For some time now, Terrene Tire’s Tim Krueger has been talking about a true five inch wide, aggressive new tire that he’s been developing to give ‘the Surly’ Bud & Lou a run for their money as far as holding the title as the biggest and most aggressive fat-bike tires available (in the WORLD!) This new tire would be nothing short of World Fat-Bike Tire Domination according to Tim. I think the first time that I heard about this plan for world tire domination was way back at the CABDA show last February. Sea Otter echoed the building legend of the big fat snow killing tire that would eventually become the new Johnny 5 when it was officially launched last month at Eurobike. This week, we received a pair of production 26 x 5.0 Terrene Johnny 5’s to ride, review and share with our readers.

The Terrene Johnny 5 (26 x 5.0) by the numbers:

Weight – 1820g, 1802g

Flat Bead to Bead – 266mm

Flat Tread to Tread – 147mm

Just after mounting (tubeless) the casing measured 123.25mm wide. The tires expanded to 123.43 by the next morning. Both measurements were taken with the tire pressure at 10 psi

Mounted to HED 100mm rims at 10psi

Casing – 123.43mm

Tread – 122.41mm

Overall Height – 30.1996 inches

Overall Front Wheel Weight – 2930g

Tread Depth

Outer Shoulder Knobs – 6.6mm

Middle Knobs – 6.25mm

Center Knobs – 5mm

The photo to the (right) is a side by side comparison of a 26×5.0 Johnny 5 and a 26×4.8 Surly Lou with both tires mounted to HED 100mm wide rims and inflated to 10 psi. The Johnny 5’s are 1.4mm wider and .1429 of an inch shorter than the Lou. That’s what I would call very similar in size.

I had to see how these bad boys look on Ten Beers before I send them off to KBS for field testing (photo below). The shoulder lugs on this tread pattern are the biggest that I’ve seen and the center chevrons have a cut out that make them look like they’d gouge into the ground with righteous fury and maximum levels of traction! A big fat tire like Johnny 5 deserves to get tested somewhere that get’s twelve metric gnome-tons of snow and just for good measure, has miles of sandy beaches to roam. So we’re sending these to the great Manistee Lake Effect Snow Belt over in the mitten of Michigan.

Ten Beers plus two Johnny Fives equals ______.

Johnny 5’s fit fine in the Corvus FLT

Ken Blakey-Shell will get to wade into the debate on whether Johnny 5 is good enough to dethrone the Bud and Lou as the most aggressive (almost) five-inch wide fat-bike tire in the world. The fact that the Johnny 5’s are tubeless ready and can be studded helps differentiate the two a bit, but we won’t really know how things will truly stack up until Ken gets these bad boys out in the deep soft sand or fluffy fun powder.  You can look forward to a full review once the snow flies amigos!

Learn more about Terrene Tires at – https://terrenetires.com/

Back in the springtime at Sea Otter, muh man Fuzzy showed me Fatback’s new Big Su Aluminum Tubeless Ready Rim. The new rim weighs in at an ultra-svelte 640g. I’m not talking about ‘light for an alloy set of wheels’. I’m talking lighter than a bunch of the double wall carbon wheels on the market. Last April we compared 4 wheelsets that all have carbon rims. We weighed each set’s front wheel with a tire mounted tubeless and a 180mm brake rotor. Check out the updated chart below.

The Aluminum Big Su is the lightest wheel on the list. Lighter than the carbon set of wheels that I’ve been riding all summer! Notice that I didn’t say the lightest in existence, because single wall carbon rims like the 85mm HED’s are about 190 grams lighter but compare the price of those wheelsets with the $699 MSRP of the Big Su’s. The Big Su’s are as light or lighter than the double wall carbon wheels (listed above) and cost a lot less.

Fatback has found a way to manufacture an 81mm wide alloy rim that only weighs only 640g and when laced up with their third generation Alaskan Series hubs with Jumbo Jims mounted tubeless creates a front wheel that only weighs 2500g. Readers at home please take the front wheel off of your fat-bike and weigh that sucker. Post your build specs and weights in the comments if you like.

Our set of Big Su’s came to us prepared for tubeless mounting to a set of Schwalbe Jumbo Jims. Fuzzy had suggested that we mount the tires ourselves, so we could experience how easily they would seat. Both tires snapped right into place on the first try. They mounted up dry using a compressor and after that, we added 4oz of sealant to each tire and we were in business. First time – full time -overnight and everything stayed air-tight and out’a-sight (70’s funk flashback)

Bandito Singletrack

The next morning, I took the new wheels out on my usual bandito loop. I wondered if I’d feel any let-down from the Summer 27.5 x 50mm wide wheels that I reviewed recently. Man…was I pleasantly surprised! The Big Su’s felt light and zippy. Light wheels get up to speed quickly and the low rolling resistance of the Jumbo Jims helped accentuate the feel of how quickly these wheels accelerate.

I’ve got a really nice long downhill on my home loop that transitions from asphalt to overgrown gravel two-track with puddles and some good sized potholes. My first run down that section on the big Su’s felt solid. Just as I hit warp speed, a large bird (I thought it was a hawk at first) swooped down out of one of the trees that line the left side of the doubletrack out in front of me. A moment later, when I shot past the tree, another half-dozen turkey vultures took flight from their perches overhead. As I thought to myself “How cool was that?” I rocketed down the road towards the railroad tracks and bunny hopped one of the big potholes. The landing felt and sounded rock solid.

I’ve gotten a couple of rides in before I left for Inter(E)Bike and so far I have no regrets or complaints about switching from 27.5 x 50mm to 26 x 81mm wheels. The Big Su – Jumbo Jim wheels are half an inch shorter than the 27.5 wheels that I had been testing but so far….that isn’t getting in the way of my super fun good times. I’ll be riding the Big Su’s during the shoulder season between now and early winter. Fatback also has a new Carbon Rim in the pipeline that’s rumored to shave a pound off of the Big Su’s, but that’s a story for the future! Look for a full review of the Fatback Big Su Wheels in about three fortnight’s time.

Felices Caminos Hombres!

Howdy campers. You may remember that back in May (holy smokes, how is it already almost October?!) we received a pair of Teravail’s Light and Supple Coronado tires for testing. If you missed the initial review, check the link here: https://fat-bike.com/2018/06/teravail-coronado-26-x-4-0-review-by-seth-bell/ After riding the Coronados over the Summer, we’re here with a final review and score. During initial testing, the Coronados were swapped between three different bikes over the course of four weeks to explore different rim widths and terrain, and after that first whirlwind of testing and musical tires, the Coronados settled happily into full-time gravel travel duty on the Moots.

Teravail states on their website that “the 26 x 4.0 Coronado is designed specifically for summer riding in loose terrain”. North Central Iowa is no desert or beach, but you better believe that we have plenty of loose terrain here in the form of gravel… big, chunky, deep quarry gravel; precisely why I prefer to ride a fat-bike when I gravel ride.

After logging over 1500 miles on the Coronados, it was time for their biggest test – the DAMn (aka the Day Across Minnesota), a 240-mile gravel race from South Dakota to Wisconsin. The DAMn was to be the longest single effort I’ve made on a bike, but putting my trust in my equipment never kept me up at night; the Moots would be the rig, and it would be rolling on the Coronados.

I had no idea how good of a final test for the Coronados the DAMn would be, but if the course conditions didn’t match Teravail’s intended use description for these tires, I don’t know what else would. The first 30 something miles took us down many minimum maintenance roads (in the dark) that might as well have been beaches. Dry, fluffy, sand-like road surfaces that were rim deep at times had riders stalling out in their tracks and falling down everywhere; I’ve never seen anything like it. The Coronados cruised right through the nastiest of it without flinching. The front tire never pushed out on me as we had to make sudden corrections to dodge a stalled or crashed rider and the rear never spun out or wandered on me.

As the day dawned and the miles ticked by, the roads made of sand were gone, but the gravels continued to be extremely dry and powdery; the carved in tracks of skinny tires were everywhere. The couple rockier minimum maintenance sections were no problem for the Coronados, and they hummed down the handful of paved sections without excessive drag. During a couple of good descents as we got close to the Mississippi, the Coronados let me bomb downhill with confidence; no speed wobbles or loss of grip taking corners at higher speeds. After 18 hours of riding (19.5 hours total time on course), we made it to Wisconsin, done and dusted, but with zero mechanical issues.

As I write this post I’ve logged several hundred more miles on the Coronados since DAMn, and they’re still going strong. Not once during my time with the Coronados have I had a flat (and I’m running tubes!). For being the ‘Light and Supple’ version of this tire I figured they might possibly be a bit more puncture prone and wear out faster, but they have by far exceeded those expectations.

