One of these? : https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/201512657462

That’s the one – they’re £24.99 in Cycle Scourgery, and I couldn’t find anywhere much cheaper that had them available within a few days.

Sorted. Have bought tubes and digital gauge.
Went for a spin this afrernoon, never had so many people comment in my life. They can’t help themselves!

Loving how the bike feels, it must go like stink when stripped of a bit of weight. So weird riding between hard pack and grass and barely noticed a difference in drag, it just keeps going!

I had mine up the golfy today, got some funny looks popping out the bottom of 3G 😆 Definitely found the limits of the 4.8 JJ though, completely useless today- it was dry but crumbly so it just found no grip at all.

I have no other reference for grip other than these Kenda’s, I’m sure I’ll find their limit once we get a fresh downpour as the tread profile is so low. No idea what set to buy as an alternative yet.

NW – have you got 4.8s front and rear? Can see how a 5.0 would possibly fit up front but not sure about out back.

Took on a short staircase today, kind of expected the Dune to take it in its stride, but was quickly reminded that I on a fully rigid bike, and longed for my dropper post.

Tyres came fitted with high pressures so have been gradually leaching them. Have now got a satisfying amount of squish – but immediately noticed a bit of auto-wandering at the front once it went below a certain pressure. Eases off when you pick up the pace.

Aye, 4.8s front and back- Minion out front and JJ in the back. Well, none of them are actually 4.8 wide but they’re all claimed. 4.8 rear might be tricky with a 2x setup but it’s grand with 1x.

The Bud nearly doesn’t fit- if you increase the pressures up high, it grows so much that it jams in the wee bolt eyelet at the top of the seatstays. But at normal pressures it shrinks. Kind of mad tbh! So, I’ve a feeling a true 4.8 might just be too big.

No idea how big you can go in hte front. Big!

How do you find the extra width?.. Much benefit all round?

For the stuff I ride, it’s just plain better IMO, they’ve got more bounce and more grip and the drag’s no great drawback. Simple as that. But I fatbike stupidly, today like I say I was up the golfy at innerleithen riding ews race stages, for teh lulz. The correct answer, up there, is a 2.3-2.5 tyre and some suspensions so 4.8 is just a better wrong answer really…

Vee Rubber Vee8 folders are £19.99 in the CRC sale. Fairly mixed reviews, seems like they could be ok for SDW type trails. Anyone used them?

I found that entering a quagmire at speed with my Floaters the front would do that sideways slip. Anyone else experienced this and what tyre is not so prone to it?
(TBH Bonty Muds are the only tyre I’ve not experienced this with.)

The brown On-One Floaters are currently £19.99 each, the other colours are ~£25 and the default black version (better compound performance due to lack of colouring?) is ~£30.

I’m still torn whether to buy a pair of Fat Not Fat 29er wheels for ~£120. Still trying to determine if the front wheel is RDS or FDS.

You guys might want to look at CRC, especially if you have British Cyling membership (10% off), they have custom Hope wheel builds including fat bike hubs.

I’m thinking about trying 4.8 up front and maybe keeping 4 or 4.5 at the rear, leaving a little more room at the back for clearance.
Have read that the J Js are good in dry conditions but not so good in mud. Ideally I’d like to fit a set of all rounders as I’m less inclined to faff with tyres once they’re fitted. what are the obvious choices?

I like the sound of the Minuon FBF up front as its sounds really grippy and I want to hunt for the limits of cornering grip. Also sounds pretty heavy though?

Are there any Mud X for Fat?
Are the surly tyres (good range at Charlie the monger) good for trail action?

For mud, most folks recommend the Nate (3.8) or Bud (4.8). I have a Bud, it’s very good but it’s also very damped- which should be good, it gives you more control and less bounce but for me it sucks the life out of the bike, and also it’s really low on feedback so it’s hard to trust when you’re pushing on a bit.Minion isn’t quite as grippy in mud as the Bud, but, it’s more predictable so I can work the grip it has better. They’re both more or less the same weight and yep, heavy but that’s just pretty much how it is, for fatbikes.

Haven’t used a Nate. Makes sense to me, the wider the tyre the more float it has and that’s not always good so maybe the narrower 3.8 works better.

Cheers NW, it’s all beginning to make sense. Picked up a folding Fat B nimble for £39 earlier which seems a really good price. Will probably use that on the rear and save the juggernauts for Sunday best..
Might try your FBF up front.

