Fat tires on e-bikes serve more of a purpose than just providing a comfortable ride and looking cool … not to dismiss either of those benefits. Big tires do more than just make your bike look rugged, but how?
Puncture resistance
Perhaps one of the most obvious benefits of large volume fat tires is the added puncture resistance. Due to the wider contact area and lower tire pressure, wider tires are inherently less prone to punctures. Combined with newer puncture resistant tire casings and cut resistant sidewalls, some fat tires are pretty close to indestructible! The wider contact area disperses forces that could lead to pinch flats too; hitting hard-edged potholes, curbs, rocks, and other blunt objects that could cause a pinch flat on narrower tires. Small objects that would potentially cause a narrower and higher pressure tire to jump off its path and cause a steering response are barely even noticeable, too.
Comfort
Another very obvious advantage to fat tires is the comfort they provide. With lower pressures and a wider area to spread road/ trail feedback, comfort is greatly increased over what you would feel from a narrower tire at higher pressure. This is true for both road and offroad riding. Feeling is believing, and once you’ve gone to the fat side of the Force, it’s really hard to go skinny again!
Stability and Control
Big tires provide more stability and control on all kinds of terrain, but excel when you get off the asphalt of the urban jungle. Heading to the beach or into the desert? Fat is where it’s at! Fat tires sit on top of the sand, whether it’s wet or dry sand, rather than trying to slice into it like a skinnier tire at higher pressure would. This improves safety by a huge amount. And the same goes for snow. Commuting year round in a cold climate? No worries with fat tires. Drop the tire pressure a few psi and you gain even more control on icy streets or snow-covered bike paths. Want to get out into the woods and enjoy your winter wonderland? Hop on your fat tire e-bike and “expand your playground” with confidence!
Getting off the beaten path to explore trails is easier and safer as well. As mentioned above, the ability to handle rocks and roots is made much better by wider tires, as is loose dirt. Where a wider tire might be harder to ride exclusively under human power, with the permanent tailwind of an e-bike, the benefits of the wider tires can be fully appreciated without any penalty!
We’ve got several models of fat tire equipped bikes to choose from, all of them with power and range to help you fully appreciate the awesome benefits wider tires provide in so many different applications.
