I'll take the opposite argument, though you partly made it yourself: For fatter tires to work well, the air pressure is *extremely* critical, and even minute differences make a huge difference. I adjust for every ride but, to me, that's still less hassle than dealing with negative and positive air pressure, rebound settings, lockout valving and maintenance on a suspension fork though.
But equally important are geometry, tire selection, and tire-to-rim-width selection! I have a half dozen or more mountain bikes in the garage, and the ONLY one i ever want to ride on any kind of technical or off road trail these days is my Jones with a 3" rear tire and a 4.8" front tire. There's nothing weird about the handling at all, on soft surfaces. It took me trying two front rims, three rear tires and four front tires to find the combination that worked perfectly though. Some front tires had the worst self-steer characteristics that I've ever felt, and some just weren't big enough volume. I think the low trail fork, compensating for the added pneumatic trail of the fat tire, is a big difference. Similar differences with rolling resistance. Still, I do understand your experience because I have another full fat bike that I'm forced to ride 7 months a year. I kind of hate it actually, but it gets me outside in the winter. No fat tire is great on pavement, but that's not an issue where I live. On the other hand - and this may again be a function of my trails and my weight, but 2.8" @ 14psi seems to be the magic numbers below which traction, comfort and pinch flats all suffer. I would NEVER, ever again buy a mountain bike that didn't give me the option of at least 3". (Rivendell excepted - but that's a bit different and I'm sort of anticipating an all-rounder that i'm unlikely to abuse the same way as another mountain bike.) Meanwhile the other bikes I have my eye on and am most likes to actually buy are a Kona Wozo for a hardtail and a Lenz Fattilac for a full-suspension. Other than XC speed - which I care nothing about - there's just zero advantage to a tire less than 2.8" for me and for my kind of riding. (which i should point out again is NOT reckless, trail-shredding, bro-bra stuff.) On Monday, June 18, 2018 at 11:07:40 AM UTC-6, Ryan M. wrote: > > You aren't specifically asking about dedicated mtb fatbikes, but I've > ridden a fat bike in snow, sand, and dirt and can say that the rolling > resistance is enough to take notice; the plus size (3" is still an issue > but not as bad). I honestly did not like it, and did not like the way the > bike decided to turn when it dang well wanted. I really didn't like riding > the fat bike on twisty single track as the bike just behaved weirdly and it > was something I was not used to. It seemed to just not want to turn when I > wanted it to and then moments later it would. Odd. Plus, exact tire > pressure was hugely important. The bikes definitely have their following > though, but they aren't for me. > > On my mtbs I usually run 2.3 or 2.4 (29'ers) on the fronts and 2.2s on the > rear and the combination works great on the single track I ride and the > gravel roads around me. > > On Saturday, June 16, 2018 at 1:53:28 PM UTC-5, Patrick Moore wrote: > >> My personal suggestion for any new Rivendell mountain bike is that it >> accommodate 3" wide 650B tires, or at least, 3" wide 26" (559) tires. Or, >> that it be built for 65 mm 700C tires. Fat and tall really does make a >> difference on soft surfaces, and on high-frequency, low-amplitude bumps (at >> least, if you keep the tire at appropriately low pressures). 2 inches just >> isn't fat enough. >> >> Aside: Curious: has anyone here had the opportunity to personally compare >> 584 X 70 with 622 X 60 in sand? >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