The only little nit that I can find to pick about the Coronados is that there’s a very fine line in dialing in that perfect air pressure; a touch too little in the front tire does create an Endomorph-like tendency to auto steer. My ideal gravel pressures ended up being 7psi front, 8psi rear. I drop each tire a psi each for rougher, mixed terrain rides. Keep in mind, this was on a 60mm rim while using standard fat-bike inner tubes, so your ideal pressure will surely vary. Never underestimate how much difference even a half of a psi can make! The Coronados aren’t a great choice for wet, greasy or muddy terrain, but they’re not supposed to be either.

Using these tires as a dry season gravel and mixed terrain tire over the Summer has been very enjoyable. I can say with confidence that these are the best gravel tires I’ve ever used on my fat-bike, and when I finish wearing out my test pair I will definitely be purchasing another set.

I give the Teravail Coronado 26×4.0 Light and Supple 4.75 out of 5 corndogs.

Corn Dogs… because, you know… Iowa.

Fat-bikers of the world with that newfangled 27.5” wheel size rejoice, for more tires choices are here!  Fat-bike.com HQ has received some of the new size offerings from 45NRTH for testing, and today we’ll take a first look at the 27.5×4.0” Dillinger 4.

The 27.5” Dillinger uses the same tread pattern and stud placement as the 26” version that riders already know and love, although 27.5” version does have accommodation for 12 more studs than the 26” tire.

Particulars of the 45NRTH Dillinger 4 27.5” include:

• 120tpi, Concave Aluminum Carbide Studded version. MSRP $210 per tire.
• 60tpi, Steel Carbide Studded version. MSRP $160 per tire.
• 120tpi Custom Studdable version. MSRP $120 per tire.
• All versions tubeless ready.
• Braced side lugs for cornering confidence.
• Fast rolling, tightly spaced center tread.

Our test tires are the 120tpi Custom Studdable (or, un-studded, if you prefer) variety, and weighed in at 1400 grams per tire.  

Because the line between ‘plus-bikes’ and ‘fat-bikes’ is getting blurry these days, we decided to get some measurements with the Dillingers on both a 50mm and 80mm rim.

Exhibit A: Dillinger 4 on a 27.5” Sun Duroc 50mm rim at 7.5psi.

• Width of tire at widest point : 90mm (3.54”).
• Height of tire from top of rim sidewall to tallest knob : 84mm (3.31”).

Exhibit B: Dillinger 4 on a 27.5” Bontrager Jackalope 80mm rim at 7.5psi.

• Width of tire at widest point : 95mm (3.74”).
• Height of tire from top of rim sidewall to tallest knob : 86mm (3.39”).

Despite a 30mm difference in rim width, the numbers changed less than expected, but the visual difference in person looks more like you’d think it would.  On the 80mm rims the Dillingers fill out considerably more than they do on the narrower rims and look like an actual fat-bike tire, where they look more rounded and light-bulb shaped on the narrow 50mm rims.  

27.5 x 4.0 Cake Eater (L) – 27.5 x 4 Dillinger (R)

We initially slapped the Dillys on our Otso Voytek demo bike, which is currently running 27.5”x 50mm Duroc rims.  Prior to mounting up the Dillinger, the Otso was rolling on 27.5 x 4.0” Terrene Cake Eaters, which fit comfortably in the frame and fork.  The respective numbers between the Cakes and the Dillys are very close, with the same width and only a 4mm increase in height. Slight as it may be, the overall increase in volume created some clearance issues on the Bluto Fork on our test bike.

Adding space for the slightly taller tires in the rear triangle was easy thanks to Otso’s Tuning Chip, which added 20mm of chainstay length and plenty of extra clearance.  Up front however, the fresh knobs of the Dillingers were a mere 6mm below the Bluto’s arch, leaving uncomfortably little room for mud, debris (and wet snow).

Despite the tight clearance up front a couple of test rides were still in order, so we hit the trails.  If you’ve ridden 45NRTH’s Dillinger tire in the past and enjoyed it, you’ll be happy to hear that the 27.5” version of this venerable tire rides, accelerates, grips and corners just like the 26” version.  The fast rolling center section of the tire keeps momentum and acceleration in the dry, and the sharp, defined knobs bite through wet Autumn leaves and hold on in the greasy sections. Unfortunately, the aforementioned Autumn leaf debris combined with muddy/greasy trails created a clearance issue with this particular test bike (running 50mm wide rims).  With so little room between the front tire and fork arch, a lot of mud and muck was bunching up under there… no bueno. Riders running 80mm wide 27.5 rims have 6mm of clearance to the Bluto cross brace but that’s still too tight for practical real-world applications in this tester’s opinion.

Long-term and Winter testing of these beauties will be passed along to another Test Pilot that has ample room for a full size 27.5×4.0” fat-bike tire.  Speaking of ample room, riders with 27.5” wheels and a Bluto be warned; even with the wider 80mm Jackalope wheel up front, there were still just six millimeters between the tire and fork crown.

The new 27.5” offerings from 45NRTH are welcomed and it’s encouraging that if this wheel size is indeed here to say, riders using them will have some more proven winners in the tire arena to choose from. Stay tuned for more and as always, thanks for reading; we’ll see you out there!

Just when you thought (or perhaps hoped) that 29 plus might be fading into history, QBP’s newest tire brand, Teravail has come out with the 29+ Coronado. Our pair of test tires is the Teravail Coronado 29 x 2.8 Light & Supple Tan Wall version. They also come in black sidewalls if you happen to have a stable full of black bikes or like to pretend that you’re one of the founding members of a bicycle gang called the Bike Black Ribbon Society. We published a review of the 26 x 4.0 version of the Coronado tread pattern and the results were quite positive in nature. I have to admit that when I first laid eyes on the Coronado tread pattern, it reminded me of an ancient Tioga Farmer John mountain bike tread pattern from back in the late 1980’s….and I thought that they would suck. I’ve taken dozens of blows to the head over the years and that must have somewhat scrambled my memory of what a Tioga Farmer John looked like because the Coronado tread pattern rides nothing like a tractor tire. I guess you can’t judge a plus bike tire by its cover. The cat that reviewed the 26 x 4.0 for us loved them and in his review said: “I can say with confidence that these are the best gravel tires I’ve ever used on my fat-bike, and when I finish wearing out my test pair I will definitely be purchasing another set.” That’s some pretty high praise and since I live on a 52-mile gravel trail and oft times ride a 29+ Surly Krampus on said gravel I decided to give these tires a whirl.

Let’s start out with some measurements. Laid out flat the Coronados measured 175mm bead to bead and 79.36mm tread to tread. Mounted on 50mm wide Surly Rabbithole rims at 20 psi the Coronados measured 68.42mm wide at the casing and 68.99mm for the tread. The shoulder knobs on the Coronado (the ones that look like a Shiba Inu) are 4.84mm tall with center knobs that are 2.89mm. The knobs between the shoulder and the center knobs are 3mm tall. For the longest time, I had been running a Panaracer Fat-B-Nimble 29 x 3.0 on the front and a generic Gravity Vidar that was a $38 tire on the rear of this (heavy metal) Krampus. The 2.8 Coronados looked to be the exact same size as the undersized Fat-B-Nimble. Plenty of tire for the kind of riding that I’ll do with them.

When it came time to weigh the two tires that QBP sent us I discovered that one of the tires was 887g and one was 974g. I pinged Teravail to see if they thought that a 10% weight discrepancy was normal and they said that we probably received one of the set-up tires that was run before the factory in Taiwan had the fill rates dialed. I really had hoped that the 887g tire was the normal weight, but it turned out that three other production tires that Teravail weighed for us ran 986/953/968g.

photos from QBP

I’ve probably put 50-60 miles on our pair of Coronados and they roll very easy and fast on the local gravel. I think that I’m going to enjoy riding this pair of mixed terrain plus tires from now until the snow flies. We’ll probably be back with a full review of this set of sneakers. Then again, we might write a power ballad inspired by the rock stylings of Michigan native, Bob Seger about them…only time will tell.

More Info – http://teravail.com/tires/coronado#TR7296

There are a lot of people excited about the Terrene Johnny 5 because it has been touted as a potential Bud/Lou challenger and I have to list myself as one of them. That said, I think I am actually even more excited about another Terrene tire; the 27.5×4.5″ Cake Eater. I didn’t realize this until I had it in hand but this is a category stretching tire like the Surly Bud and Lou or the Vee Tire 2XL, but for the 27.5 rider. Time will tell, but I am guessing it will be one of those “reference” tires by which all others in the category are judged.

