They aren’t great for grip/speed at trail centers/enduro races/downhill races. To pretend otherwise is daft.

Cornering grip is immense, you’ll be washing out on your skinny tyres long before a fatty loses grip. But your rolling resistance will be much lower, like a maclaren v red bull kinda thing 😆

Still, I expect you’ve extensively ridden both all types of tyres & know this already

Have you actually ridden a large footprint tyre? At speed? Probably not I guess, because, guess what….the grip is great.

On my dirt bike the grip from a fat tyre is great, the bike has an engine and drags said tyres around effortlessly, the 100+kg weight of the bike makes big tyres a must, the speeds i ride at on that far exceed the speeds i get out of my own legs and i’m grateful for the extra grip….but sticking tyres like that on a MTB marks you out as a cockend, sorry but it has to be said….its a case of ‘look at me’….’i’m different’…the hipster phenomenon on two wheels if you will.
I’ve never found myself running out of grip on 2.3-2.5 tacky compound rubber…when i’ve crashed its been down to my own incompetence, loss of concentration and lack of technique…not due to lacking an extra 1/2 inch of rubber up front

The defence of ‘you cant be having fun on your own bike if you hate fat bikes’ line is weak, having fun on my own bike doesnt stop me from wetting myself laughing at the achingly trendy wagon wheelers being posted on here.

Where do you lot on silly bikes ride because i’ve still yet to see one in the wild?!…everyone where i’ve ridden rides normal bikes, by that i mean a nice balance between weight and durability, a balance between outright grip and agility.

The defence of ‘you cant be having fun on your own bike if you hate fat bikes’ line is weak, having fun on my own bike doesnt stop me from wetting myself laughing at the achingly trendy wagon wheelers being posted on here.

I don’t think anyone is saying you can’t have fun unless you’re on a fat bike. I’ve not ridden one so I can’t comment, but they ‘look’ like fun. I struggle to understand the full sus fatties but again, I’ve not ridden one so I can’t really comment. And I’m pretty certain no one rides them to look trendy.

Different strokes for different folks.

deviant – Member

The defence of ‘you cant be having fun on your own bike if you hate fat bikes’ line is weak

Who’s said that?

OTOH, the truth is that if you resent other people having fun and doing what they want, or find it laughable, it’s not them that has a problem.

@ deviant – I wasn’t implying that the grip from 2.3 tyres was lacking. I’ve lost grip on all width tyres from CX to 29er+ This has been down to me pushing the bike/tyre beyond it’s limit. My point was 3″ tyres have plenty of grip, in all circumstances – I’m not sure why you seem to think that trail centres/enduro/DH have a different type of earth that has different properties to normal dirt.
However, you seem to be stuck in your little bubble, and calling anyone who decides to ride something a teensy bit different a ‘cockend’ marks you out as exactly that.
I bet your the kind of joyless twunt who shouts at people to get out of the way whilst attempting a strava run at a trail centre. It should be about fun, but you seem to be convinced it’s about speed.

Where do you lot on silly bikes ride because i’ve still yet to see one in the wild?!

Personally, in the last 2 years? FoD, Quantocks, Dartmoor, Wales , East Devon, Dorset, occasionally the Pyrenees.

It should be about fun, but you seem to be convinced it’s about speed.

Nope, i just like things to be proven as being better than what we have already, thats how products get better and racing is relevant to this…heard the old expression ‘racing improves the breed’…?

If a decent level Enduro or DH team take on the 650b+/29+/semi-fat concept and makes it work, betters their previous results, beats existing standard tyres etc then i’ll be first in line to hand over my money as i’ll know the concept has been proven and its not just beardy men wobbling around the woods on rigids shouting ‘fun’ at the tops of their voices….or using the now cliched phrase that he was riding a fatbike “with a smile plastered across his face”….

to be fair, Tom should have both his tools and the ( seemingly endless ) collection of contraptions that might loosely be described as bicycles taken off him, just so the rest of us don’t die laughing.
the problem is the ba5tard is quick, up and down. it’s really irritating to see his big, daft, gurning face at the bottom of the same descent you’ve just nailed it down with the aid of 150mm fork to the best of your ability, when you’re feeling like a shadow of your former self, and he looks fresh as a daisy, having done it all on those daft wagon wheels, as quick, if not quicker. then you reflect on the fact that he’ll be chatting away to you on the next lung buster of a climb too.
i’m only thankful that now there’s a baby is in life his opportunity to practice and train is massively reduced. gives the rest of us a chance.
happy holidays mate. 😉

