Originally Posted by
Sixty Fiver
The issue with non studded fat bike tyres is that the low contact pressure makes them a bit of a nightmare on ice.
My old Raleigh mtb with non studded 2.2 tyres will go through most things my Pug would and it is better on ice, my Extrabike with 26 by 2.0 studs will crawl through a foot of fresh snow.
No disrespect intended. On the non-studded fat tires, I agree with you. With studs, as I am just back from testing
, ice is no problem. We are still pretty dry up here. I will give a full ride report when we get some more.
As for powering through to the ice with skinnier tires, I have mostly had a different experience. This seems to work best for me when there is fresh cold snow with low moisture content, barely in shallower (guessing up to 8") wet, or loosely consolidated snow, and not very good at all in deeper snow, or in the brown sugar or roadside chunder I'm often biking through. It doesn't work well enough for me to consistently want to ride my 8 mile daily one-way commute. I've done it quite a bit, and it can be complete misery. Now that I think about it, bad enough for me to hop out on roads no-one should be biking on at 6:00 am in Anchorage -- something our fair populace will make quite clear with their horns, high beams, and close passes.
If I am staying on the roads, which I can't always do up here, I prefer to run a 700X38 or 40 studded tire, or the 26X1.95 studded tires on my old Kona mt. bike that got me through grad school. I don't have too much nasty stuff to deal with if I can stay on the road and the weather and roads are relatively clear.
More realistically, I am mixing roads, unplowed MUPs which are often used as a place for the blades to spill snow, if not outright snow dumps, and ski trails. This is really where the fat bike makes the difference in my opinion. Lower ground bearing pressure lets one float on top and avoid blowing all their energy trying to drive through this stuff. The ski trail folks also get pretty mad if I cut up "their" trails with my bike. It is dangerous for them as they can catch a tip and eat do-do. With the studded 4" tire, it really is sort of the best of both worlds, but not perfect for every situation by any means (I don't care to ride the fat bike anywhere where I don't really need it... like a road).
Like I wrote. No disrespect intended. Just my experiences from Fairbanks and Anchorage.