There are some bold claims in that first paragraph so let me drop some numbers for the 27.5×4.5 Cake Eaters:

• Tire width on 70mm inner width rim: 4.4″ casing, 4.45″ knobs (freshly mounted and @ 6 psi)
• Diameter: 785mm (freshly mounted and @ 6psi)
• Bead-to-bead 267mm
• Center knob height: ~5mm
• Intermediate knob height: ~5.5mm
• Side knob height: ~6mm
• Weight: 1,601 and 1,642 g

I will just jump to the punchline: This tire is by far the biggest 27.5 fat bike tire, and by a significant margin.

Let’s start with the diameter because that is likely going to be one of the crucial dimensions when people try to fit this on their bike. 785mm is about 30.8″ which also happens to be about the same diameter as a Vee Tire 2Xl. For perspective, a 27.5×4.5 Bontrager Gnarwhal (previously the biggest most aggressive 27.5 fat tire) is about 770mm (30.3″) at that pressure and a Bud or Lou is 758mm (29.8″). That means the Cake Eater is about 1/2″ bigger diameter than any other 27.5″ tire. From a performance perspective, the bigger the diameter, the longer the contact patch and the greater the float of a tire.

The second important dimension is the width. This is one of the rare 27.5 tires that actually measures close to its listed width. If these are mounted on an 80mm rim and/or were given some time to stretch they likely would be right at 4.5″ for the casing and knob width. For perspective the Bontrager Gnarwhal 27.5×4.5 actually measures out around 4.2″. So with the 27.5×4.5 Cake Eater, not only are you gaining in the length of the contact patch, but also the width. Bigger diameter and width means we hands down we have the 27.5″ tire with the greatest float.

The third thing is the knobs of the tire. For perspective, a Lou’s knobs are around 7mm tall and a Buds are about 6mm (I hear the Gnarwhal is around 6mm but didn’t measure when I had access to one). The Bud/Lou is the undisputed champ of big float and traction tires (without getting too excessively draggy and while fitting a lot of bikes, sorry 2XLs). The Bud/Lou knobs are definitely taller than the 5-6mm height of 27.5×4.5 Cake Eaters but when compared to the majority of fat bike tires which are in the 3-5mm tall knob height range, the Cake Eaters come in strongly in the “agressive” end of the fat bike tire spectrum.

So now let’s delve into the knob tech and placement. The center knobs are fairly closely spaced for an aggressive tread but it quickly disperses as you you move towards the side knobs with clear evacuation channels for the snow. This means the tire should dig into soft snow and try to find something to hang onto. Intermediate knobs are fairly widely spaced. The side knobs have a familiar pattern that looks similar to the Terrene Wazia but with an alternating knob pattern instead of repetitive rows of “H” blocks. One thing that I am glad to see are staggered blocks over the width and fore/aft on the tire. I have enjoyed the Terrene Wazia but never felt like it was a great front tire because the knobs are arranged in rows/paddles. When you turn the handlebars it always seems like a lot of snow just slips through those paddles/channels and the tire pushes sideways. The Cake Eater look like they will make the snow go through a much more circuitous path and therefore may give more turning grip in loose conditions.

Another significant knob tech is siping. The center knobs have small zig zag sipes, the intermediate knobs only have holes for studs and the side knobs have significant sipes/channels. In theory this seems like a solid strategy:

• For hardpack conditions you want a faster rolling, dense knob pattern with lots of micro edges that form from the small zig zag sipes on the closer spaced knobs.
• Once you lean over enough to get the side knobs engaged while aggressively cornering, you have more significant biting edges from the deeper channels of the knobs for when snow is breaking free and flowing through the tread (and then roosting off the tire).

Wow, that was a lot of tire prognostication and dork-i-tude but what does it all add up to? Hard to say right now but if I had to guess, we have potentially a second Bud/Lou challenger besides the 26″ Johnny 5. Because it may achieve that float and traction via a different path (bigger diameter rather than just going wider) it may achieve that loose conditions performance while being quicker rolling. Add in stud pockets and this seems like a goldilocks tire for a significant portion of the fat bike population. I think it is safe to say that Terrene is probably the most exciting tire company in the fat bike game this winter. Bring on the snow!

For more info about Terrene Tires visit – https://terrenetires.com/

Road Trip 2018 First Stop in Bethany, Missouri

Back in September, we spotlighted the Fatback Big Su Wheelset and after a couple months of gnome roping, we’re back with a full review. I’ve been running the Big Su’s on my ‘murdered out’ Fatback Corvus FLT – [code name: ten beers] with a set of Schwalbe 26×4.0 Jumbo Jims (tubeless). I took a road trip in October, so the Big Su wheels tasted dirt in Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah and (of course) Wisconsin.

Wilson Lake, Kansas

The Big Su’s are 640g and that’s nearly as light as some double wall carbon rims on the market at a much lower cost. The Big Su’s are $175 Compare that to a 575g Whiskey Parts #9 Rim at $500. The Big Su’s come with tape and valves too, which is nice because they set up tubeless very easily. The tubeless marriage between the Big Su and the Schwalbe Jumbo Jims have held air the entire time and we never suffered a puncture or bead burp running between five and twelve psi.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

This set of wheels has been trouble free from start to finish. No weird noises, no problems what so ever. As far as how they ride…I went from running a set of Carbon Plus Bike Rims to testing the Big Su’s (on the same frame/fork) and really didn’t experience any letdown or negative effects. The combination of the fast rolling Jumbo Jims and the svelte Big Su’s made these wheels feel like they accelerated as quickly and easily as the carbon wheels. The big Su’s are light, stiff and quick to accelerate.

The Fatback Alaska Edition hubs have also proven to be trouble free through the sixth wettest October ever recorded in Wisconsin. The rain seemed to follow me everywhere I went, on the trip out west and these wheels took on those sloppy autumn conditions with aplomb. This is a new series of hubs for Fatback. Fatback was the first to come out with both tubeless fat-bike rims and 19omm spaced hubs and they haven’t ever stopped making improvements to every piece of the puzzle that goes into creating bikes made to explore the most rugged places on earth. (…and also Wisconsin).

Glacial River Mountain Bike Trails, Jefferson, WI

Cam-Rock County Park, Cambridge, WI

The Big Sauk Prairie SRA, Sauk City, Wisconsin

The Big Su Wheels strike a balance between being light, strong and possessing easy tubeless setup and prove that you don’t have to break the bank to afford a great set of wheels for your fat-bike. The wheelset as tested (without the tires) is $699.

The Big Su Wheelset from Fatback Scores 5 out of 5 gnomes

For more information about the Fatback Big Su Wheels visit – www.fatbackbikes.com

The 27.5 fat tire selection continues to expand and this is the second tire that 45NRTH has offered in the 27.5 size (the other being the Dillinger 4). For those of you not familiar with the 45NRTH line of tires, the Van Helga is their more aggressive 4″ tire that is designed for “all-round mixed conditions” riding. They come in two flavors of casing, 60 tpi and 120 tpi with the listed retail cost of $90 and $115 respectively.

Here are all the nerdy details for the 120 tpi 27.5 x 4″ Van Helga:

• Tire width on 70 mm inner width rim: 3.8″ casing, 3.7″ knobs (freshly mounted and @ 8 psi)
• Diameter: 770 mm measured (freshly mounted and @ 8psi), 45NRTH list it at 772 mm
• Bead-to-bead: 238 mm
• Center knob height: ~5 mm
• Intermediate knob height: ~5.5 mm
• Side knob height: ~5.5 mm
• Weight: 1,405 and 1,420 g (published weight 1,410g)

These are rated as being tubeless compatible and they have been great in this regard. I have taken them on/off a couple times and they pop right into place and hold air well even without sealant. They also do not seem to be excessively tight on the rims so they are not too big of a pain to take off.

Unlike the Terrene and Maxxis 27.5 x 3.8/4″ tire options, 45NRTH hasn’t tried to make a super low profile tire. The stated rationale for the lower profile tires is that they ride more like “normal” MTB tires with less bounce. The flip side of this is that they are smaller in overall diameter and therefore lose some of their roll-over ability and float. Regardless of where theory meets dirt or snow, these are about 20 mm bigger overall diameter than the Maxxis 27.5 x 3.8 Minions, Terrene Cake Eaters, Bontrager Hodag… Measure your frame before ordering to make sure these tires will fit your bike. I am hearing that some fat bikes that were sold as “27.5” are not fitting some of the bigger diameter tires that are now coming out.

From what I can tell, the tread design is the same as the 26″ version of the Van Helga with all sorts of siped and braced lugs. The 26″ version has a great reputation for being really grippy in a wide variety of conditions and based on the few rides I have had in everything from dry dirt, to mud, to 5″ of fresh snow it seems like the 27.5 version will add to that reputation.

