Originally Posted by
Wilfred Laurier
I have never tried a 2 wheel drive bike, but I think there might be a misunderstanding over how it works. Yes, you are likely to gain some ability to propel yourself forward on rough or loose or low traction terrain, but having the front wheel as a drive wheel is also likely to reduce your traction in corners, for the same reason front wheel drive cars tend to understeer when accelerating, and the same reason AWD cars have centre differentials that limit the torque to the front wheels. You don't 'gain' any traction with both wheels driving, but you are using some of whatever traction you already had for forward propulsion, leaving less traction available for steering and straight line stability.
It is very possible that I am wrong and this is going to be the next big major improvement in bike technology... but I won't be the first one to try it.
Yes and no. You're correct about the FWD/AWD cars but it's different with a bike. The reason they have the center diff etc is because the inside and outside will have a different distance to cover in a turn as the inside wheel will turn slower than the outside wheel while turning. With a bike no matter how you slice it the wheels are turning the same amount of revolutions when turning unless it's extremely low speed 90 degree type stuff. So for extremely low speed yes, but for anything fast enough that the bike will lean into the turn it would be fine. That said I highly doubt a fat bike will go fast enough so that kinda makes it a moot point.