I doubt you’ll see B+ winning high level Enduros

From what I’ve been told lately it’ll be the exact opposite.

deviant.
Just beardy men wobbling around the woods on rigids shouting ‘fun’ at the tops of their voices

Who says this is the demographic? Mine has hit the trail center blacks and keeping up with 160mm fs no problem I also use it to ride to work 50/50 road /off road and general local XC rides… Very versatile bike . Just watch someone doesn’t show you up on one soon beard or no beard…

If a decent level Enduro or DH team take on the 650b+/29+/semi-fat concept and makes it work, betters their previous results, beats existing standard tyres etc then i’ll be first in line to hand over my money as i’ll know the concept has been proven and its not just beardy men wobbling around the woods on rigids shouting ‘fun’ at the tops of their voices….or using the now cliched phrase that he was riding a fatbike “with a smile plastered across his face”….

I do find myself sort of agreeing with the above. I’m in no way criticising peoples choice of bike, but we seem to be in a cycle of “inventing” the next new and better bike. And if it’s not better what’s the point. All this wheel size stuff just seems to be a different way of doing the same thing. For the life of me I can’t see how riding one type of bike is more “fun than any other nice well sorted bike being ridden for its intended use.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X2i9S4r_yQ[/video]

It should be about fun, but you seem to be convinced it’s about speed.

Nope, i just like things to be proven as being better than what we have already, thats how products get better and racing is relevant to this…heard the old expression ‘racing improves the breed’…?

If a decent level Enduro or DH team take on the 650b+/29+/semi-fat concept and makes it work, betters their previous results, beats existing standard tyres etc then i’ll be first in line to hand over my money as i’ll know the concept has been proven and its not just beardy men wobbling around the woods on rigids shouting ‘fun’ at the tops of their voices….or using the now cliched phrase that he was riding a fatbike “with a smile plastered across his face”…. [/quote]

You seem to have a very narrow view of what “better” or “mountain biking” are. Race testing things in enduro or DH can make better enduro or DH components for racing enduro or DH with some trickle down to the trail bike community. It doesn’t mean that those same things work for XC, fat bikes, 29+, etc. or that developments in fatbikes (also through racing) need to be relevant to DH to make a better fatbike. For a rigid bike bigger fatter, low weight tyres do seem to be an improvement and big tyres would help mitigate trail damage and make traversing some stretches of muddy or wet moor possible. They make certain types of bike better and certain types of mountain biking better or even possible, just because they aren’t the kind that you like doesn’t make them irrelevant, stupid or laughable.

Nobody is saying that you have to ride them and calling people who ride them cockends and calling them silly bikes is a bit unnecessary. It is just people having fun on bikes. Why do you object to that so much? What is it about people having fun on a different kind of bike to you that so offends you?

Yes, no doubt some people have them as fashion statements, but then the same could be said of people who call what everyone else calls mountain biking “Enduro”.

The defence of ‘you cant be having fun on your own bike if you hate fat bikes’ line is weak, having fun on my own bike doesnt stop me from wetting myself laughing at the achingly trendy wagon wheelers being posted on here.

No one said that. What came across from your posts is that people who enjoy riding fat tyres are just deluding themselves. Which seems a bit unfair and just a tiny bit arrogant. Let them ride what they please and let them decide if it makes them happy or sad. If you see them on the trail offer them a go on your bike and see if they prefer it.

And please, don’t make any more comments along the lines of “achingly trendy waggon wheelers” while using the word Enduro in a serious context. My irony meter just exploded 😉

IME after riding suspension for a long time you only notice the positives but take it away and the negatives become apparent.

Having recently ridden fully rigid for the first time since 2001 I feel the exact opposite! Christ it’s bumpy!

Having recently ridden fully rigid for the first time since 2001 I feel the exact opposite! Christ it’s bumpy!

Ditto, but after a few rides I got back on the full sus and realised that I was now faster as I had relearned how to move the bike about to deal with the terrain rather than rely on suspension. Maybe not why everyone has a rigid bike but it works for me!