Cornering traction has been good but drive and braking traction have been what has impressed me the most so far. I have spent most of the time riding these tires in slippery conditions (lots of leaves, mud and snow) and have been able to claw my way up stuff that my riding partners have really struggled with. The tires also have been clearing well which helps in the sloppy conditions I have been in recently. This is likely due to the open tread design but also the many of the knobs being slightly ramped on all sides has to help also. More riding impressions to come.

I also plan to weigh in more in a mid-term report about the taller profile of these tires compared to many other 27.5 fat options. I have been bouncing back and forth between the Cake Eaters and the Van Helgas and through that am working on a more nuanced perspective on the pros/cons of each philosophy (Cake Eater being low profile and Van Helgas being taller). Early indications are that the lower profile tires are less bouncy and have a more “normal MTB” feeling but also have a much more narrow rideable pressure window. How that all shakes out is still a mystery so more to come on that front!

At the beginning of this winter I got a bunch of tires to test, mostly of the 27.5 fat variety. Of the tires I have available, I have been riding the 27.5×4 45NRTH Van Helgas far more than anything else. Part of this is because Mother Nature had been stingy with snow but even more than that, I just love these tires! Before I dive into my impressions so far, if you want to geek out on numbers for these tires, check out my “first look” write up. That has all the info about how they measure, options available, cost…

I think the thing I dig so much about these tires is how big the “sweet spot” is. The way I think of the sweet spot for a tire is that it is the range of conditions where a tire has the ability to perform in the top 10ish% of tires available. Some tires like the 27.5 Van Helga seem like they are a great option in a really wide range of conditions and other tires only have a very narrow range of (if any) conditions where they shine. Tires with a narrow range suck unless you have the time, inclination and conditions intel to swap them out frequently (and God help you if your ride has a wide range of conditions). With the Van Helgas, you can “run what you brung” and can be confident that you will have a really good setup for most conditions outside of when you have icy slip-and-slide and deep winter bottomless pow.

An important aspect to this large sweet spot is the taller profile of the tire compared to many other 3.8ish 27.5 fat tires like the Minion, Cake Eater and Hodag. You can run higher pressures with any tires in this size class but in my experience you are really limited with how low you can run the pressure on the lower profile 27.5 tire options. I have safely run the Van Helgas in 1-2 psi lower pressures than I can with the others. When you are talking the difference between 3 and 5 psi that is a huge difference in what conditions you can ride. It also allows you to more easily dial in pressures on bumpy trails so that you are maximizing comfort/rollability while not worrying about smacking your rims.

Drive traction is excellent. Even in 8″ of fresh powder I was able to lower my pressures enough to claw my way up climbs. On hard textured snow the plentiful sipes and supple casing allow the tire to grab onto micro edges. In wet sloppy snow the knobs are spaced and ramped well enough that I have never had issues with snow packing up in the tread.

Sipes grabbing snow

Cornering traction isn’t crazy good giving you that “on rails” feeling but it is still very good. For instance, a front tire like the Flowbeist or Wrathchild (both only available in 26×4.6) are going to give better absolute grip in a corner but that doesn’t mean the Van Helga is necessarily going to corner slower. The Van Helga slips and grips in a very controllable manner on everything except for the most rutted conditions. Being able to feather if the wheels are griping or slipping in a corner allows you to rail corners far harder than their absolute cornering traction would make you think you could. This predictability allows you to really push the envelope but more importantly (to me at least) it makes it so much more fun to get loose and act like a hoodlum braaping around corners.

In the fall when I was riding on dirt there were times I felt like these tires rolled a bit slow compared to something like a Jumbo Jim. I have never had that impression riding snow and ice. The Van Helga has always seemed to roll really well. This is notable because the tires are also so grippy traction-wise. This “have your cake and eat it too” nature is one of the primary aspect that make the sweet spot for this tire so big.

I don’t have a 26er Van Helga to compare the 27.5 version to but my impressions are that this is the “float-iest” 3.8″ tire I have ever been on. This is significant enough that I have headed out into challenging fresh and crusty snow conditions that I never would have considered riding with a 3.8″ tire previously (at least when I have had so many good wider tire options). If I know I am going to be breaking trail, this tire gives me enough confidence in its traction and float to go “narrow” knowing I will save a bunch of energy not compacting as big of a swath in the snow. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t going to challenge a Bud/Lou on 100’s anytime soon but it is surprisingly capable and for me personally has opened up new trail options this winter that I wouldn’t have considered otherwise.

Tubeless performance is something that I have gotten spoiled with in recent years. At this point most MTB, plus and 26 fat tires/rims just work tubeless if they are rated to be run that way. 27.5 fat has some work to be done in this regard and tire/rim manufacturers need to tighten up their specs; this winter I have felt like I am back in the early days of 26 fat and tubeless. I bring this up not to complain about the Van Helgas, rather to highlight that they are one of the 27.5 fat tires out there that have their sizing dialed and are not going to be a royal PIA. A couple months ago I didn’t appreciate this nearly enough and have to tip my hat to 45NRTH for making a 27.5 fat tire that is really nice to work with tubeless.

If it isn’t obvious by this point in the post, I am really stoked about the 27.5 Van Helga. It is a great all rounder tire that excels in a wide range of conditions. I can’t say this definitely (yet!) but all my impressions are that the 27.5 version adds a lot of breadth to the sweet spot of a great tread design.

I have been testing the 27.5 x 4.5 Terrene Cake Eaters since late fall and up until very recently Mother Nature has not been very giving with the snowfall in our area. Luckily we got about 4′ of snow in 10 days recently and it allowed me to get out and get a more well-rounded impression of what this tire has to offer the fat bike world. Before I get into all of that, if you are interested in the dimensions and some of the other details, check out the first look. It is especially important to take note of the diameter because they are huge and may not fit a lot of bikes.

I spent the majority of the time testing this tire in lower snow conditions and was impressed with its performance. Just like the other Cake Eaters I have ridden, this version rolls fast at higher pressures and has decent cornering properties. Luckily the tire retains its fast rolling speed (compared to other similar tires) as the pressure dropped. I rode a lot with people that had Dillinger 5’s, 4.6″ Wazia’s and Beasties and never felt like my setup was slower than those.

Once we got into deeper snow I felt like I had a distinct advantage over those other similar tires because the Cake Eaters were at least as good if not better traction wise in most snow conditions. The exception was when I was riding some really wet and sticky snow conditions and the snow packed up in the dense center portion of the tread. This only happened once in a significant way and for a short stretch on another ride. Each time this happened I let a little more air out, the side knobs kicked in a bit more with helping drive traction and the disadvantage of the packed snow was minimized.

I got a couple of rides in really deep snow where float and traction in loose snow are really important. Compared to the Bontrager Gnarwhal the traction seemed a bit less but float was a lot better. I need more time to tell if the float was better because the Cake Eater wasn’t sawing into the fragile base as much or if it was the volume of the tire that was helping out. For those of you looking for a Lou comparison, early indications are that the Cake Eater comes in very close on float and drive/braking traction.

Cornering traction has been decent across the board. It doesn’t have Bud-like cornering abilities in soft conditions but does really well compared to aggressive tires like the Beasties.

Having stud pockets is a huge boon. My tires came unstudded so I added some studs to keep from dying in the icy conditions we have had. The stud pockets in the Cake Eaters are distributed well so that you have good traction when the bike is upright as well as leaned over.

Being such a big tire (both in diameter and width) it isn’t exactly light but I didn’t find the weigh to be unwieldy. The fast rolling, good float, and good traction played a bigger role than the weight.

The thing I haven’t liked about these tires is that the bead is on the loose end of the spectrum compared to 27.5 fat tires from other manufacturers. You can get around this by building up the rim bed with Gorilla Tape or something similar but when I did that it made the rims too tight to run a set of Bontrager tires.

Overall I have been very impressed with these tires. They seem to have a very large sweet spot giving you good performance across a wide range of conditions. If they fit on your bike, I would highly recommend checking them out.

For more about Terrene Tires visit – https://terrenetires.com/

As I was loading up the super blingy Why Cycles Big Iron outfitted with Enve Fat Fork and M685 Wheels for testing (First Look here), Uncle Gomez says “Here – try these out while you’re at it and tell me what you think  . . .” as he shoves two folded up 27.5×4.0 45NRTH Dillingers in my hands.   Sure, why not?! You can read all the details of the tires (weights, size, etc.) here and in the First Look.  Note – these are the 120tpi Custom Studdable version (aka without studs).

So Sexy It Hurts . . .

