Fatbike season officially back, and proper muddy wet season at that. 4.8 jumbo jim now taken off the back of the ICT, Lou back on, paired with the old faithful Bud up front as ever.
Now, whilst the Lou is undeniably slower on the road to the trails (at least one gear slower) and the fireroad link sections, my god, when that thing gets into the off camber, rooty, muddy, uphill, downhill, along, rocky etc etc - GRRRIIIIPPP TRAAAACCTTIONNNNNNN
What a giggle!
I've been enjoying my ICT with JJs over the summer, but Saturday's ride made me realise that the time has probably come to fit something with a bit more grip in the slop. The question is Bud/Lou or Minion FBF/FBR? Must admit I'm leaning towards Bud/Lou but not for any rational reasons; just because it's a Surly and because the Maxxis logos will clash with the blue frame 😳
I'd just like to point out that it's not far off bone dry in the South East. As you were.
Make the most of it, you'll get your slop while we're enjoying the snow 🙂
Do any of the tyres mentioned not aqua plane when entering mud patches at speed?
Ps I will be taking my mudguards off again for tomorrow's ride. Sorry.
Still dusty down south :-b
No need for bud yet 😉
It's ability compensation to use tyres that big for mud, learn how to ride.
HTH
Why? This is not a competition, it's my hobby. If a Bud will make my ride more enjoyable, what business is it of yours?
Proving we can argue about anything , I think mud provides the best and the worst of fat biking.
Give me a quagmire to plough slowly through and I'm king of the mud. Give me a wide , high speed thin layer of mud and I'm king of the bushes. (Hopefully the FBF will sort this .)
Slagging a bike because it grips better than another bike 99% of the time is a bit silly.
Agreed, 4.8 JJ's off this weekend and 4.8 FBF / FBR combo ordered... (price difference between Bud / Lou was the decider)
Hope for snow soon in Black Forest and there are more ski areas taking bikes... its going to be a great winter...
By a strange coincidence I also changed tyres at the weekend - 4.8 JJs for 4.0s they're a bit better in actual dirt as opposed to dust covered pebbles.
The fat bike has taken a little bit of a back seat just recently. In preparation for selling the trusty HT I inadvertently swapped a few bits round (brakes, wheels, tyres & fettled the riding position) and somehow it has become a proppa missile so I'm currently using both of them
Still running Hüsker Dü F&R here
rocketman, how do you find the difference between the 4.8s and the 4.0s?
Much of a difference, or just able to run 1psi less without issues?
Erm they make my bike feel more conventional
Take away the wheels and what I've got is a very ordinary rigid bike. The 4.0s make it feel more like an ordinary rigid bike in good and bad ways
Good: more nimble & agile, quite a lot less boing-boing-boing, about 350g lighter, slightly less skate-y on certain kinds of slick mud
Bad: pressures more sensitive, reduced steamroller effect, they don't sound as good as the 4.8s
HTH
Just picked my Bud up, Lou's already on. 😉
What are folks using for lighter tubes in 4.8 tires?
I could use the specialized 2.3-3" fellas in 4" tires no probs, but they don't like bigger tires, quite quickly giving way, almost imperceptably so a v slow puncture, at the seams.
I think I'm using surly fat tubes, not bad, but they ain't light.
Have had mixed results with Schwalbe SV13Fs in 4.0s and 4.8s
Although they're nominally a freeride 3" tube I expected them to blow up and assume the shape of the tyre, albeit a little thinner than Schwalbe anticipated.
Truth is the rubber is not perfectly uniform and what you end up with is a tube that overstretches in some places to compensate for being over-inflated so when you take it out it looks a bit like several links of sausage.
The overstretched sections are less than paper thin and I've had a couple split at the seams
No such issues with the 13Js
3" Spesh tubes in my 4.8" tyre works for me.
I'm just using air, as I run tyres tubeless. Used SV13F in 4.0 tyres but after the sausage effect and moving to 4.8's, I have gone tubeless.
The tubes also moved in the tyre carcase producing a fair bit of powder which in turn lead to flats. Also, as they are really stretched when inflated, found them hard to patch successfully
Still on my HuDus but will swap-over the Dillinger 5s this week - they're not much slower but give me a bit more grip on green-chalk. I'm also building some 100mm carbon rimmed wheels with Snowshoe 2XLs for 'proper' winter riding 😉 Been riding around the north and south downs for 25 years - bridleways/byways that get churned to a foot-deep morass and previously unrideable in any form of MTB are now passable on a fatbike - I might be slipping and sliding in places, but I'm not off and walking.
Interested to hear how you get on with the Snowshoe 2XL...
Mahoosive tyre.
Rick - how did you go tubeless? split tube ghetto?