I’m have been running mate upfront with a FBN out back for a while now. Great combo, I found Nate front and rear very draggy and like Made the bike feel very lethargic. The FBN rolls nicely but is heavy, I have just purchased a second hand Jim from Northwind to run on the rear which is lighter still. Hoping that will liven things up even more.

I’m not sure whether to be proud of myself or to curse myself as stupid but I wAlked away from Halfords without buying the Voodoo yesterday. Last one they had with no more coming. Even the wife was telling me to buy it but I couldn’t seen to justify another bike to myself.

Going to kick myself later in sure.

Go and get it now!

zippykona – Member
Go and get it now!

+1
Or head to the Doctors as clearly you must be feeling unwell 😉

Dahedd, I’m only 2 rides in and I’m hooked – it’s such a different kind of experience that I feel completely justified in upping my N quota!

Get a Dune, it’s cheaper, and makes you feel even more shiny inside

Been following this thread from the start. Finally took the jump and got myself a fattie, loving it so far. Biggest surprise is how quick it goes. Had it knocking on 50mph downhill and I’m already beating the times I’ve made on my 150mm trail bike.

Just need to set it up tubeless because the punctures are bloody annoying. Seem to get one every ride at the moment.

What one did you get Painey?

Yeah I’m not keen to go back to tubes myself so will attempt to go tubeless myself soon – have just read of enough issues with sealing these cheaper rims to keep me from diving right in.

Will probably attempt ghetto 24″ tubeless as it seems most reliable system, albeit the heavier option.

Fitted the JJ i purchased from Northwind today! Blew straight up tubeless with no faff at all! Result! beaded perfectly and has shed some weight from the old girl too! Bonus.

Vee Rubber Vee8 folders are £19.99 in the CRC sale. Fairly mixed reviews, seems like they could be ok for SDW type trails. Anyone used them?

I’ve got a pair, hey effectively came free with Fatty’s at one point with one of on-ones part clearing builds and a voucher code.

They’re faster than floaters, and a bit lighter, but not in the same ballpark for grip. They do make you feel like Valentino Rossi on the road though! As I run tubeless I’ve not re-fitted them as it would be more faff thn they’re worth. As you say though, probably good for summer bridleway riding or you live somewhere that doesn’t tend to turn t loose dust when it’s dry. If I trashed a floater I might put one on the rear.

Yeah I’m not keen to go back to tubes myself so will attempt to go tubeless myself soon – have just read of enough issues with sealing these cheaper rims to keep me from diving right in.

Will probably attempt ghetto 24″ tubeless as it seems most reliable system, albeit the heavier option.

Split 20″ or 24″ tube, cut a ~70mm strip out of an old camping mat to fill the rim, and bobs yer uncle. Also check the OEM rim strips, I saved almost as much weight ditching those for 3M tape as going tubeless itself!

slimjim78 – Member

Yeah I’m not keen to go back to tubes myself so will attempt to go tubeless myself soon – have just read of enough issues with sealing these cheaper rims to keep me from diving right in.

It took some experimenting but I’ve got 2 different variants on mine and they both work really well. I ditched the tubes- which did work well, with foam- and now I have on one end, the rim taped then foam over that to bulk up the rim bed, then plastic wrap over that to make it airtight. Works a charm but a pain to change tyres as it tends to mess up the wrap.

On the other, which I slightly prefer, I got some 80mm pvc tape- basically monster electric tape, I think it’s for floor marking in factories and the like. So it’s rim tape, then foam again, but instead of the plastic wrap the entire rim bed’s taped over to make it airtight. Works better than the plastic so far just because it’s durable, I’ve switched tyres a couple of times and it’s been fine.

Oh, car valves or maybe motorbike valves on both, just because it’s drilled for schrader (I did try the big fat presta valves I have but they didn’t work- the rim was too thin so the lockring didn’t bottom out)

They both weigh within a couple of grams of each other. It’s a faff to get it working but once it works both versions seem grand. I’ve only used a few tyres on it- some JJs, a Bud and a Minion- but they’ve all gone up pretty easily and stayed up.

I can’t get my head around the requirement for the foam layer. Can you explain why it’s needed to build the rim bed up? If the rim is airtight, it’s airtight, right?
So the tyre ‘should’ inflate onto the bead if given a sufficient puff off air?
In my mind, I’m guessing that the foam mearly acts as an air volume reducer in order to bring down the required amount of initial air to seat the tyre.. Is that right?

In other words, is it not possible to seal the rim with several layers of that heavy duty PVC tape, and then blow the tyre onto the rim?
I guess the risk is loosing the tyre off the rim when on the trail, and not having means to get it reinflated onto the rim?