After a couple rides on a set of (HUGE) Terrene Cake Eaters (27.5×4.5), I switched over to the Dillingers.  While the Dillingers were quite a bit smaller than the Cake Eaters, they were notably  bigger in both height and volume than their 26” counterparts.   As one would expect with a good quality tubeless ready tire, set up was a breeze, especially since they were being mounted to the new Enve M685 fat wheelset. Up until recently, Mother Nature hasn’t cooperated this year in providing copious amounts of the white stuff so during my time with the Dillingers, my time on snow was limited.  What time I did have rolling these tires on the white stuff was a positive experience.  Traction was predictable and ample in most situations.  The only time the tire came up short was when conditions got deep/soft but this isn’t really an aggressive tire, which is often warranted in such conditions.  Not quite on par with the traction of my normal snow set up of Flowbeist front and Vanhelga back, but the Dillingers rolled noticeably quicker than that combo.   This was even more evident on dirt and gravel.  Overall within the 45NRTH line, the Dillinger fits nicely between the Hüsker Dü and the Vanhelga.

On The Catwalk

Since this is a 27.5 tire (or B-Fat as some are calling it) the obvious question is – 27.5 vs 26 – what’s the fuss all about?  In a nutshell – its about contact patch.  As with the debate of 26 vs 29 of the previous decade (yeah, its been that long), the larger diameter tire offers a larger contact patch with the ground, and thus the argument goes, better traction and less deflection.   Of course, this bigger contact patch/volume comes at a weight penalty.  The 27.5×4.0 Dillinger unstudded weighs more than its 26×4.0 studded counterpart.  How this translates to on the bike, seat of the pants performance is up for debate.  On gravel, besides slightly more effort to spin the bigger rubber up to speed, I don’t know if I could really tell the difference between a 26 and 27.5.  On dirt and snow, the difference seemed to be a little more noticeable, especially at lower pressures where the larger contact patch could spread out more with the 27.5” and provide more float.   Additionally, the tread spacing on the Dillinger doesn’t cake up adding to it’s performance.  As previously mentioned, during the test period, I was able to compare the Dillinger with a 27.5×4.5 Cake Eater.  Now that was a noticeable difference.  The Cake Eaters (did I mention these tires are HUGE) and the effort to spin them up to speed took noticeably more effort than the Dillingers.  One caveat with regards to these tires though . . . due to a taller profile/volume of the 45NRTH 27.5 tires compared to 27.5 tires from other brands, these tires WILL NOT fit all frame/forks capable of running a 27.5 tire (see the FBdC First Look for reference).  This is something to consider when looking at what is otherwise a great tire. With that said, neither the Why Cycles Big Iron nor the Enve Fat Fork had any issues with clearance with the Dillinger (or the Cake Eater for that matter).

Too Sexy By far

Overall, the Dillinger’s offer a good compromise between rolling resistance and traction.  They spin up to speed with ease and predictably hook up when cornering.  Add in the fact, that they performed admirably in a wide variety of conditions, and that’s why I really liked this tire.  I don’t view them as condition specific tire (unless you choose to stud them), and in that capacity, that’s why I thought they worked so well.

Some time ago, 45NRTH released their tried & true Hüsker Dü in a 4.8″ width. Mi amigo Adam Blake had a pair and told me that they were the cat’s pajamas and hell man,  Jay Petervary rode a set on his Salsa Blackborow a thousand miles to Nome in the ITI. I’ve never tried to hide my love for really fat, moderately knobbed, fast rolling fat bike tires that possess a supple casing. It just so happens that just about perfectly describes the 45NRTH 4.8″ Hüsker Dü. One might easily add lightweight to the adjectives that describe the Hüsker Dü. That’s especially true when compared with other 4.8″ tires that are out there today. Let’s get right into the data, shall we?

Lab Notes

The two tires weighed in at 1345 &1355 grams. With the tire laid out flat the bead to bead measured 260 mm and the tread to tread width was 140 mm. When mounted on 100mm rims at ten psi the casing measured 124 mm wide and the tread to tread was 119 mm. The Gnomie Award Winning knob profile of the Hüsker Dü measured with a fancy digital tire depth gauge breaks down like this: Shoulder Knobs – 4.6 mm, Outer Intermediate Knobs – 3.3 mm, Inner Intermediate Knobs – 4.0 mm, Center Knobbage – 3.0 mm. I should really get a clipboard and a note pad for the shop but at least this way, I’m repurposing something before it gets recycled.

I like to think that I have a strong tubeless game, but this particular set of tires put up quite a tussle when it came time to mount them on a Set of HED BFR 100 mm wide rims. I got overconfident and skipped the step of pre-training the bead. I didn’t turn them inside out for a day before I tried to do a wet transfer after taking off Bud and Lou, I tried to get the beads to snap into place to no avail. My tubeless tire wizardry had met its match. So I put tubes in and inflated the tubes to set the beads. Opened one side of the bead and removed the tube, installed the tubeless valve and it still wouldn’t snap into place. Mind you, I’m using an air compressor in this battle. So I put tubes back in and inflated them to max pressure and let them sit for a few days and moved them from the super cold garage to the warm shop. After that, I took the tubes out and they snapped into place dry (no sealant). I injected 4 oz of Orange Seal Sub Zero Sealant and they’ve behaved very well since.

the proud bird with the golden tail

The wheel measured 94 7/16″ in circumference and that translates to a 30.06″ tall wheelset. I’m going to try to find some sweet groomed singletrack and maybe some spring beach riding to see how these big fat Hüsker Düs float my boat so look for a full review somewhere down the trail amigos!

For more information visit – https://45nrth.com/products/husker-du-4point8

Wrathlorde 26

An evolution of the Wrathchild, the Wrathlorde provides maximum performance in the iciest, most challenging conditions. Aggressive, tightly-spaced lugs decrease rolling resistance without compromising on traction while 300 XL concave studs tear into ice like no other tire yet.

• Deep, aggressive lugs dig into snow
• Siping creates a more conforming lug for added traction
• XL Concave studs tear into slick surfaces
• Tall side lugs provide confidence in corners

Vanhelga 26

Vanhelga, our all-around snow trail tire, has evolved to help you rule winter. The re-vamped tread pattern is optimized for braking and cornering on snowy trails all winter long. The 120 TPI, tubeless-ready tire features dual-compound rubber and siping for complete confidence in everything from powder to sloppy snow. The new Vanhelga also comes in a 60 TPI tan sidewall option to give your winter rig a whole new look. Vanhelga is the go-to tire for winter missions that cover many types of terrain and snow conditions.

Retail: $90.00 – $120.00 USD depending on size and construction

Designed for trail riding in loose snow, Vanhelga brings traction technology to an entirely new level. The latest Vanhelga features an updated tread pattern increasing ramping on the center lugs for better rolling efficiency while spreading out shoulder and side lugs to increase braking traction and provide more confidence in the corners. Dual compound rubber lengthens tread life in the center of the tire while enhancing cornering control on the sides. Triple-siped shoulder knobs boost traction on ice. The tubeless ready design delivers a super supple ride quality, further enhances grip, and saves weight. In addition to these technological advancements, Vanhelga’s deep and open tread pattern sheds snow and tracks flawlessly when the trail becomes soft and sloppy.

• Aggressively siped lugs for enhanced braking, acceleration, and cornering control
• Shovel-design side lugs provide increase braking traction and more stable cornering        than the previous Vanhelga tread pattern.
• Increased ramping on center lugs increases rolling efficiency.

Vanhelga 27.5

• Aggressively siped lugs for enhanced braking, acceleration, and cornering control
• Shovel-design side lugs provide increase braking traction and more stable cornering        than the previous Vanhelga tread pattern.
• Increased ramping on center lugs increases rolling efficiency.

For more information visit https://45nrth.com/

Last week, just as I was leaving to go to the Funduro down in Illinois, our set of 45NRTH Wrathlordes was delivered. This is the most exciting new set of tires that I’ve laid eyes on since say…the Johnny Fives last winter.

The Wrathlordes sport 300 concave studs per tire with an aggressive tread pattern and a unique 4.2″ width. At the event last weekend we awarded a set of these new studded tires so there was a fair amount of chatter about them. One of the more popular questions was, How much do they weigh? Our set of review tires tipped the scales at 1524g and 1514 g. That’s lighter than any of us had guessed.

We measured our test tires and laid out flat the Bead to Bead measurement was 238 mm and the tread to tread was 135 mm edge to edge. The tread blocks at the center are 5.5mm tall, with the intermediate knobs measuring 6.25 mm and the monster shoulder knobs measured a whopping 8 mm!

I mounted our set of Wrathlordes onto 100mm wide HED Carbon wheels and the casing measured 111.7 mm and the tread width was 105.4 mm. I wanted to mount them on our set of 80mm rims, but I discovered the disc brake mounts were cracked on the rear hub, so the initial testing of these babies had to move to these wider wheels. I’ll revisit these tires on 80mm rims as soon as we get that wheel rebuilt.

