[BroJangles]

Howdy fellow afficionados of the fat bike tribe,

Looking for some slight guidance on enhancing the winter experience. Curious to know where my effort$ my be best spent to maximize float on my current rig.

I've been running 26" x 65mm hoops * x 4" studded tires on my Vassago Verfetten for a few seasons w/ mostly success, unless it gets a bit deep.

I got 27.5 curious & am working on a 65mm set of hoops which I'd run a 4" in the rear (due to the clearance & this frame being designed for 26" tires). Back in the day I used to rally a 4.8 up front & a 4.2 in the back & it was brilliant.

What I'm curious about is:
Would running a 4.5" tire on a 65mm rim provide more float than a 4" tire on an 80mm rim? Or am I splitting hairs?
The other opt is to just get after the 4.5x80mm combo & call it good - (albeit a few more moving parts / logistics to hustle).

Appreciate the wisdom and assistance with first world issues.

Thx

 

[nOOky]

Being somewhat of a noob myself, but having two bikes, one with 26" and one with 27.5" and 8 sets of different tires in my basement, I think I can comment. I'd chose the last option, 80mm rims and 4.5/4.6 tires. Bear in mind that you want to maximize the width of the tire as big as you can fit between the stays I think, and remember that it's even wider contacting the snow. Tire pressure is probably the biggest adjustment after you go with the biggest tire volume you can for more float. After that of course is tread pattern and TPI etc., but I think as wide a tire on as wide a rim will give you the best result in float.

AFAIK 27.5 would give you a larger contact patch because of the added diameter, tire width being the same as a 26", but you can't use those because of your frame.

I could be totally wrong also lol but I find that lowering the pressure from 7 psi to 3 makes a world of difference, it's just if going 4 mph through deep snow, and sweating like crazy is your goal.

 

[Calsun]

It depends as the actual profile of tires with the same width can be relatively flat or quite rounded. For float with vehicles a tire that has a rounded edge works better in snow as it does not cut down into the surface. I would expect the same with bike tires.

 

[mikesee]

For float with vehicles a tire that has a rounded edge works better in snow as it does not cut down into the surface. I would expect the same with bike tires.

Rounded edge fatbike tires tend to squirt sideways relative to squared off tires.

If we had four of them, that would happen less and matter less. But with only two, squirting means dabbing or falling, neither of which are helping to get you down the trail.