Fat Bike News

Seems like everyone is at it now, Specialized, Trek, even Scott, but all stuck at 4″ tyres. Surly bring out a trail specific 5″ tyre bike, now Salsa are too, to go alongside the 4″ tyre FS. Not to mention the Rohloff XL now coming in 170 for the 4″ crowd, will it be modified again for these 190(197) wide frames?

The most interesting thing to me tho, tyre prices coming down. ISON have just dropped RRP on Surly Tires, just need the rest to drop now…

I read that some of the big tyre manufacturers were launching fat tyres this autumn so I suspect this is anticipating that.

I dont expect they will get On-One/VeeRubber cheap, Maxxis are not exactly noted for being cheap anymore in normal tyre formats. Hopefully Specialized will make some more affordable versions tho.

The specialized fatboy is 190mm/5″ for a start – but seriously, all the 5″ fatties I’ve ridden haev felt too squared off to me to be fun and compromised too much on the chainline, 4″ seems about right. There’s some interesting stuff coming out at the moment on the cheaper end like the halo tundra rims at £60 retail which are all significantly cheaper than surly for no appreciable difference in quality (I just build up a pair for my beargrease)
I’d really like to see husker du’s come down in price though

Hadnt realised the Fatboy was 5″, not really looked at them tbh.

I have the Halo rims, seem pretty good but i dont have any experience of others for comparison. Just need some better tyres than the Floaters ive got now. Thinking even 27tpi surly will be better after a few rides on the Floaters.

Where did you see the info on the Rholoff XL? Might affect my fat bike frame choice…

http://www.rohloff.de/en/news/news_rss/news_in_detail/news/detail/News/170mm-speedhub-for-fatbikes/index.html

I’m quite excited about the 960g Schwalbes that are coming…

GB

Stato – what don’t you like about the Floaters? I’v been running mine for a year and a half and really like them. Especially at 1/2 the price of the 120 tpi Surly tires…

The price drop could be because of the £ to $ rate at the moment.

And I guess it’s so you buy them from the UK and not from the states.

Joe – (apart from the fact i struggle to get them to seat) i find they break away unpredictably on significant cambers and the front drifts wide on sand. Ive since read others say similar things. Basically i feel they are eqivalent to a Panaracer Fire XC, a tyre thats fine but really you can do better.

http://www.bikerumor.com/2014/07/23/new-schwalbe-jumbo-jim-fat-bike-tire-rolls-large-treads-lightly/%5B/url%5D

Schwalbe Jumbo Jim – just over 1kg. *joins queue*

..combined with Lite Skin sidewalls. The latter is found more on their cyclocross and road tires and is a thinner, more supple sidewall used to save weight and offer a more compliant ride.

Grab a spare when you buy them eh )

They weigh about the same as the on-one fat inner tubes so carrying a spare one in a pack might not be too bad 😉

So far there is still nothing to beat the Nates for proper all-round grip. We’ll give the JJ’s a go though soon as we get them. Its all good.

^ yes there is, 4.8 surly bud.

Considering that even schwalbe snakeskins puncture if you use a sharp tone of voice near them, it’ll be a chuffing miracle if those Jumbos work on anything but snow or, maybe really well smoothed sand. But you never know.

Schwalbe are an interesting one though, they’ve put a lot of work into slow rebounding rubber, like Kenda before them… That seems like a really good idea for a fat tyre, no?

It’s certainly going to be problematic getting a fat, low pressure tyre to work nicely with suspension forks. Schmaltz might be on to a winner if they can get there first.

Currently using a 29×1.9/2.2″ tube on my 26″ fat tyre, I’ve never used a proper fat inner-tube. Looking forward to seeing how those schwalbes turn out!?,

Curious to see how spesh and bontrager are going to price their fat bike tyres. Tempted by Bud/Nate combo but waiting to see what comes out in the next few months.