When I went for a ride this morning the temp was 19 degrees F and a fresh 3 inches of snow had fallen overnight. This year the snow riding has come early and often! November 7th, 2019 was doing a fairly convincing impression of January 2020 and there were spots that made me wish that I had studded tires on my Corvus FLT. So after my ride, I mounted these guys up and even put a pair of Wolftooth Components pogies for my next morning’s ride.

I pinged Steve at 45Nrth to see if they had any recommendations for bedding in the studs and this was the reply we received back.

It’s best to eyeball them and check any questionable ones with a stud tool. I know the industry likes to use language around “bedding” studs by riding more slowly in a straight line for a while. But in reality, the amount of direct pressure needed to set a stud can’t be achieved by riding on them. If anything, riding on a stud that isn’t bedded will more likely pop the stud out rather than drive it into place.

Steve – 45NRTH

I took the new tires out the back way along the railroad tracks where there’s a bunch of frozen puddles. In the summertime, these things are full of tadpoles, but this morning they were almost frozen solid. The air temp was 13 F. After that, I rode up to Lake Mills and took it kind of easy because I was still operating under the impression that I needed to conduct some sort of break-in period. Next ride, I’ll get a little more skiddy at the tadpole factory. I’ll be riding these guys all winter long and I’ll be sure to get them mounted to 80mm rims as soon as I can. Look for a full review somewhere down the trail, vatos!

For more information visit – https://45nrth.com/products/wrathlorde

Aloha! It’s the Holiday season and after my favorite holiday (GFBD) we coast into the new year with the other holidays and perhaps some shopping for that special fat-bike enthusiast on your gift list or maybe something nice for yourself?

This is our way of shedding some light upon what passes for sugar plum fairies in the imagination of fat-bikers around the world. Just for giggles, I took a look back at our first holiday gift guide from 2012 – https://fat-bike.com/2012/11/santas-fat-bike-x-mas-wish-list/ Things haven’t changed that much have they?

In the last few years, we’ve started a tradition of polling our product testers, about what they’d like to receive for X-mas and this year we asked them to break down our collage of fat-bike gift suggestions into categories like gifts for the new rider or the enthusiast or even the person that already seems to have everything. Huge thanks to our test crew for helping to contribute their ideas to the article – ¡Muchimas Gracias! to JP Syverud, Julio, Greg Gentle & Tony Grande! The internets keep telling me that it’s cyber-monday so enough with the blither-blather let the parade of gift ideas begin!

Gifts for the Rookie

One of the essentials for winter ride shenanigans is a stuffable puffy Jacket. I like to carry one with synthetic insulation and a hood, but that’s me. You can find this sort of jacket from almost every brand. Duluth Trading Alaskan Gear is available in bonus sizes for my Clydesdale and Athena amigos!

For the Rookie -> The Lezyne Micro Floor Drive XL, It’s invaluable on rides when airing down for conditions and then being able to air back up quickly.  https://ride.lezyne.com/collections/hand-pumps-high-volume-trail/products/1-mp-mfdr-xl-v104https://fat-bike.com/2016/09/preview-lezyne-micro-floor-drive-xl/

Merino Wool base layer – Icebreaker or SmartWool are our top pics. 

Revelate Mag Tank Mag-Tank – Cockpit | Revelate Designs LLC
Mag-Tank – Cockpit | Revelate Designs LLCCOCKPIT | Mag-Tank: Flip top bag with magnetic closure

Pogies to keep your hands warm while maintaining your dexterity for shifting and braking. Some of our Favorites come from Revelate Designs, 45NRTH, Wolftooth Components & Bar Mitts

A good pair of FITS Merino Wool Socks to keep your toes nice and toasty!

Blinkie Lights – The gift that might save someone’s life. PDW – Asteroid – https://ridepdw.com/collections/lights/products/asteroid-light-set?variant=24825546369 . Bontrager – Bontrager Ion 200 RT/Flare RT Light Set – https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/equipment/cycling-accessories/bike-lights/bike-light-sets/bontrager-ion-200-rt/flare-rt-light-set/p/23710/?colorCode=black

Up that rookie’s game with a Framed Alaskan Carbon Fiber Fat-Bike – https://www.framedbikes.com/collections/fat-bikes

Gifts for the Enthusiast

Studded Tires are on every fat-biker’s wish list. The New 45NRTH Wrathlorde rocks 300 xl concave studs per tire and the gnarliest tread.

Nothing Beats the pairing of the Surly Bud and Lou and now they come tubeless ready!

Speaking of Tubeless – Tubeless wheels make getting your bead to seal a snap and despite what you might think, you don’t have to break the bank for a really nice light set of wheels.

Check out the Big Su and Wide Ride Wheels from Fatback

Custom-fit Cedaero Frame Bag to carry all of the fun stuff.  https://www.cedaero.com/

Revelate Designs Mountain Feedbag Mountain Feedbag – Cockpit | Revelate Designs LLC

GORE Thermal Bibs – https://www.gorewear.com/us/en-us/gore-c5-thermo-bib-tights-100365.html

Bontrager Blaze Wavecell Bontrager Blaze WaveCel Mountain Bike Helmet | Trek Bikes

ALT bars such as Jones H-bar ( https://www.jonesbikes.com/h-bars/ ) Surly’s Moloko Bar ( https://surlybikes.com/parts/moloko_bar ) and my favorite The OddSheep Bars (https://www.odditycycles.com/product-page/oddsheep ) – They are fantastic for longer rides by giving you hand placement options a-plenty, and more space to strap more things on when Bikepacking.

The best outerwear from Bontrager – OMW Jacket and Pants

45NRTH Wolvehammer Boa Boots – https://45nrth.com/products/wolvhammer-boa

Start your favorite enthusiast on the path to becoming the person that has everything with a Fatback Corvus! – https://shop.fatbackbikes.com/corvus.html

Gifts for the Person that already has (almost) Everything

For the Longbeard/beer geek – uKeg 128 Stainless double walled insluated stainless steel presurized growler

For the one who has it all and likes to ride it all (dirt, snow, & sand) – the Reeb Donkadonk w/ a Pinion Gearbox.  Near maintenance free drive-train, yes please.  American made Steel or Titanium, yes or yes.  Fits the fattest of the fat tires, o’yea!  I can and will dream of the day. – https://reebcycles.com/bikes/fat/donkadonk/

KORA – Merino and Yak Wool Apparel – https://us.kora.net/ https://www.facebook.com/koraoutdoor/

SWRV Softshell regular trousers.  Race these in -13 below and they look good enough to wear to the office Christmas party or church if that’s your jam.  https://swrve.us/collections/trousers/products/softshell-trousers

Bearclaw Bikes Beaux Jaxon – https://bearclawbicycleco.com/beaux-jaxon-titanium-gravel-plus-bike/

Reeb Hooptie – https://reebcycles.com/bikes/klunker/hooptie/

All three of our gift categories would probably love a gift certificate from their local bike shop! Even someone that has everything will need a new cassette or chain now and then! Happy Holidays and Buena Suerte Amigos!

.

I found a box in the mail a few days ago. Inside was a set of new tires from the Vee Tire Co. that Gomez thought just might fit on my 2019 Beargrease with 27.5 wheels. The frame is officially rated for max 4-inch tires on 80mm rims. I was a little concerned about the listed 4.5-inch width but gave it a try anyway. I have a history of stuffing tires into frames that aren’t supposed to work. 

These tires aren’t messing around. Weighing in at 1683g and 1654g, they have some heft. The set I received is labeled as tubeless ready, 120tpi, and sporting a silica compound. I’m thinking these would be a solid choice for expedition riding. The sidewalls are burly but still pliable. 

This is a similar chevron tread to a Dillinger, but with bigger knobs. From outside to center knobs, I took a quick measurement of the knob heights. The outside knobs come in at a hearty 7.2mm. Moving inwards, the next row measures 6.1mm and has a stud pocket on every knob. The not-quite-center knobs are 5.7mm and come equipped for studs on every other pocket. Taking center stage, a full row of 5.4mm knobs keep things rolling. Laid flat, the tires measured 254mm from bead to bead (10 inches) from edge to edge of the tread they measured 125.4mm (5.937 inches).

I mounted these up tubeless on my Mulefut 80mm rims. It took a few tries with my tubeless reservoir pump, but they popped on the bead quickly enough without a ton of fuss. Right off the bat, I measured the casing at 107mm (4.2 inches) and the tread at 106mm (4.17 inches). Both of those were at 8psi before they had time to stretch out like my pants during the holidays. Stringing out the circumference, I got 2463.8mm (97 inches) which converts into 784.2mm tall (30.87). I will check these again after a couple of months of high and low pressure riding to see if they change.

