Best Brand Of Fat Tires?

[MilanMaldiniFan]

I'm new to the e bike world. I currently have a fat tire e bike. I was wondering what is the top brand for fat tire e bikes? The tires that came with my bike work great, just thinking once I wear these things out should I try and deck out my bike even more than it is. I ride on mostly city terrain, but a lot of hills. I live in San Francisco so the weather is usually dry.

 

[m@Robertson]

No such thing as a top brand. There are good tires from reputable brands. Like the Maxxis Minion fatties, but those are not for any kind of city use. There are the various Vee fat tires, and they are good, but they wear fast. The Speedster is a good smooth street roller albeit a bit small. Surly Edna is a fast rolling knobbies made for them by Innova that are really tough and good for mixed pavement and gravel use. Same goes for the Chaoyang Big Daddy and its many clones. But quality is not consistent. The Origin8 Supercell is an excellent street tire so long as you buy the 30 tpi version and keep it pumped up to max psi, or it self-steers. Arisun Big Smoothy is a good street tire. Arisun is the Chaoyang North American brand label. And BTW The Origin8 tire is also made by Chaoyang for Origin8. Go look at the Chaoyang Sandstorm. Same tire different label.

Then there's the Duro tires... And Schwalbes but they are dirt only.

See where I'm going here? There is no best. Only alternatives each with plusses and minuses, and many of them are actually made by the same factory.

 

[MilanMaldiniFan]

No such thing as a top brand. There are good tires from reputable brands. Like the Maxxis Minion fatties, but those are not for any kind of city use. There are the various Vee fat tires, and they are good, but they wear fast. The Speedster is a good smooth street roller albeit a bit small. Surly Edna is a fast rolling knobbies made for them by Innova that are really tough and good for mixed pavement and gravel use. Same goes for the Chaoyang Big Daddy and its many clones. But quality is not consistent. The Origin8 Supercell is an excellent street tire so long as you buy the 30 tpi version and keep it pumped up to max psi, or it self-steers. Arisun Big Smoothy is a good street tire. Arisun is the Chaoyang North American brand label. And BTW The Origin8 tire is also made by Chaoyang for Origin8. Go look at the Chaoyang Sandstorm. Same tire different label.

Then there's the Duro tires... And Schwalbes but they are dirt only.

See where I'm going here? There is no best. Only alternatives each with plusses and minuses, and many of them are actually made by the same factory.

Makes sense, thank you. That's helpful.

 

[Lectric Life Style]

Thank you.

 

[hsdrggr]

I'm new to the e bike world. I currently have a fat tire e bike. I was wondering what is the top brand for fat tire e bikes? The tires that came with my bike work great, just thinking once I wear these things out should I try and deck out my bike even more than it is. I ride on mostly city terrain, but a lot of hills. I live in San Francisco so the weather is usually dry.

I’m looking at going to the CST Big Boat 26x4 tires on my fat tire bike for the same application. Plus I’ll do some hard pack beach riding. Been looking for a while and that’s what I’m gonna try first. Aliexpress only sells them with tan sidewalls. But CST USA sells them with black sidewalls. 60TPI, 30PSI, 1300g. Per CST: “The CST Big Boat Tire features a built-in puncture resistant Aramid layer to hold up to the demands of e-bikes. The tire has a smoother tread designed to be fast rolling on pavement.”

 

[m@Robertson]

Something I didn't mention in the post above: If I had to buy tires for a street bike and I was looking for a smooth-ish but tough street tread, I'd do the 30 tpi Supercells. I still have one on the back of my fat commuter. You can lean hard into corners at speed and they stick. Dead silent. I have used them in the rain and still have all my teeth. But of course I'm careful when I do that.

Also... Something I have decided to avoid is 4.0" tires on 80mm fat rims. Fat tires in the 4.5"+ range look like fat bike tires. 4.0" tires make the bike look like a pretend-motorcycle. I've got 4.0's on right now and I've noticed a distinct difference in perception. Plus if you have a fat bike... embrace the horror and go fat. Take advantage of the ability. Nimbleness on city streets is not needed like it is on a trail bike. 4.8" tires at 15 psi can soak up some nasty potholes at speed and are still plenty firm.

 

[LennyK]

Great Information - THANKS! -

 

[biknut]

2 good brands of premium bicycle tires are Kenda, and Maxxis.

 

[LennyK]

Do You Have Any Info - Reviews Of The INNOVA Tire - Stock On Aventure.2

 

[Smaug]

I don't have a lot of experience, but two brands I've found very good are Schwalbe and Continental. (not sure if Continental makes fat tires, but I have moped-grade Continentals on my Aventon Level.2.

I was not that impressed with Chao Yang; I had Chao Yang fatties on my heybike, and the carcasses were quite thin. I was always worried about punctures until I gooed them up. The trick I guess is giving them strong enough carcasses to be puncture-resistant without making them weigh more than they already do inherently.

