How fat can I get?

bompington

I spend most of my off-road life on mud, sand and snow: a while back I asked for advice on these hallowed forums about mud tyres - and everyone reinforced the traditional wisdom about how you need narrow tyres to cut through the mud, so I got those and have spent the last couple of years swearing under my breath (I'm very polite and don't want to upset the dog) as I carve deep furrows through the landscape. Not to mention skidding off tree routes in all kinds of unpleasant directions.
So I'm thinking of getting fatter... it may work out well for the kind of riding I tend to do, and I just fancy it somehow - but I'm a proper cheapskate, so I'm not planning on buying a fat bike: I just want to know how fat you can feasibly get on bog standard 26" rims? And, given that my forks are a bit shot, would it be worth getting new ones - rigid even?

nicklouse

it all comes down to frame and fork clearance.

but I would not.

paul.skibum

Frame clearance is going to depend on the bike - take a look at what you already have and work out how much additional space there is but not all 2.5 tyres are the same so one might fit, one might not. Fork wise - most suspension forks would be ok with a 2.5, rigid forks maybe not.

I'd get a fat bike if you want a fat bike or put up with the fact that bikes skid on tree roots and learn to ride with that in mind?

cooldad

Or just get normal sized decent tyres. Everything slides on wet roots.

paul.skibum

cooldad wrote:

Or just get normal sized decent tyres. Everything slides on wet roots.

What I said innit?

OP - if you are a cheapskate, you wont like the price of decent tyres which means you probably have sh*t ones on your bike which is why you have no grip? What bike? What tyres?

cooldad

paul.skibum wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Or just get normal sized decent tyres. Everything slides on wet roots.

What I said innit?

OP - if you are a cheapskate, you wont like the price of decent tyres which means you probably have sh*t ones on your bike which is why you have no grip? What bike? What tyres?

It needed repeating. Roots are evil.

shindig

Or, buy a fatbike. I got one earlier this year and it's absolutely great fun. 4" tyres are awesome.

cooldad

shindig wrote:

Or, buy a fatbike. I got one earlier this year and it's absolutely great fun. 4" tyres are awesome.

Do try and keep up with the rest of the class.

bompington wrote:

I'm a proper cheapskate, so I'm not planning on buying a fat bike

Ferrals

And there was I thinking this thread as going to be about a home grown super size me!

aren't there charts which tell you how wide a tyre you can put on a given rim width (ignoring clearance) so if you measure your rim width you should be able to work out how wide you can go?

bompington

Ferrals wrote:

And there was I thinking this thread as going to be about a home grown super size me!

aren't there charts which tell you how wide a tyre you can put on a given rim width (ignoring clearance) so if you measure your rim width you should be able to work out how wide you can go?

Yeah, but I'm not just ignorant and stingy, I'm quite lazy too, hence why I ask the question here rather than try and find out for myself ;-)

The Rookie

What tyres do you have on there right now? Make, model, any extra stuff and width?

bompington

The Rookie wrote:

What tyres do you have on there right now? Make, model, any extra stuff and width?

Make - Michelin
Model - Country Mud
Width - 2"
Any extra stuff - a lot of mud.

At a quick glance the clearance between the current tyres and the fork is somewhere between ½" and ¾" all round - but as mentioned, I'm thinking of replacing the fork anyway.

The Rookie

Michelin tyres are rubbish on wet roots and rocks.

Get decent tyres of circa 2-2.25" and you'll have as much grip as you'll ever get.