Vee also sent two fat-tire stud kits that I will plug in after a few weeks of riding studless. The stud kits each are labeled as 250 studs, while the tires have 254 stud pockets each. Each pack had about 8 extra studs so everything should work out in the end. Each set of studs weighed in at 64 grams. That works out to about a quarter gram per stud for you weight weenies. I also weighed the stud installation tools. The first came in at a reasonable 55grams which is one gram less than a regulation tennis ball. When I measured the second installation tool, it was a whole 65 grams which are as heavy as a C cell battery! My handy dandy digital caliper tells me that the round-tipped studs are 5.6mm (0.22 inches) tall.

Keep an eye on Fat-Bike.com for my thoughts on how the tires perform and hold up to commuting, exploring general tomfoolery, and advanced tomfoolery on everything from pavement to polished ice. 

Check out more from Vee Tire at – VeeTire.com

I wanted to post an update about these 45NRTH Wrathlorde 26 x 4.2 studded tires. We initially mounted these bad boys on a set of 100mm rims and published a report here. We read some of your interesting comments about the Wrathlordes on our social media feed. One cat said we had created a very dangerous situation. I thought “dangerous for who?” As I mentioned in our last post, we wanted to mount the tires to an 80mm rim so as soon as we got our Reynolds/I9 set of wheels back in service I did a quick wet tire swap and the tires held air overnight on the first try.

The Wrathlordes 4.2″ width makes more sense on an 80 mm rim, but call me crazy…I’d run them on 65mm rims, 90mm rims and I’ve already run them on 100mm rims. Hell, I ran an 80mm rim in the front and a 100mm rim in the rear for a week or two, while we were getting things sorted with our rear hub. I9 rebuilt our hub and upgraded the free-hub. (Hydra = ultra-swank).

All of that being said, these tires look fat-gnar-propper when mounted on 80 mm rims. The widest shoulder knob is a couple of mm wider than the casing and that’s just how I like it. My hat’s off to the folks at 45NRTH. These tires are 4.2 inches wide (when mounted to 80mm rims) and that’s the number printed on the tire label. That doesn’t always happen in the bicycle world. We salute you for bringing some order to a cycling world filled with chaos.

We measured the Wrathlordes mounted to a Reynold Elite Carbon rim inflated to 10 psi. The casing measured 106.6mm (4.2 inches) wide and the tread (edge to edge) was 107.5mm.

I posted a picture or three of my bike, Ten Beers with the Wrathlordes to our Instagram feed with a Thundercat hashtag. I don’t just throw around references to the T-Cats lightly. It’s one of the highest compliments that I could give to an off-road tire. I believe that Panthro would approve of the cat-like traction that the Wolflordes exhibit. These Wrathlordes are studded fat-bike tires on steroids!

I’ve had a half dozen snow rides on the tires, but nothing deeper than 3-4 inches so I think that the jury is still out on the overall winter review of the Wrathlordes. Down by the RR tracks, the smooth ice and trace snow over ice performance has been impressive. I’ve ridden more dirt with these tires and they rip on frozen dirt (most tires do). The Wrathlorde has set a new bar for studded fat-bike tires. 45NRTH combined big gnarly tread with 300 XL concave studs and somewhat miraculously they only weigh 1500 grams!

In the last month we’ve lost a few studs in each of our test tires. Something to keep in mind. We should keep some extra studs around to replace the ones that take a powder. So far, I’m stoked about these bad boys. I’m not giving these up till…well ever. These are mine, you’ll have to get your own.

I’ll have a report down the line about how they do in deep snow and layer cake groomed snow, and corn snow, chunk and super chunk, slush, slush salad, crust, snirt (snow mixed w/dirt), frost, polycrystals, powder, dendrite and all manners and types of snowpack.

For more information visit – https://45nrth.com/products/wrathlorde

It’s been a number of years since I’ve ridden a pair of 45NRTH Van Helga Tires. The best that I can tell, it was back in 2014. We’ve published two reviews by a couple of different product testers and the results are all pretty positive. Ken Blakey-Shell wrote, “I think the thing I dig so much about these tires is how big the “sweet spot” is. The way I think of the sweet spot for a tire is that it is the range of conditions where a tire has the ability to perform in the top 10ish% of tires available. Some tires like the 27.5 Van Helga seem like they are a great option in a really wide range of conditions and other tires only have a very narrow range of (if any) conditions where they shine. With the Van Helgas, you can be confident that you will have a really good setup for most conditions outside of when you have ice or deep powder.”

Aaron Hautala said this about the Van Helgas. “Even though Vanhelga was not designed for the dirt, it performed incredibly well there. At first glance, I assumed the tread would have a 5 out of 5 rating for Traction….and It does. However, what took me aback is the limited rolling resistance this tire created on the dirt. Drop the post, point your hips, and throw your weight into it. Seriously powerful traction, to the point where I’d say “whoooooooooooah” coming around the corners due to the gravity fest.”

The wrinkle that has the Tan Helgas back in the spotlight is a new 60 tpi version with tan sidewalls. Tan in place of Van (it’s a play on words). Last week, I interviewed Cole House after his win at the Snow Crown Shelltrack race and we talked about his ride on a set of 45NRTH 27.5×4 Tan Helgas. You can listen to that interview HERE. Let’s take a look at these new school retro sneakers with this popular race-proven tread pattern!

Our two test tires weighed in at 1422, 1423 grams. With the tire laid out flat the bead to bead measured 224mm and the tread to tread was 125mm. The tread on the Tan Helgas center knobs are 5mm tall with intermediate knobs at 5.5mm and shoulder knobs at 4mm.

The tread is heavily siped and consists of alternating rows of five and then four chunky knobs. The Tan Helgas came right out of the packaging to get mounted on a pair of Fatback Big Su 27.5 x 75mm wheels. Both tires mounted with a resounding POP on the very first shot from our California Quiet air compressor. I injected two syringes of Stan’s in the front and two syringes of smurfy blue Bontrager TLR sealant in the rear. The next day, I had to add a little air but after they got ridden they set up air-tight. The Tan Helgas grade out very high for their easy tubeless set-up.

The Tan Helgas mounted to the Big Su’s measured 100.5mm wide at the casing and 98mm wide at the outer edge of the tread.

The Tan Wall version that we’re testing has a 60 tpi casing. The Black version comes in a 120 tpi casing. So far, I haven’t felt any negative effects but I’ve been running between 8-12 psi for a little dirt and mixed pavement gravel riding while winter hit the reset button before the new year. We’ll see how things go at lower pressures on snow in the upcoming weeks. The Van Helgas are designed for groomed snow, so that’s what we’ll be hunting over the next month. I’ll be piling up the miles and report back somewhere down the (groomed) trail amigos!

For more information about the 45NRTH Van Helgas visit – 45NRTH.com

Terrene Tire created an aggressive new tire designed to give ‘the Surly’ Bud & Lou and Vee 2XL a run for their money as far as holding the title as the biggest and most aggressive fat-bike tires available (in the WORLD!) It’s been a while since we published our first look, so we’ve inserted some of the initial measurement information that we collected at the time along with an update of tire width after any stretch that might have occurred.

The Terrene Johnny 5 (26 x 5.0) by the numbers:

Weight – 1820g, 1802g

Flat Bead to Bead – 266mm

Flat Tread to Tread – 147mm

Just after mounting (tubeless) the casing measured 123.25mm wide. The tires expanded to 123.43 by the next morning. Both measurements were taken with the tire pressure at 10 psi

Mounted to HED 100mm rims at 10psi

Tread – New – 122.41mm — Current – 123.1

Overall Height – 30.1996 inches

Overall Front Wheel Weight – 2930g

Tread Depth

Outer Shoulder Knobs – 6.6mm

Middle Knobs – 6.25mm

Center Knobs – 5mm

The photo to the (right) is a side by side comparison of a 26×5.0 Johnny 5 and a 26×4.8 Surly Lou with both tires mounted to HED 100mm wide rims and inflated to 10 psi. The Johnny 5’s are 1.4mm wider and .1429 of an inch shorter than the Lou. That’s what I would call very similar in size.

I had to see how these bad boys look on Ten Beers (photo below). The shoulder lugs on this tread pattern are the biggest that I’ve seen and the center chevrons have a cut out that makes them look like they’d gouge into the ground with righteous fury and maximum levels of traction!

Ten Beers plus two Johnny Fives equals ______.