If a decent level Enduro or DH team take on the 650b+/29+/semi-fat concept and makes it work, betters their previous results, beats existing standard tyres etc then i’ll be first in line to hand over my money as i’ll know the concept has been proven and its not just beardy men wobbling around the woods on rigids shouting ‘fun’ at the tops of their voices.

but hardly anyone rides in a “decent level enduro team” most people just like going for a ride, infact I’d think the majority of mtb riders in the UK go out for a ride and don’t race DH and walk uphill like you think is the be all and end all. Most people want a bike for fun and not out and out performance and that includes fat/thin/all sizes.

i think you need to calm down and go and ride a bike, it’ll cheer you up and de-stress you, forget about racing the clock and just ride the thing

And please, don’t make any more comments along the lines of “achingly trendy waggon wheelers” while using the word Enduro in a serious context. My irony meter just exploded

at least the bearded wonders tend to wear quieter clothing that doesn’t scare the wild life

molgrips – Member

IME after riding suspension for a long time you only notice the positives but take it away and the negatives become apparent.

Having recently ridden fully rigid for the first time since 2001 I feel the exact opposite! Christ it’s bumpy![/quote]

That’s not the opposite of what I said… It is bumpy can’t argue with that my point is its not squishy where it doesn’t need to be 😉

First time riding rigid since the 90’s btw.

Are we going to see a 3″ tyre craze (that requires new frame, fork and wheels)?

I tried one on my buddy’s Stooge and have ordered my own, it was perfect for slithery sloppy Surrey Hills.

So I’m calling this as YES.

and its not just beardy men wobbling around the woods on rigids shouting ‘fun’ at the tops of their voices.

Busted.

while using the word Enduro in a serious context. My irony meter just exploded

Why not?…its the racing format i partake in and it has been used in this context on the continent for the last decade without any problems….it only seems to be the UK that has trouble with the name.

I agree that calling 140+mm full sussers ‘Enduro’ is ****, i much preferred the term all-mountain as that is really what these bikes are designed for….you ride an AM bike to race enduro, simple really.

I rode the Eastridge Enduro that Steve Parr put on in 2011, nobody referred to their bikes as Enduro back then and nobody wore flouro gubbins either….the magazines have brought much mirth and piss-taking to the scene by dressing like Moto-X dropouts in photos and using the term to describe everything from wheels to shoes which is frankly ridiculous.

They aren’t great for grip/speed at trail centers/enduro races/downhill races. To pretend otherwise is daft.

Ever ridden one? The grip is otherworldy! It’s pretty much the #1 thing anyone comments on when they borrow mine (that or #2 after commenting that it’s nowhere near as heavy as they imagined).

650b+ would be cool on a trailbike, not had 1st hand experience of the Salsa but I imagine that without the rigid frame a fatbike might not be so easy to accelerate which it needs to be to maintian speed.

That’s not the opposite of what I said

You said take suspension away and you notice the negatives of suspension. I noticed the positives of suspension. As in, I didn’t notice how much work it was doing until I did without it!

As soon as I can afford it the Salsa is having suspension forks.

What are we arguing about again?

@deviant you have anger issues. Did Santa miss your chimney?

Did Santa miss your chimney?

You win euphemism of the day!

I doubt you’ll see B+ winning high level Enduros
From what I’ve been told lately it’ll be the exact opposite.

Yeah, I can see 2.95’s the new 1.95 in a few years. I’ll never buy a fat bike and since trying them I’ve been dreaming about short travel with 3-3.5″ tyres. That Specialized up above looks to have a braw size of tyre and rim on it. So much so that I wouldn’t rule that combo out of winning a WC DH. That has surely got to have a heap of benefits. It makes stuff around 2.5″ look useless for just about everything MTB.

One thing I’ve noticed with my 3″ Chronicle vs the 2.35″ Hans Damps (so Enduro!) is the Chronicle is more grippy and less draggy. If that’s not what you want in a tyre, then what do you want?

Does volume trump knobbles?

mattjg – Member

If that’s not what you want in a tyre, then what do you want?

Is it as fast wearing and cloggy as a Hans Dampf? Skwabbly set quite a high bar with that, I doubt Maxxis have the technology to produce something so flawed and sell it for so much.

man, mud to Hans Dampt = **** to blanket

Chronicle’s OK in the mud, fun actually

uhoh I used the f word

Hmmmm. Like some of the other posters here I am bemused by those who get worked up about who rides what and why. I have a fatbike. I only bought a pugsley after I tried one and enjoyed it on a whole range of surfaces and trails.

I don’t ride it to look cool. I never look cool. I don’t ride it to attract attention – usually nobody is looking anyway.

