Fatbike tires for commuter e-bike

Yeah, you’re probably right. But this is gonna be a crazy beach bike kinda. But if the knobbies drive me nuts then I’ll do exactly as you said.

I just bought my wife an Aventon Aventure with fat tires so she can handle the beach. She is not that stable on a bike (just not enough experience riding) and keeps busting her butt on the beach with the e-bike she has now with 2.15” wide tires. That’s what prompted me to get 2 bikes for the beach. So now we have 5 e-bikes.

The fat e-bike I just purchased new is a Wallke F2 and I stripped it down to the frame the day it was delivered. I’m rebuilding it with a Nuvinci 171b rear CVT hub and a Bafang BBSHD. Then I’m gonna sell the complete 500watt hub system to offset the build cost.
The BBSHD kit will be here in 3 days. My only challenge will be chain line because I had to narrow up the rear dropouts from 197mm wide to 145mm wide.

I pretty much was born on bikes and ridden forever. I got my 3 daughters into cycling; one is pretty crazy like me. and finally my wife is riding with me once I got her on an e-bike. We’re doing a 55mile ride together tomorrow.

Im eventually going to convert all my e-bikes to BBSHD and Enviolo Cargo CVT hubs. I have 4 of those CVT hubs in a box. 2 of our everyday bikes will also have Enviolo’s electronic Automatiq Shifting systems.
I’ll post builds on the appropriate forum thread as I build them.
 
Schwalbe makes a fantastic asphalt ebike tire. It’s the Schwalbe Pick-Up Super Defense ebike cargo tire. It’s max width is 2.35”.
I initially put the 26x2.35 Pickups on this bike below. Its an mtb frame, but I built the bike as a short-distance urban errand bike that I could toss into the back of my car. They do roll very smoothly and their double-thick casing gives excellent but not quite flatless performance (with the gold standard being one of the flavors of the Marathon Plus or the Conti Contact City). I found the drawback to them was twofold:

1. On anything but pavement, they proved to be a menace. They are even poor at pavement with some dirt on it, or a bit of sand. Rain they were fine assuming reasonable precautions). If you have to deal with road shoulders or any kind of dirty or sandy pavement, be very careful relying on these.
2. They ride like rocks. I talked to Schwalbe at their booth at Sea Otter this year and they acknowledged this but we both agreed that if you want to achieve flat resistance and load capacity via a thick casing, this is what you get and what you should expect.

I still use a Pickup on the front of one of my Bullitts in 20x2.35 and it does its job very well. This class of tire from Schwalbe tends to last forever unless a road hazard kills one.

pxl_20220418_224156943[1].jpg

Even though I don’t have a fat bike. The Origin8 Supercell 26x4.00 Fat Bike Street Tire looks like a pretty sweet street tire. Even nice for hard pack. Wondering if anyone has experience with them.
Yes a lot :) The Supercell is a re-branded Chaoyang Sandstorm. It is sold under a couple-three labels but all of them come out of the Chaoyang factory. This tire is a smooth roller that - particularly in its 30 tpi version if they are even still made - wears like iron and still sticks to pavement like glue, allowing high speed, hard cornering once you get up the stones to try it.

I used them on my 2wd hub commuter bikes, and still have one on the back of one of them. Being a Chaoyang tire, they suffer from occasional quality control issues; usually in the form of an uneven casing. You don't want to buy one of these and sit on it for the future. Mount it and if the tread has a sudden sideways jig in one spot, return it while the window is still open and try again.

Took this pic with them on in 2017.

20170904_180705.jpg


I have heard from an industry source I trust that they can self-steer at any tire pressure, but I have never experienced that. I always go for full rated psi.
 
I initially put the 26x2.35 Pickups on this bike below. Its an mtb frame, but I built the bike as a short-distance urban errand bike that I could toss into the back of my car. They do roll very smoothly and their double-thick casing gives excellent but not quite flatless performance (with the gold standard being one of the flavors of the Marathon Plus or the Conti Contact City). I found the drawback to them was twofold:

1. On anything but pavement, they proved to be a menace. They are even poor at pavement with some dirt on it, or a bit of sand. Rain they were fine assuming reasonable precautions). If you have to deal with road shoulders or any kind of dirty or sandy pavement, be very careful relying on these.
2. They ride like rocks. I talked to Schwalbe at their booth at Sea Otter this year and they acknowledged this but we both agreed that if you want to achieve flat resistance and load capacity via a thick casing, this is what you get and what you should expect.

I still use a Pickup on the front of one of my Bullitts in 20x2.35 and it does its job very well. This class of tire from Schwalbe tends to last forever unless a road hazard kills one.

View attachment 8914

Yes a lot :) The Supercell is a re-branded Chaoyang Sandstorm. It is sold under a couple-three labels but all of them come out of the Chaoyang factory. This tire is a smooth roller that - particularly in its 30 tpi version if they are even still made - wears like iron and still sticks to pavement like glue, allowing high speed, hard cornering once you get up the stones to try it.

I used them on my 2wd hub commuter bikes, and still have one on the back of one of them. Being a Chaoyang tire, they suffer from occasional quality control issues; usually in the form of an uneven casing. You don't want to buy one of these and sit on it for the future. Mount it and if the tread has a sudden sideways jig in one spot, return it while the window is still open and try again.

