be ironic! 😉

2.4″ Rubber Queen on a wide rim has a HUGE volume though. Anything over 15psi felt too firm!

For reference, in a 2.2″ Rubber Queen on a 26mm wide rim, I run 32psi as that feels right to me.

What he said. ^^
It’s just a bike.

singlespeedstu – Member
What he said. ^^
It’s just a bike.

If Stu and I agree………..Then we both missed the irony! 🙂

I like that, goods skills

not fat at all!

Ooooooooh, Tough crowd in here tonight! 😕

I’ll stick to riding bikes eh… 😉

Nice bike, and good to see your not afraid to get dirty.
How wide is the front tire with your set-up, i have a on-one steel fork and would like the biggest front tire possible..

What do you weigh mboy?

No vernier calipers to measure accurately sadly, but holding a steel rule up to it suggests about 63-64mm at its widest part on that 729 rim.

EDIT: It’s flippin’ tall for a “26 inch” tyre though, more like a 650b tyre in overall diameter… Maybe it’s a 67.5er? 😉

Weigh about 74kg right now GW.

good to see your not afraid to get dirty

Not much choice there, riding round this way… Even in the height of summer, there’s always wet bits on most of the trails round here.

Anything over 15psi felt too firm!

surprised you don’t fold them in corners even at your svelte weight.

At 74 KG your quite lightweight compared to most 40+ years of age owners of drunken (er i mean athletic )fattie owners 🙂

The rim width is what makes all tyres fat in air volume and gives them the low presure they then need to ride right.
When on a rim wider than normal they do not ride like a normal MTB but in diferent ways do a different job – which is grip and also a bit act as suspension through the low tyre pressure…

Fatbikes are not better than regular MTB`s with wideish rims and max available wide MTB tyres and possible tyre clearance,
When it comes to forward movement through the right suitable conditions
until you ride them side by side in the conditions they suit – which is soft/slippy/rooty/slimey rocks etc where then the huge footprint gives enough grip to maintain forward traction then the bigger and heavier rims and tyres of a fatbike will make sense 🙂

It’s surprisingly stable so far GW. Started off with about 24psi, then just let some more out and tried it a few times, ended up with about 15psi in there, and not folded or burped it at all. Proper UST tyre though, with thick sidewalls, probably makes the difference.

Fancy a sedate old aged alchy evening ride and beer tomorrow night? Young Mike might be up for it.

fair enough! it’s only really when you lean the bike right over or ride a fairly extreme camber you’d fold it.

Can I take my comment back, just noticed its got gears 🙂

“”At 74 KG your quite lightweight compared to most 40+ years of age owners of drunken (er i mean athletic )fattie owners””

I have never been called athletic and yep at 74 KG you need to eat more pies and drink more guiness before you can start to consider joining the true club of fattness.

Only 10 Bernaard… Anyway, gears are for winners!

I’m positively huge right now at 74kg, when I was 19 (and the same height) I was 62kg! I eat more than my fair share of pies I can tell you that, you’d be surprised how someone who eats as much as me is so thin!