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I took my chubby Solaris out for an "I need a fatbike" ride yesterday. You know the sort of thing; where you pick a route that you know your bike will struggle on, so that you can justify buying a new bike 🙂
It turned out pretty much perfectly. Just the right amount and consistency of snow so that I could just make progress on my 2.8" tyres, but spent most of the ride wishing for a bit more float. OK, so that probably only happens a few days a year. Most the time the snow is either light enough that the 2.8s cope just fine or heavy enough that you wouldn't make progress on anything. Still, job done 🙂
Anyway, on the outward leg I had my normal tyre pressures (11 psi front and 13 rear), but on the way back (since it was all snow and no lumpy bits) I dropped these right down to 6 psi front and 8 rear.
Since contact patch area is just a function of weight and tyre pressure and I wasn't bottoming out the tyres, I wonder if there is actually any difference between a plus and a "proper" fat bike if they are running at the same tyre pressure. OK, I know a proper fatbike lets you get away with these low pressures on rougher ground, but on this soft snow would it actually make any difference. I know the shape of the contact patch is different, but surely float just depends on the area, which should be the same.
Right, for anybody who read all that rubbish, here is a gratuitous picture as "reward".
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Looks like a great day regardless of PSI. I was playing in the mud!
It was a slog out and a slog back on a featureless forest track, but yes, it was strangely enjoyable 🙂
The bigger the tyre the lower the pressure (for a given rider weight and trail type) - simple as that really
If you went to 11 PSI on the the rough stuff on your fake fat bike...a real one would be about 5 PSI
If you went to 6 on snow... then that would be 2 or 3 on a fat bike
You still [i]need[/i] a fatbike, however much you try and fight it 😉
As above you really do need to get one
We should all have one
I have both 29+ and fatbike - whilst plus offers distinct advantages over regular tyres, it certainly doesn't give you the ride-anywhere benefits of full-fat. Having just returned from the arctic where even at <3psi and 5" tyres didn't work at times in fresh snow and the guys running 4" tyres were completely stuffed. If you're only riding on 1" of snow over hardpack it probably won't make much difference, but once you get into deep, soft conditions with a full-laden then wider tyres really make a difference. Even when you're pushing, the bigger tyres don't plough such a deep furrow either.
You still need a fatbike, however much you try and fight it
You may be right, but I'm not going down without a fight 🙂
The bigger the tyre the lower the pressure (for a given rider weight and trail type) - simple as that reallyIf you went to 6 on snow... then that would be 2 or 3 on a fat bike
I guess I'd not considered the possibility of going even lower, but it makes sense. Dropping from 11 to 6psi almost doubles the area of the contact patch. Dropping to 3 would presumably double it again, which can't be a bad thing on snow.
I guess I'm just not sure how good an approximation my chubby bike at 6psi was to a proper fatbike at the same pressure. The experience on tarmac was certainly interesting! Not the self-steer, which I was looking out for and wasn't that bad, but the way the front wanted to tuck under in corners!