Our pair of test Dirt Wizards arrived at the Fat-Bike.com – Colonel Steve Austin Memorial Test Bunker and Proving Grounds late this afternoon and all plans for launching the fat-bike.com mobile command center got put on hold…..because this is the tire that we’ve all been waiting for! You know the first thing that we do, […]
Archive | Tires
Surly Dirt Wizards – 29 x 3 – In the Wild
Editor’s Note : We shot the video above at interbike back in September of 2014. In a strange twist of fate, Eric Sovern (from the planet Surly) shows us both a Dirt Wizard and Surly’s five inch Knard in the video. The Knards are in stores now, and Dirt Wizards just went live on QBP.com […]
Product Spotlight – Vittoria Bomboloni 29×3.0
Luckily for those of us with 29+ bikes, new tire offereings continue to trickle in. This year at FrostBike, Vittoria joined the 29+ club and unveiled a new 29×3.0 tire called the Bomboloni (Italian for filled doughnut). Vittoria? Mountain bike tires? Yep. Vittoria, the parent company of Geax, has decided to consolidate their MTB line under […]
Product Spotlight – Big Fat Knards
Look what just came into the Colonel Steve Austin, Fat-Bike test labs nestled here in America’s Dairyland. The great and powerful Surly Knard, super-sized to a full 4.8 inches wide. This is a tire that spent considerable time in development, which makes their arrival to us all the more special! The photo above shows one […]
45NRTH’s Flow & Dunder ♦ These Beisties Bite!
This is a short-term/initial thoughts review. I have only gotten about a month of time on these tires but luckily it was long enough to get in rides with a wide enough range of conditions from mid-winter to spring snow. This was more than enough time to get a good feel for them. If you […]
Bontrager Hodag – The Snow Ride Experience
Having tested the Bontrager Hodag on Cuyuna‘s red dirt single track, I was excited to experience first-hand how these 3.8″ tires perform on our groomed single track. This follow-up story was delayed as central Minnesota didn’t receive snow until the end of February. We were instead blessed with months of iced single track. Ice so […]
45NRTH Releases Flowbeist And Dunderbeist Front And Rear Specific Fat Tires
Our amigos at 45nrth sent us a set of these beauties just in time for a big old fat snow storm that dumped a foot of snow on the gnome-lands about a month ago. I took them on a few rides from busting fresh powder during the storm to riding some grooming that I had done at […]
Bontrager Chupacabra Mid-Term Review
Let me just get to the point and write that these tires are da bomb. They are fairly light (for a 3” 29er tire), the tread design rolls well, grips like a slot car in most conditions, seems to have good durability and has awesome tubeless characteristics. If you are looking for 29er+ tires, I […]
New Kenda Juggernaut Tires – First Look!
We received both sizes of the new Kenda Juggernaut Fat-Bike Tires late, last week. Our test tires are the Pro-Level 120TPI folding bead Juggernauts. Juggernauts are also being offered in a Sport/60tpi wire bead and Sport-Folding/60tpi foldin bead. We always start our evaluation process by weighing the tires on our Park Tool Digital Scale and […]
Maxxis Mammoth – Tested & Reviewed
As the fatbike tire market continues to grow, more and more big name tire makers are getting into the game. This past summer, Maxxis threw its hat into the ring and unveiled their new fatbike tire, the Maxxis Mammoth (along with a 29+ tire, the Chronicle, which was covered here). Gomez gave you a first […]
Ride Impressions – Framed Minnesota 26×4 Fat-bike Tire
Derrick, Ross and I have been riding the Framed Minnesota 26×4 Fat-bike Tire for several weeks now with various races, trail rides and around town hucking. We mounted the tires on a couple of different bikes including a Schlick APe and a Salsa Mukluk. We also mounted the tires to 3 different rim sizes including […]
Vanhelga with a Whisky chaser – A pre-winter ride assessment of the dynamic duo.
Story and Photography by Aaron W. Hautala During our previously chronicled Salsa Bucksaw test ride, part of the never ending love fest needs to be attributed to the wheels, tires, and bars (handlebars, not brownies) on this not-so-average full suspension fat-bike. Enter the Whisky No.9 – 70mm Carbon Fat Rims, Whisky No.7 Carbon No-Rise 760 mm handlebar, and […]
Product Spotlight – Bontrager Chupacabra 29×3.0
Luckily, after a long drought of alternatives in 29er+ tires, there has started to be a flood of options being introduced. Bontrager is the latest company to send us tires to test and it looks to be a super solid contender. Named after a mythical blood sucking creature, I can already tell you there is nothing sucky about this […]
Maxxis Chronicle 29+ – Love at First Corner
The Maxxis Chronicle was a tire I was super excited about as soon as I saw pictures of it on the interwebs. Luckily, it hasn’t disappointed and riding it has been a case of love at first corner. All of that said, this isn’t a tire I would run on both ends of my bike […]
First Look – Framed Bikes Minnesota 26×4.0 Fat-bike Tire
We recently received a set of Framed Bikes Minnesota 26×4.0″, 120TPI fat-bike tire. This tire will be standard on Framed fat-bikes for the coming season and fat-bikes are already showing up at shops with these new skins installed. In addition, they will be available for aftermarket purchase by mid-November. Let’s see what we’ve got. The […]
Sarma Naran 100mm Wheelset – Carbon & Tubeless
Mi nombre esta es Gomez and I ‘m a frequent tire changer. The fat-bike dot com test kitchens are a revolving door of all sorts of fat-bike tires, so I get the opportunity to try out new sneakers all of the time. That’s my excuse for not having gone tubeless, before now….but that’s all about […]
Video – Sov from Surly Talks 29+ and 5″ Knard!
