fat tires on mountain bikes?

Question

i saw a bike the other day on the trails & it had these really fat tires do you need special rims for these tires? how do they ride? i mostly use this bike for mountain biking & very little for street as i use it to go to work 2 blocks away,

Answer 1

Wider tires have more volume and thus can be run with less pressure, giving you a more comfortable ride and more grip over rough terrain.
A wider rim will make your tire body bigger = more volume, but that is only recommended with tires from 2.2in. If you run narrow tires on a wide rim, chances of your tire coming off the rim while riding are up, which you don't want to happen

So if you are only cycling to work, I recommend standard width rim with 2.0 - 2.2 in tires. run those at a pressure of 1.8 to 2.4 bar, depending on how much you weigh.

Answer 2

The simple answer to this is yes. If you want 2.35, no problem, go out and buy yourself a set. However, you might want to consider what you actualy want the tyre to do. The philosophy behind a fat tyre is that it wil form a larger imprint and is less likely to sink. However, since it sits on top of a muddy surface, it is more likely to slip. Fatter tyres are useful if you want to go over rocky terain, since they absorb a lot of the harshness and give a smoother ride. I tend to use 1.8s in the winter, for a slightly different reason. The idea behind a thinner tyre is that your wheel will cut through the mud and get to the decent grippy stuff underneath. You also have less roling resistance on a thinner tyre. I use Panaracer Fire XC,s but the Cinder is rated quite well. The good thing about the Fire XC is that you can pick up the basic tyre for £20 for the pair (Kevlar or folding costs considerably more). This means that you can try out the thinner size and see not lose money if you don't get on with it. Luck

Answer 3

it depends how fat you want to go , I ride on my trail bike 26X2.4 tires and on my full on DH bike 26X3.0..a wider rim is a help for mounting your tire and a wider rim helps against less flats.
but the wider tires aren't something you'd want to ride to work, wide tires are heavy and your daily trip to work will wear down your treads faster the just trail use
you don't need a wider rim to run wider tires but it is a help

Answer 4

There's a bike from Surly that's called Pugsley, it has like 4.0" (or nearly that) wide tires. They use a different rim, rigid fork and the frame is special for that. I don't think you can adapt any bike for that.

Answer 5

you can run wide tires up to a point and then youll need to change rims i can run mine up to about 2.35 and then it gets really tough to get the tire on. id go as fat as u can go.

Answer 6

big tires have great grip, but you don't necessarily need them

Answer 7

it sounds like they are only used for grip on rough terraine!!