Originally Posted by B. Carfree

The work by the Bicycling Quarterly crew, which is affiliated with Compass Bicycles, shows that for a given tire wider is indeed faster. My experience is that the Compass 26 X 1.5" tires had MUCH less rolling resistance than the Fat Boys. We have a few places on our regular routes where after cresting a hill we roll without pedalling downhill into a flat spot before either approaching an intersection or another descent and the difference is quite noticeable. With the Compass tires, we don't pedal on those stretches and maintain our desired speed. With the Fat Boys we have to pedal to maintain that speed. The 26 X 1.75" had even less rolling resistance.

More comfort, better handling, lower rolling resistance: what's not to like about fatter? Okay, they are a bit heavier, so you may notice that. The market for truly lightweight 26" tires just isn't big enough for the Compass folks to pay for the molds to make them (yet). But there wasn't much of a market for 650B when they started pushing them either, so I have hope.