Sov from Surly Talks 29+ Dirt Wizard and 5″ Knard fat-bike tire. Learn more at http://surlybikes.com. You can subscribe to our YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=fatbikedotcom to see all of our upcoming videos.
Video – David From 45NRTH Talks About the New Vanhelga Fat-bike Tire
David Gabrys from 45NRTH talks about the new, tubeless ready Vanhelga Fat-bike tire. Learn more at http://45nrth.com. You can subscribe to our YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=fatbikedotcom to see all of our upcoming videos.
Video – Ben From Kenda Talks About the Two New Kenda Fat-bike Tires
Ben from Kenda talks about the two new Kenda Juggernaut Fat-bike tires. With two sizes and three build configurations, there is bound to be a Juggernaut for you! Learn more at – http://kendatire.com.
Laying Some Tracks on the Trax Fatties
About a month ago I got a package from Fat-Bike.com world headquarters with a pair of Vee Tire Trax Fatty 29 x 3.0” tires. This is the same pair that they took a First Look at back in April and that article contains all of the numbers for the TF. I say, ‘screw the numbers’, I […]
Six Weeks with a Bulldozer
We featured a product spotlight on the new Bulldozer from Vee Tire, just about the time we were losing our snowpack back at the end of March. I was immediately drawn to the Bulldozer because of the width, the relative light weight and the unusual tread pattern. We recently published a six week test of the 45NRTH Dillinger 5 […]
45NRTH VANHELGA Tire Out of the box review
When Gomez hit me up with an opportunity to test the new 45NRTH tires I was quite intrigued, seeing as how I’m still rolling on some near first gen Larrys. That said, I wanted to do them justice and review them set up in all their tubeless glory, so I made a few phone calls […]
First Look! Maxxis Mammoth 26 x 4.0 Tire
The cool cats from Framed Bikes shared a pair of Maxxis Mammoth Fat-Bike Tires with us to share with all of you cool cats and Kitties out there, rock’n the fat-bike, all around the world! So on Sunday morning, I went out to the shop and threw the Mammoths on Bethany’s Extra Small 9:Zero:7 for […]
First Look! – Maxxis Chronicle 29+ Tire
Our amigos at Framed Bikes sent us a set of Maxxis Chronicle 29+ tires along to check out and share with our readers! We weighed the Chronicles on our Park Tool scale and the two tires came in at 1076 and 1062 grams. The bead to bead measurement was 188 mm and the tread to tread […]
45NRTH Dillinger 5 – Six Week Test Ride
Back in March, our test pilot, Michael McColgan, shot spy photos of Jesse LaLonde’s race bike that helped to debut 45NRTH’s new Dillinger 5 tire. A couple of months ago, I traded test tires with Jesse. We swapped a pair of Vee Tire H-Billy sneakers for the Dilly-Five and I’ve been running it on the front of my Fatback, […]
Whisky 70mm Tubeless Rim/45NRTH Vanhelga Tire
WHISKY 70MM TUBELESS RIM/45NRTH VAN HELGA. By – Jesse LaLonde It’s only fair to preface this with a racer guy mentality. Sure, JRA is the peanut butter but pushing personal limits is the jelly. Cooking corners, jibbing rock gardens, and roosting burms, are all part of the game. While the motor is the star of […]
45NRTH Introduces Tubeless-Ready Vanhelga Fat-bike Tire
David Gabrys sent us this release about a new, 4″, tubeless-ready tire from 45NRTH. Keep your eyes peeled, we will be testing these just as soon as we can! Widespread availability is set for September. 45NRTH Press Release Bloomington,MN – 45North is continuing in its mission to push winter cycling innovation further than ever before […]
Panaracer Fat “B” Nimble Review & 1st impressions
By : Dave Nice Jeff Zell of Panaracer USA contacted me about testing out a new fat bike tire called the Fat B Nimble. I jumped at the chance because of my past good experiences with Panaracer rubber, both in 26” and 29er land. I’ve known Jeff a number of years know and with […]
Bun ‘n’ Lou Twice (Product Review)
Two of our Bike Black Ribbon Staff Writers take a crack at reviewing the tire that made the fat-bike industry bend over and spread their rear triangles….Surly’s Bud & Lou! Spinner’s Review When it comes to bikes and pieces and parts and whats good and what sucks and what weighs how much and whatever else […]
Squeezing the Bud
With a frame and fork that predates 100mm rims and the fattest of fat tires (>4.7”), I’m limited to how fat I can get. Normally, this isn’t that big of a deal and I don’t give it much thought. However, with record snow levels and the prevalent conditions being on the dry and fluffy side […]
45NRTH Introduces the Dillinger 5 a New Five Inch Studded Fatbike Tire
BLOOMINGTON, MN – FEB 21 – 45North sized up their line of high end fatbike tires by introducing the Dillinger 5 – a larger sibling to their popular four‐inch Dillinger. The Dillinger 5 is aimed at providing additional flotation, stability, and traction while keeping weight and rolling resistance to a minimum. “Designed to maximize the […]
Fat Dillinger – Spy Shots!