Johnny 5’s fit fine in the Corvus FLT

The True Detective Dime Novel Johhny 5 Tire Review

Back in 2018, these tires came out with some serious hype, like they were the next (Beatles) or Bud & Lou. We sent them over to Michigan and Mother Nature decided to shut off the lake effect bands for a spell so we missed out on the snow criteria that our product tester was looking for and the tires never received an official F-B.c review. I did discuss the Johnny 5 tires with Greg Matyas from Fatback Bikes up in Anchorage on the premiere episode of the Danger Gnome Podcast. This is what he had to say.

These tires have such insane hook-up. I can’t imagine there’s a better tire for grip!

Greg Matyas

At long last, Mother Nature, in a bi-lateral agreement with gnomes, has leveraged the jet-fresh-flow, which means that we’ve received enough snow to actually require grooming. Well…maybe if you’re riding a lesser tire mounted to mere 80mm wide rims. Our J5’s are mounted tubeless to a set of HED 100mm rims that are laced to Onyx Racing Hubs. That’s BIG on BIG ladies and gentlemen! With this setup, I have no problem riding in six inches of ungroomed snow. I went out and did what we used to call ‘free-forest thrashing’ which amounts to riding through the woods picking your own lines around large deadfalls, following deer paths. This kind of low speed ‘stomping’ is popular with some of my Iowegien amigos and a nice thick layer of snow actually helps the situation, The J5’s performed admirably with maximum flotation and excellent traction!

The day after the first six-inch blanket of snow fell, I went out to our local singletrack and laid down first tracks, essentially, grooming the two loops the ‘old school’ method. That first pass was hard but doable and with every pass after, it just got better! The next big storm produced eight-inches of snow along with a little freezing precipitation that formed a fragile crust on top. So with melt-back, etc. we ended up with 8-10″ of high moisture snow in a layer cake sort of set-up, In those conditions, the Johnny 5’s could still make a go of it on the flats, but as soon as I’d hit a climb, it was ‘hike a bike’.

After riding in that first six-inch layer of snow, it reminded me of why fat-biking became much more popular (and fun) after trail grooming became more prevalent. Back before trails were machine groomed, I’d always go out and snowshoe my local loop. After a couple of freeze-thaw cycles, if you catch it while frozen you’ve got tight ridable trail. After the second storm created the layer cake, my wife and I went out and snowshoed one pass on the two loops and the next day, I went out and rode a few laps. The j5’s at 5 psi soaked up all of the irregularities that are inherent from snowshoes and locked in climbing traction just as Greg Matyas had described. I did manage to push the front tire hard enough to wash out a couple of times on flowy downhill corners. It’s hard not to make a mental comparison to how a Bud might perform in a similar situation. At 5 psi, there’s room to drop a little air and possibly eke out additional cornering traction but IMHO the Surly Bud retains a slight edge vs the J5 (as a front tire) and it would be too close to call as to how the J5 would compare to Lou as a rear tire.

One of my regular routes consists of a variety of surfaces that include some pavement. I almost always start that loop with 10 psi and lower the pressure as needed. One of the more surprising characteristics of the J5’s is their relatively low rolling resistance for such a large and aggressively knobbed tire.

Our set of test tires have spent a couple seasons on both sides of Lake Michigan and had plenty of time to settle into their true stable volume. Johnny Five measures 123mm. (that’s 4.8 inches) so the J5 is still the same size as the Surly Bud & Lou and definitely not a five-inch tire like the Vee 2XL. That being said, this is probably more tire than anyone needs 98% of the time. (at least in the Great Lakes where we have high moisture content snow). That percentage might change if you ride in a region that gets more powdery snow. You have to decide for yourself the practicality of purchasing a super-fat aggressive tire based on the kind of conditions that you ride.

Have the Johnny 5’s replaced the Surly Bud& Lou or the Specialized Ground Control tires as the best 26 x 4.8 tire option? When this long-ass test started, the J5’s held the advantage of being tubeless-ready over the competition. This summer Surly released the tubeless versions of Bud & Lou so that became a wash. The J5’s still have the advantage of having the ability to accept studs. The thing that has us wringing our hands is the fact that Terrene hasn’t returned any of our attempts to contact them since the spring of 2019 (almost a year) and we’re hearing from trusted sources that we’re not the only people that have been getting zero responsiveness from them. The last that we heard, Terrene is moving their offices to Duluth and they’ve hired a new person to run sales, but we can’t publish any sort of full-throated endorsement of any company’s product if they choose to operate that way. So if you decide to purchase any tire from Terrene, you (or the bicycle shop that you bought them from) may have a difficult time getting any support after the sale. I hope that situation changes because we have a ton of respect and admiration for their brand and the people that are behind the brand…however we also take our responsibility to give our readers the kind of information that will help them make well-informed buying decisions just as seriously.

The bottom line is the Johnny 5 is a great high volume aggressive 4.8 inch rear tire. It’s good…but not as great as Bud as a front tire. I love big fat 4.8″ tires, but lately, I find myself riding 4″ tires more often.

I made a trip to what I like to call the belly of the beast, Schaumburg, Illinois, yesterday to browse groovy cycling wares at the CABDA Midwest Expo. CABDA has been around for a long, long time. Way back in the last century, the shop that I worked at (ABC Cyclery) used to prep and assemble all of the Miyata display bikes for the CABDA Show. Back then, the show was at a place called Pheasant Run. CABDA’s current venue is exponentially better than Pheasant Run or the Rosemont location that they’ve engaged in the past.

After the demise of Interbike, CABDA expanded its show schedule to three regional shows that span across the US from Coast to Coast. The big three brands don’t come to CABDA, but there’s always something good to see at a bike show and this one was no exception! I got to see one of my oldest friends (NORM!) and even saw Crazy Chris Daisy there. This is what caught our eye and perhaps even tickled our fancy at this year’s CABDA MidWest!

Lezyne showed me a cool tubeless tire repair kit that allows you to repair and re-inflate a tubeless tire in a single process. The CO2 is injected into the tire through the repair needle (that also holds the repair bacon strip). This could be the racers’ dream set-up for tubeless tire repairs out on the trail.

Gravel is the new Fat. There, I said it. Sram has a full gravel group and after you read the rest of my report, you may have to comb the gravel out of your hair. It’s that gravely.

The Pivot Vault with ISO Flex Technology to dampen road chatter looks like a race machine!

Ortlieb bags are totally smurfy. They had a couple of cool innovations in their Booth. Commuters will definitely dig these integrated lights and get ready to get organized with packing cubes for panniers.

Do you know what would be really nice after a long dusty gravel ride? A hot shower! It sort of looks like a torpedo or a giant fire cracker and has be pretty heavy when filled to the top. The road shower 4 from Yakima!

The Masi CXGR Expert is one hawt little gravel crusher for the steel is real crowd.

You wanna know what else takes the edge off of class five gravel. Carbon bars and Lauf Forks.

Thomson showing some 48mm flared carbon drops along with Carbon and Titanium risers – giddyup!

Niner knows gravel is en fuego. Check out the MCR 9 RDO!!

The Jamis Renegade C1 adventure bike in the hot new colorway that seems to taken hold for 2020 – Like the Tacoma Tan Rasta combo. Are the adjectives adventure and gravel synonyms in bike-speak?

Sidi had two pairs of Zapatos that looked cool. That bottom pair is especially interesting for warmer weather. Probably great for….gravel.

Feedback Sports has a really nice assortment of tools for the home mechanic. The portable stand and tool roll below would be a great resource to have at gravel races or bike festivals of any sort.

Let’s take a short break from our gravel cavalcade to allow me a shout-out to my amigo Destro! Do you see that shiny gold platform pedal (upfront and far right)? You need those on your Chumba. Xpedo Pedals

I so want to take this thing off some sweet jumps! Someone please send us one. We’ll launch that sucker like a rocket, n’stuff. The Sun Baja Trike (or as I call her ‘the temptress’).

KHS Kids Roadie, or dare we say….gravel?

The Best cut-away award goes to Onyx Racing! I’ve ridden a set of these hubs for the last 5 years and I give them a solid 5 gnome salute for totally maintenance-free buttery smooth smiles.

KHS actually had one of these fat-gravel bikes hanging in their booth (weird)

Nobody does the matching sock and glove thing better than Tasco Double Digits.

Studded Johnny Fives!!!

I went rim shopping. I think the Krampus will be rocking a set of Stans Sentry MK3 rims laced to a set of White Industries Hubs with either 29×2.8 Terevail Coronados (for dirt, chunck or gravel) or 29x 2.5 Surly Extraterrestrials (for regulation class five gravel)

Summer weight merino wool ride tops from 100% (2020 Tacoma Tan) #gravelicious

Old Man Mountain Racks are back! The Robert Axle Project acquired the company last summer and they’ve relaunched the most versatile rack design on the market.