Took this pic with them on in 2017.

View attachment 8915

I have heard from an industry source I trust that they can self-steer at any tire pressure, but I have never experienced that. I always go for full rated psi.
Regarding the 26” Schwalbe Pick-up tires, since they have such a stiff sidewall, I’ve found running them at lower pressures helps them handle loose terrain better. I run them at 30psi unless I have all 4 panniers loaded for a multi-day ride, then I run the pressure up to 40psi. Unloaded my bike is a little over 100lbs plus my fat butt of 220lbs. With panniers filled add another 30-40lbs.
I don’t think I’d recommend the Schwalbe Pick-up tire for a 20” bike unless it was a true cargo bike or trike. 20” tires are less forgiving when cornering compared to 26” tires due to less contact patch with the road; add a stiffer casing and regular 20” E-bike could become a problem when cornering at any real speed. Here is Schwalbe’s pressure/load chart for the Pick-Up cargo tire. As shown 2-Bar is the normal recommended pressure for the 26x2.35 tire, unless it is loaded with added cargo.
550F689A-3113-4EDC-886A-6FFD05D12588.jpeg
 
20230415_134949_cropped.jpg

A boring picture, but I take them every time I park outside of a store as my bike theft insurance requires the bike is locked to a substantial object for coverage to be in effect.

Sidewall says 60 psi which is technically more than 2 bar. Thats where I keep it. Doesn't hurt anything to do that. That Schwalbe chart is geared to ride comfort which definitely increases with lower pressures. I want sidewall strength and smooth rolling. I get the ride comfort from the long frame and suspension post and stem.

On the red bike, I kept them at about 60 psi ... the point of rolling on smooth tires is less rolling resistance. Low psi counteracts that. If I was going to give away rolling resistance, that goes against the use of a smooth tread.

But I didn't get rid of the Pickups because of ride comfort. That is a full-suspension bike after all. I did it because they wash out so easily on unclean pavement or dirt road shoulders. The first week I had the bike, having to pull off the road at the Grand Canyon to make room for a passing park tour bus (thats the rule there) I found out real fast how bad the problem was in an inch or three of soft dirt. And an inch of sand blown over one of our local bike paths is just as bad - which is consistent with how they are advertised so no harm/foul to Schwalbe on that score. For their intended use, they are great.
 
Lowering pressure is not just a comfort thing. Lower pressure creates a larger contact patch with the road to help traction and also allows the tire to flex a little to absorb quick changes in direction to reduce breaking traction. You should try it, you might be surprised. At 30-35psi, these tires hardly deform at all with a load of 160lbs per tire.
These are not normal tires. If they are used on a bike with lower loads instead of a heavy cargo bike the pressure needs to be lower to make the behave more like regular thickness tires.
 
I know about contact patch. I've used them at lesser pressures. The comfort issue is just on the side. At full pressure they stuck to clean pavement just fine no matter how I jigged/turned/braked the bike.

The real issue was rolling resistance. Smooth tires were worth a try on that bike so they roll/coast forever - and they did that. Lowering the pressure reduced the primary benefit I wanted from the tire - and for me that load is 250 lbs, not 160.

But as noted they came off for different reasons than air pressure. You need clean pavement with Pickups, just as you do with the Super Moto X, the Big Ben or the Marathon Plus. They wash out alarmingly when you get onto a dirt shoulder; especially if you are still decelerating. Which is not the tire's fault as its not made for dirt/sand/etc.

The double-thick carcass reduces the negative impact on rolling, but cannot eliminate it. A side-loss with lower pressure is decrease in sidewall strength, but if you are going to add that concern, the Pickup is probably the best tire to do it without consequences. Especially if its not a cargo bike and won't see heavy loads.

My 2.35's went onto a longtail cargo bike and they're doing the job they were meant for.

If what you are doing works for you thats all that matters. That tire has a 340 lb weight limit so you certainly are well within its operating range.
 
I know about contact patch. I've used them at lesser pressures. The comfort issue is just on the side. At full pressure they stuck to clean pavement just fine no matter how I jigged/turned/braked the bike.

The real issue was rolling resistance. Smooth tires were worth a try on that bike so they roll/coast forever - and they did that. Lowering the pressure reduced the primary benefit I wanted from the tire - and for me that load is 250 lbs, not 160.

But as noted they came off for different reasons than air pressure. You need clean pavement with Pickups, just as you do with the Super Moto X, the Big Ben or the Marathon Plus. They wash out alarmingly when you get onto a dirt shoulder; especially if you are still decelerating. Which is not the tire's fault as its not made for dirt/sand/etc.

The double-thick carcass reduces the negative impact on rolling, but cannot eliminate it. A side-loss with lower pressure is decrease in sidewall strength, but if you are going to add that concern, the Pickup is probably the best tire to do it without consequences. Especially if its not a cargo bike and won't see heavy loads.

My 2.35's went onto a longtail cargo bike and they're doing the job they were meant for.

If what you are doing works for you thats all that matters. That tire has a 340 lb weight limit so you certainly are well within its operating range.
Sounds good.
 
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