Fat-Bike.com launched all drones and dispatched every asset available, to capture these spy shots of 45NRTH’s five inch Dillinger tire. This is the tire that BkB pilot, brother Jesse LaLonde, rode to victory in the Fatbike Frozen Forty today in Minnesota. The new ‘fattest of fat’ Dillinger is mounted to an I-9 /Hed Big Deal wheel […]
First Impressions – Fatback Sterling 4.25″ Fat-bike Tire
The Fatback Sterling is a new tire for your fat-bike from long time fat-bike purveyor, Greg Matyas at Fatback Bikes and we’ve got our hands on a pair for testing. Labeled as a 4.25” with a prominent Hot Patch for the Fatback Sterling name and the manufacturer, Vee Rubber, the tires, sporting a 120tpi casing, […]
Snowshoe Tires – The First Dozen Rides
About a month ago we threw the spotlight on Vee’s new fat-bike tire called the Snowshoe. We saw the snowshoe at interbike this year and because of the 26 x 4.7 label on the sidewall, we all thought that this tire would be an alternative only for folks with fat-bikes that could accommodate a bud […]
Iceman Expo – Photos – Specialized’s New Ground Control Tire
When I found out that Specialized would have a couple of their new Fatboys with their, much anticipated, Ground Control 26x 4.6 Tires on-board we just had to make our way to Traverse City Michigan to show our readers what was happening at the Iceman Cometh Expo. There was also some really tasty treats from […]
Second Anniversary
Two years ago my first story published on fat-bike.com. Since then, many of our amigos and hundreds of our readers have contributed content and carnival to the pages of fat-bike. Sven and I truly appreciate, from the bottom of our hearts, all of our readers and sponsors. We look forward to sharing fat-bike news, […]
Sneak Peek ♦ Fatback Sterling 4.2″ Tire
In a Fat-bike.com exclusive, we bring you the first photo of Fatback’s New Sterling fat bike tire! It measures 4.25″ on a 70mm rim and uses a 120tpi casing with a Kevlar bead that’s tubeless compatible. The weight is approx 1300g and the price is yet to be released. Fatback owner, Greg Matyas, tells us that […]
How to $ubtract 3 Pounds from a Fat-Bike
Our man, Sven has already touched on this subject in his excellent fat-bike 101 series. In his episode about weight $having, Sven mentions both tires and wheels as targets to put your fat-bike on a diet. We’ve combined those two elements together on an extra small 9:Zero:7 that belongs to Bethany Raven. Bethany’s Dom’L’Orange fatty […]
45NRTH Dillinger Review
By: Chris Zito The puppeteers at Black Ribbon HQ, delivered a set of 45NRTH Dillingers to me just in time for one of the bigger dumps of the snowy season. In the past I have mostly ridden Endomorphs, well, since the time when they were THE option and gum-walled. Up until recently when I […]
Grip Studs – Mid Season Report
Back in November we sent avid Detroit commuter and all-season cyclist, Chris Cunnington, a set of Grip Studs to test out and here is what he has to report so far. Thanks to the guys at Fat-bike.com I was sent some Grip Studs traction studs to evaluate. I have previous experience with 26×2.25 mountain bike […]
Interbike 2012 – More Fat from Vegas
Here’s the rest of what I collected, while working the show today. Surly Rubber Tree I revisited the production sample of the new Krampus and took some detailed shots for y’all. The Krampus demo fleet is rocking a 3rd generation prototype yolk, so all of the photos that you’ve seen before this are not exactly what you’ll […]
Interbike 2012 – Live from the Show Floor
Sven has been here before, but today was my first time in the maze called Interbike. We popped my interbike cherry today, to bring you all of the fat…all of the time! Just like we promised! Phil Wood fat-bike design exercise! Custom Fork crowns on the Manitou Fork. 185mm Cassette Hub. Also available in lower […]
Lighter Fatbike Tube Alternatives
Most of us have had the jaw-dropping experience of holding a Surly tube in our hands, but we have to ask ourselves, ‘Are they necessary?’ ‘What are the advantages and is it worth the weight for the riding I do?’ A bunch of us in Alaska (and many other places, too) have been running standard […]
Tire Weights for Fat-Bikes
More weight info for you weight weenies out there. Cut to the chase, you want light and fat? Go for the Black Floyds if they suit your riding style and area. These are real world weights as measured in our shop with a Park Digital Scale. Where there is more than one weight, we weighed […]