My mate and I are on a course with Ed Oxley tomorrow in Gisburn Forest.

It’s snowing here now and forecast to continue thru tomorrow. What tyre pressures should we go for?

Let’s start at the beginning………………….. What wheel size?

God help you if it’s 650b

8-10psi should be fine, though I tend to run a wee bit harder – around 12psi today.

Oven mitts are cool

No – they’re very warm 🙂

I’m on a 26er and my mate is on one of those new fangled 29ers

4″ and under is fantastic fun! Fnar Fnar!

i ride in the snow but i’d ask if the session is still on eh?

Yeah the nice lady where we’re staying spoke to Ed earlier and we’re on apparently.

What de_icer for beards?

I’d just let a few psi out and see how you go, you can always adjust to suit.

If only there was someone there who might know about such things. Wise men usually have beards – anyone fitting the description?

You should increase your tyre pressures not reduce them and fit narrower tyres if you have them. You want the highest ground pressure possible so that the tyre cuts down through the snow and grips. Why do you think proper Land Rovers and winter rally cars have narrow tyres?

Thats what i thought, but what about fat bikes.

its dependent on how deep.

Shallow you want to cut through

Deep you want to float on top

You should increase your tyre pressures not reduce them and fit narrower tyres if you have them. You want the highest ground pressure possible so that the tyre cuts down through the snow and grips. Why do you think proper Land Rovers and winter rally cars have narrow tyres?

Cars have lots of power. Humans don’t so bikes should always try to float on top of snow (that’s deeper than about an inch) with wide tyres and low psi. If you’re average weight I’d be running about 15psi on decent size MTB tyres.

Its not the arctic up there for goodness sake, just stick with what you have now. Half the time you’ll be listening to him and watching other people anyway 😉

Well I’d ask Ed. I’m sure its part of the service