I sometimes ride with friends on their normal full sus bikes. It climbs faster than most. It is great downhill until it gets very rocky. I bought it in Feb 2014 and have done about 2500 miles on it so far. Commuting to work along the beach, bikepacking and touring round wales and Scotland and riding trail centres. It isn’t ideal for all the riding I have used it for but it is always a good ride. It even makes forest roads good fun at 45mph.

My point is…. Why get so cross and worked up here about what people do on their bikes. Id love to try a range of wheel and tyre sizes. And I’d like to own a load of different bikes with different characteristics. all the carping and trolling make a useful discussion get cluttered up its hard to see the wood for the trees.

I guess I could just go elsewhere…. But there is a load of good stuff here I’d miss. I

Let people ride what they want and try out stuff that you may well enjoy one day.

mattjg – Member

@deviant you have anger issues. Did Santa miss your chimney?

No, he knew which one it was! 😆

Cornering grip is immense, you’ll be washing out on your skinny tyres long before a fatty loses grip. But your rolling resistance will be much lower, like a maclaren v red bull kinda thing

Still, I expect you’ve extensively ridden both all types of tyres & know this already

I rode enough 2.7 Maxxis tyres to know that I never needed that width.

Thinner tyres cut through the mud down to the bedrock on DH tracks, balloon like tyres combined with the low weight of mountainbikes makes the tyres float over the mud, lowering rolling resistance – great for XC rides over boggy terrain. Not so great on high speed flat corners etc.

For enduro and downhill they also have a massive issue with weight, yes there are lightish fatty tyres but now imagine the weight of a dual ply fatty or even schwalbes 1.5 ply.

Well brake dive, and the way your body positioning/weight distribution has a drastic effect on the performance of the suspension.
IME after riding suspension for a long time you only notice the positives but take it away and the negatives become apparent.

And you will get those exact same effects with balloon like tyres, except they are undamped.

I’d say its very much the latter – keyboard warrior springs to mind…

Have you ever run your tyre at 20 psi for a laugh? If schwalbes system allows you to run that low a psi as reviewers have said, without much added tyre roll it will be great.

Have you ever run your tyre at 20 psi for a laugh? If shchwalbes system allows you to run that low a psi as reviewers have said, without much added tyre roll it will be great

Yes, I have. But have you ridden the Procore system? Have you ridden 29+ or 650b+? If not then how can you possibly say one is better than the other?

Yes, I have. But have you ridden the Procore system? Have you ridden 29+ or 650b+? If not then how can you possibly say one is better than the other?

If you want to be a dick about it then, yes. I’ve ridden a 29 fatty a number of times. And I’ve ridden plenty of 2.7 inch tyres and have plenty of experience of knowing what tyres to pick from following my brother (who beat Danny Hart a few times in junior/youth) at the races.

Fat bikes are fun and particularly great at some types of riding, some people think they are the future for mountain biking though. They aren’t, although I guess they might be if the fashion takes over – to the detriment of the sport.

If you want to be a dick about it

You’ve ridden a 29er fatty? As in a 29er fat bike?

I don’t want to be a dick about it – I just don’t see how you can recommend something you’ve not tried yet berate something else having also had no experience of it. I’ve not tried either, I’d like to just to see if its any better/more fun.

And I beat Danny Hart twice, but he doesn’t like to talk about it..

29+ rigid or whatever. 3 inch tyres.

I’m not berating them, I think they are hilarious fun. I just don’t think massive tyres are suited to being the next “norm”. Different tools for different jobs etc, some of you are getting very defensive.

I want one for winter XC riding actually, don’t really have the room or the money though right now.

Yeah. I might try one for mud if I had the cash. But then I’d buy quite a few different bikes if I had the cash.

As far as I am aware I have never beaten Danny Hart and neither has my brother.

Snap Molgrips, if I had the cash it would be

– BMX
– 24 Inch DJ bike
– 26 inch Hardcore Hardtail
– 29 XC Bike
– 29+ Bike
– 120mm slack 27.5 full suss
– 120mm FS 29er
– 160mm 27.5 enduro gnarpoon
– 180mm Park bike
– DH bike
– Carbon Road bike
– Titanium Road Bike
– Belt drive Fixie
– Touring bike
– Recumbent for the lolz

Lots of lovely lovely bikes for different uses.

Would a 29er fatty be 36″? My fat tyres are 26″ so not sure how they get called a “fad” they are practically obsolete these days

180mm Parkbike

Would that work on the slide as well as the swings?