 

[addertooth]

Do You Have Any Info - Reviews Of The INNOVA Tire - Stock On Aventure.2

I just finished installing some Innova Hybrid tires with the tan-colored sidewall (Camal?).
They are a huge step up from the Chao Yang knobby tires which came with the bike.
The sidewall on the old Chao Yang was barely thicker than the innertube and a layer of cloth.
The sidewall on these new tires is easilly 3 times thicker, and more substantial.
Most of my riding is street and asphalt trail use.
The advertisement said they were 35 PSI tires, but actual writing on the tire stated 30 PSI maximum.
I am running them at 25 PSI.
The rolling resistance is very low, and the bike now coasts much longer than before.
The shipper stuffed two tires in an undersized box, which resulted in the wire in the bead being deformed.
I had to straighten out the bead wire, so the tires would properly install and mate to the rims.
With the higher pressure, the tires don't deform in harder corners, which makes the bike feel less "squirmy" when cornering.
These tires took no notable break in, they Don't self-steer. Grip is much better on the street than the knobby tires (no surprise there).
They are very quiet, and I don't miss the roar of the Knobby tires.

 

[DieselTech]

I just finished installing some Innova Hybrid tires with the tan-colored sidewall (Camal?).
They are a huge step up from the Chao Yang knobby tires which came with the bike.
Most of my riding is street and asphalt trail use.
The advertisement said they were 35 PSI tires, but actual writing on the tire stated 30 PSI maximum.
I am running them at 25 PSI.
The rolling resistance is very low, and the bike now coasts much longer than before.
The shipper stuffed two tires in an undersized box, which resulted in the wire in the bead being deformed.
I had to straighten out the bead wire, so the tires would properly install and mate to the rims.
With the higher pressure, the tires don't deform in harder corners, which makes the bike feel less "squirmy" when cornering.
These tires took no notable break in, they Don't self-steer. Grip is much better on the street than the knobby tires (no surprise there).
They are very quiet, and I don't miss the roar of the Knobby tires.

View attachment 12301View attachment 12302

Them tire look right on that bike. Looks good. Nice shoes!

 

[m@Robertson]

I just finished installing some Innova Hybrid tires with the tan-colored sidewall (Camal?).

Do they say "Made by Innova" anywhere on the sidewall? I ask because I have seen these tires with several different labels on them and have been very curious to try them. U have a friend who needs some smaller fat tires on his bike to be able to get on the thing and these were at the top of my list, in a blackwall under the HEB brand name.

Innova does OEM a lot of tires, and I've had nothing but great experience with tires that came out of their factory, regardless of the brand name.

Absent the 'Made By' statement, if it says 'made in Thailand' anywhere, that would be a sign its from an Innova factory as the ones I have seen all came from there.

 

[addertooth]

Do they say "Made by Innova" anywhere on the sidewall? I ask because I have seen these tires with several different labels on them and have been very curious to try them. U have a friend who needs some smaller fat tires on his bike to be able to get on the thing and these were at the top of my list, in a blackwall under the HEB brand name.

Innova does OEM a lot of tires, and I've had nothing but great experience with tires that came out of their factory, regardless of the brand name.

Absent the 'Made By' statement, if it says 'made in Thailand' anywhere, that would be a sign its from an Innova factory as the ones I have seen all came from there.

Yes, they are clearly labelled at Innova on the sidewalls.
They were purchased from "Fat Tire House" on eBay.
These tires fit more snuggly than the tires which were removed from the bike, a better fit in my opinion. They describe these tires as "thick", and the sidewalls are about 3 times thicker than the very thin factory Chao Yang tires. There is more rubber on the surface where the tires meet the road as well, as there are smaller gaps between the "tread pattern". They are available in black wall and tan wall. I think I even saw some whitewall versions somewhere.

 

[m@Robertson]

Yeah my Innovas have had very thick sidewalls. They were branded 'Surly' but tiny letters on the side said 'Made by Innova'

My Chaoyangs have been great with one exception, where I had a malformed tire carcass that put a jig in the tire's rotation that mimicked a rim out of whack, but it was the tire. Still, the Big Daddys and their thin carcass were fine for street use where the thin sidewall hurts nothing and keeps weight down. And they lasted typically 5-6000 miles so the tread was plenty durable.. The Innovas on the other hand were pure off road tires and on trails, a beefy sidewall makes a lot more sense from a functionality standpoint.

 

[addertooth]

It has taken some "adaptation" to get used to fat tires. The majority of the thousands of miles I have on bikes were on very narrow 700C 100+ PSI sew-up tires (Continental). To me, my original fat tires felt like I was wallowing through the corners. It lacked the sure-footed feel I was accustomed to. It made me a bit more timid to even vaguely approach the limits of traction.

These tires are a marked improvement, but nothing will ever match those old sew-up tires. I would gladly dive into a corner at 30 plus MPH at a 45 degree angle on those. Or, at least after I started glueing them on the rim myself. My first set peeled off the rim at my first race. I mistakenly thought a bike shop would do a better job than a novice. Some things are handled with more care, by the person who rides the bike.

