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Next door has just got an ebike and it's got 2.8 tyres on it.
First question ,do ebikes really need such big tyres? The wheels are massive so can't see that you could go much thinner.
The combined weight of me and normal bike is more than him and e bike.
My fat bike is a death trap in mud. Are 2.8s going to be floating over the mud or digging in?
My bonty muds are streets ahead of my butcher 2.3s but not a patch on my cyclo cross tyres.
Are these tyres a big fat ruffty tuffty fashion accessory for your ebike, are ebikers going to be put off riding in mud?
I've never ridden 2.8s is there one that is competent in mud?
do ebikes really need such big tyre
Tyres and wheels in general are more dictated by type of riding, not whether it has a battery or not.
Are 2.8s going to be floating over the mud or digging in?
Depends. Ground pressure changes dependent upon load and contact patch. It won't cut like a crosser, but will probably be more floaty than regular Bontys.
Also depends on the strength of the ground.
Are these tyres a big fat ruffty tuffty fashion accessory for your ebike, are ebikers going to be put off riding in mud?
Doubt it, they've got more watts to power through.
More float (less ground pressure) equals less damage to soil structure, so ridden with consideration could actually be better for trails - but in practice not because off all the watts.
I’ve never ridden 2.8s is there one that is competent in mud?
Depends. A balloon slick will do much worse than a 2.8 Magic Mary I'm sure.
Ive been running 27.5 2.8 Specialized Butcher Blck Dmnd on my Turbo Levo for 3 years in all conditions. I have the option to swap them out for 29 2.6 front 2.3 rear as we run the others on them but after trying both I prefer the 2.8s and the advantage of running them at 15 psi.
We did have a Levo with 3.0 Purgatorys which were good but tended to flex a bit on the sidewalls at low pressures
It’s the old caveat of depends on which kind of mud, but I ran all last winter with a 2.8 Ikon on the back of my hardtail and I was actually pretty decent. DHR 2 in 2.8 on the front though.
Narrow tyres are great for cutting through surface slop to find the firmer stuff underneath but if you ride woody trails there tends not to be firmer stuff underneath, so a bit of extra float can help a lot.
I fitted 2.8 Nobby Nicks (bargin price) to my vitus and it was very funny, but going down to 2.6's will give you a better choice for mud tyres & should fit.
Yeah, basically you have more float, so to get the tyre to work in mud you need more spike, not really any way around it. Wild Enduro 2.8 is good. Literally the draggiest tyre I've ever used apart from downhill mud spikes, absolutely horrendous on tarmac, but it's an e-bike so that's less of a thing. And the grip is really good, totally worth it for the couple of months of winter I had it on.