Just air gaps really- the rim bed is big and the tyres have lots of movement and curl in them so without the foam you can have such a big gap between tyre and rim, that there’s no chance it’s going on. (you’re only foaming the middle btw, the beads only have tape/wrap on them, the way I do it). And the tyre’s air volume is 4-5 times the size of a normal tyre too so every pump has less effect.

No chance it’s going back on trailside, regardless, ime, tube job. But then I’ve never had much luck fitting a normal tubeless tyre with anything less than a trackpump either

Zippy- yes, I too find Floaters tend to wander about a bit on soft mud; not too bad on the flat, awful on ‘some’ downhills. Seems to depend on the character of the mud. Minion FBF is much less prone to this, quite noticeable that it is better at staying pointed straight ahead.
Have been unsuccessful so far in getting the FBF to work with an On-one rim, so may have to bite the bullet and buy a replacement rim as well. The Minion has still not remained seated correctly at the lower pressures that I’m liking to use.

What Northwind said, without the foam (or pallet wrap) the tyre is just floating around in the middle of the rim with a big (5mm) gap all round, no chance of getting it up without a compressor, and if it did, it may peel off under heavy cornering (AKA burping).

With foam you mimic the inside wall of a narrower rim, which fatties don’t have or we’d be talking about rims 3x heavier than Stans Flows as well as 3x wider. Which makes them easier to inflate, and also maintains a bit of a seal when they do burp.

The proper solution is a £350 set of double walled carbon rims from light bike, but more than the Dune’s worth by the time you add hubs!

Highlandman are you struggling due to tubeless ?

I worked on the logic with my OOF that yes the wheels were goign to cost more than the bike (well nearly) but I was enjoyign the fat bike so much the chances would be that i would upgrade to a better frame and swap the kit over. I am now waiting for the Smokestone Henderson to be launched by Slam. Then will swap my kit over. Only a couple more weeks to wait!

Henderson looks good, what’s the pricing likely to be?

What one did you get Painey?

I got a Cube Nutrail second hand. I was waiting for the large Dune to come into stock but factored that once I’d added the upgrades it’d be getting on for £1k. I saw the cube going for less than that and as the seller was close to where I work went and had a look.

Absolutely loving the way it rides. This might sound odd but I find it a lot easier to manual/wheelie than other bikes I own. That said I’m rubbish at that kind of stuff.

Packing wrap method with pics.
Just make sure it is properly tight and you wont have any problems, and if you want to swap tyres, it takes less than 10mins to re-wrap the rim and throw a tyre on.

Or… fatty strippers.

Ok, will try ghetto and if no joy the fatty stripper stuff looks promising.

easier to manual/wheelie than other bikes I own.

100%!! No-one told me that fatty tyres are essentially wheelie cushions! 10mins into my first ride i was promptly pulling my best wheelies for, well, forever!
Unfortunately I took it a bit too far at the park and landed straight on my monkey bone – writhed in agony for a while whilst the local yoofs laughed at my plight.
Still, nothing a day’s best rest and a bunch of co-drydamol can’t fix.

I find you have to take it a bit easy on the Dune, dial it back a notch – it can be soooo fast, turns you into a right hoolie, all of a sudden you’re arriving into scenarios much quicker than you would on skinny tyres. I find I have to think more about slowing down near walkers, dogs, round blind corners than on my other bikes, don’t want to hurt anyone or generate ill feeling, especially when the comedy looks tend to have the opposite effect with those you meet.

I’m considering buying a Calibre Dune, I was wondering if anyone had changed the green strip that’s in the wheels to yellow or any other colour? Do you know what kind of tape and thickness would be required?

I think Northwind has changed his. should be straight forward to do, I’ve never searched but there’s probably a plethora of colours/widths to choose from

Yeah, I replaced mine with 75mm PVC tape off ebay (for added yellow).

Think it was this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WIDE-HEAVY-DUTY-PVC-TAPE-75MM-x-33M-BUILDER-INSULATION-ELECTRICIAN-FIXING-YELLOW-/360702791403?hash=item53fb8fceeb:g:BZAAAMXQVhFR8YUh

Basically one wrap sticky side “out” and unsticky side against the rim, stretched just a wee bit to get it nice and tight. Then a second wrap other way round (so sticky to sticky) to overlay that. Becuase the first wrap’s stretched, it’s a little narrower, the second wrap should fully cover it and stick it to the rim, avoiding any exposed sticky.

I wasn’t sure if that’d be strong enough but it’s been fine. Bulges nicely through the cutouts and weighs nowt.