 

[m@Robertson]

It has taken some "adaptation" to get used to fat tires. The majority of the thousands of miles I have on bikes were on very narrow 700C 100+ PSI sew-up tires (Continental). To me, my original fat tires felt like I was wallowing through the corners. It lacked the sure-footed feel I was accustomed to. It made me a bit more timid to even vaguely approach the limits of traction.

These tires are a marked improvement, but nothing will ever match those old sew-up tires. I would gladly dive into a corner at 30 plus MPH at a 45 degree angle on those. Or, at least after I started glueing them on the rim myself. My first set peeled off the rim at my first race. I mistakenly thought a bike shop would do a better job than a novice. Some things are handled with more care, by the person who rides the bike.

I came into cycling right at the time clinchers were more or less fully replacing sew-ups on quality bikes. What became my go-to bike for many years... I chose Mavic G40's instead of the GP4's that were pretty much required on Serious Bicycles of the time. My tires of choice were the Avocet slicks if you can remember back that far. Absolutely insane grip and yeah you could do a 45-degree angle on wet pavement no less. Damn shame that manufacturer is gone now as I don't think there is a modern slick tire that can equal their grip.

I recently took that road bike out of mothballs and put new tires on it. Not the 20C tires I had on when I weighed 135 lbs, but the 28C's that were the biggest I could fit in the rear triangle .

My thinking on fat tires came around from thinking hard on what I actually needed on pavement commuting. Those sharp angles and nimble handling just weren't necessary, but stability at speed over obstacles (potholes, RR tracks) was.

 

[addertooth]

Yep, back when I was racing it was Mavic GP4s and Continental Sew-Up tires. Aero rims appeared on the scene too. Look (lock in) pedals made a huge splash in that time frame too. Performance clinchers were just beginning to appear on the scene when I got out of racing. We had two fatalities that season. One had a brake failure on a mountain race, nailed the guardrail at 50 plus on a very long downhill run and fell to his death below. The second got nudged out of the pack into the gravel on the side of the road and went head-first into a telephone pole. The impact split his helmet into two pieces.

Today I would be lucky to get a pedal bike up to the speed we used to race at for 3 minutes. Our races were typically one hour long for the 25 mile races, and about 2 hours long for the 50 mile races. My training rides each day were either 1 or 2 hours. Just two seasons of training and racing was over 15,000 miles of riding.

 

[m@Robertson]

Yep, back when I was racing it was Mavic GP4s and Continental Sew-Up tires. Aero rims appeared on the scene too. Look (lock in) pedals made a huge splash in that time frame too.

Yup I still have the Mavic SSC Group pedals that came with the parts group, and they needed steel (to last) Christophe clips. I can still remember being at the busiest intersection in town - 3 lanes going in each direction - when at a stop my trackstand went bad and I couldn't loosen the straps and keeled over. So about 50 witnesses who all seemed to enjoy the show of a spandex-clad weirdo doing a Laugh-In tricycle fallover. I remember making sure my body hit the ground first and not the bike. Priorities. I eventually did Look pedals despite the weight penalty, and I NEVER learned to like the floating version that came out a little later.

Took this pic just after the new tires, a few months back. Now it has a SQLabs saddle on it as the Selle Flite doesn't work for my 61-yr-old ass like it did for me in my 20's. Also the Looks are gone and replaced with Shimanos to match the cleats on my dusted-off road shoes. Bike is a TV trainer until I can lose more weight and safely take it on the road. I recently found a set of mint Modolo Master Pro anodized levers so I can take the levers back to original stock. A crash many moons ago and I couldn't afford new proper levers on a new-yuppie budget.

The first year I had the bike, I put 11,000 miles on it. All commuting/errands as I didn't drive. Lived in a spread-out flat town and I had to go from work to school and back twice because of my class schedule. Mileage went to about half that in subsequent years because I just plain did a better job of scheduling so I didn't need to do 2 round trips daily.

And here's my project for today: The total antithesis of the road bike. 5.05 tires (because I can) replacing the 4.8's. Note the front chainring size. Is a sand and forest rider now. The current tires are down to nubs; fine on pavement but thats not the playground for this thing.

omigahd I circled back to be on topic!

 

[HoppyUK]

Schwalbe Super Moto-X - as found on many top-end ebikes, a premium brand and recently available in more fat bike sizes. I have just fitted a set of 20x4in to my RadRunner-Plus to replace the standard 20x3.3in Kendas. Despite the difference in nominal size, they're only 3mm wider than the Kendas when fitted. They're pavement tyres and not much suited to off-road, 30% lighter than the Kendas with tread blocks extending over most of the surface for better puncture resistance, plus two layers of puncture-proofing. Reflective sidewalls and wire beads. They were a breeze to fit with notably flexible sidewalls (presumably that's where the weight saving comes from) and the reward is a remarkable improvement in ride comfort! They run quiet, too For some reason, I can't find them on the main Schwalbe website but they're readily available in UK (about $50 each). https://welltuned.co.kr/goods/goods_view.php?goodsNo=1000000939