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I routinely see a few of those really fat tire bikers around here summer to winter. They usually appear to be crawling along, sweat soaked and exhausted. However, there are also lots of rough, boggy, soft surface areas where those tires would make sense. Winter here can last almost 6 months. I can understand why someone here might want that sort of bike, but unless they're deliberately trying to make every ride a higher intensity workout, they seem a ridiculous deliberate choice for hard surface roads. Talk about inefficient! I'll bet someone who buys a fat tire bike because it's the newest thing or lends the impression they really go out in the boonies with it doesn't end up riding it very often.
Last edited by Parnassia; 06-29-2022 at 03:20 PM..
Buy a bike that fits you. Bike fit is much more important than how wide a tire a bike is equipped with. Change the tires as necessary (if you don't know how to change a tire, you need to learn anyway). Tires come in all sorts of widths. If you find that you don't like the tires that came with the bike, just switch them out.
If I were in your situation, I would get a set of snow tires, and a set of touring tires. Touring tires are wider than racing tires, but narrower than a mountain bike tire. Something like a Schwalbe Marathon Plus road tire.
Can't help with a snow tire suggestion - it just doesn't snow enough where I live to make it worthwhile.
Some say that a fat tire helps w/comfort as they absorb sharp impacts better than a narrow tire, and certainly there is some truth to that. However, a bike that is set up properly will have more to do with comfort than will a fat tire.
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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I have 20"x3" tires on level2 ebike @70#, stepthru. But slower than and more effort than DS's 700x25 level2 ebike @40#, hybrid straight handbar. Same estimated range and although my ebike has more watt-hours and voltage.
I found that if you want fast bike, go skinny and aluminum. In my younger days, my preferred, all round, was chrom-alloy steel and 1.25 tires, and a close runner-up was hydroformed aluminum frame and 1-1.25 tires. I lived in blackberry and goat thorn country and thinner tires are a pain.
I am too old now and need assisted power, and will suffer with the fat tires. I think I will increase tire pressure to a bit over recommended. Seat suspension, Seat downtube has a shock and front forks are shock. Nice soft ride on pavement. Too nice. Next year I think I will switch to road tires, No need for knobby tires on hard surfaces.
YBMV
If most of the year there is no snow, I'm not so sure I would buy fat tire bike.... Even going from a knobby normal tire sized mountain bike to a skinny tire road bike there is a significant difference. When my mountain bike was my one and only bike, I switched to properly sized tires designed for the pavement when its primary use turned to commuting...
I ride a regular mountain bike with regular moderate tread 2" trail tires on paved roads in snow when I get stranded in northern winters. In other words, nothing special at all. It works fine if you are a regular rider with good balance. It only gets tricky if there's more than a couple inches of snow (so wait until they plow) or if there is ice under the snow (avoid). I've ridden hundred of miles per winter that way and rarely fall. Being cold out I usually do much shorter rides than usual. They take longer and take more energy so I usually only ride about 5-8 miles.
Among my stable, I had a carbon fat bike. Notice I said "had". The amount of effort required to move a fat bike is vastly greater than a bike with narrower tires. It was a nice bike, but I sold it last year as I rarely used it.
The only way I'd consider purchasing another fat bike is if it has electric assist. But then, batteries for e-bikes don't do so well in cold temperatures.
I have a fat bike that I use primarily for snow riding, but I do ride on the street to get to the trails. If you put too much air in the tires they will feel squirrelly on pavement, too little will be a lot of work to pedal. But if you're looking for an extra workout it may be your ticket. They are typically heavier than traditional bikes too. The less you spend the more they weight.
For your situation I'd look at a hybrid or a hardtail mountain bike.
No more than 5 miles round trip, and usually not in snow = ordinary mountain bike with two sets of wheels that can be switched out as needed. Skinner, mild tread tires on one set and fatter tires with tread designed for use in soft snow on the other set.
The extra set of wheels will add cost, but not as much as buying a snow-specific superfat-wheeled bike. You might be able to buy one set of wheels used.
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