- Local time
- 3:57 PM
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2020
- Messages
- 9,368
- Reaction score
- 22,455
- Location
- western Maryland
I try and keep in shape, and during the nice months I ride my mountain bike quite a bit. I live half a mile from a decommissioned, 500+ acre Army base so I have all sorts of space to ride in, with no traffic and no "load it up, drive it somewhere, unload it..." (although if I want to do that, I can go to the C&O Canal on the Potomac for a nice 35 mile sunday ride). My current ride is a Cannondale Fat Caad fat tire bike that I LOVE - lightweight, stiff frame; hardtail with a solid fork; hydraulic disc brakes; 27 speeds; and the fat tires make for awesome suspension over rocks, trails, and potholes.
My issue at the moment is, I need to find tires before this season starts. I'm looking for something not-too-aggressive down the center, for decreased rolling resistance, but with decent side lugs for handling on uneven terrain. Ideally I'll get dual compound tires - hard in the middle, soft and sticky on the sides - but that's a secondary concern at the moment. Finding tires for this beast in general, though, can be a bear - it takes 26x4.50 tires; fork and triangle spacing will fit up to about a 4.80 wide tire. I could go as narrow as a 4" on the rims, but then I'd lose some of the suspension characteristics.
Are there any other cyclists here on the forum who may have a good local shop, who might have stuff like this? I like to support local shops when I can, but it's looking more and more like I'll be stuck with Amazon or ebay to get my tires....my local guy is literally "a guy", and he deals more in traditional MTB stuff and street/velo stuff, as opposed to the fat tire bikes, so he doesn't have much access to the tires I'm looking for.
My issue at the moment is, I need to find tires before this season starts. I'm looking for something not-too-aggressive down the center, for decreased rolling resistance, but with decent side lugs for handling on uneven terrain. Ideally I'll get dual compound tires - hard in the middle, soft and sticky on the sides - but that's a secondary concern at the moment. Finding tires for this beast in general, though, can be a bear - it takes 26x4.50 tires; fork and triangle spacing will fit up to about a 4.80 wide tire. I could go as narrow as a 4" on the rims, but then I'd lose some of the suspension characteristics.
Are there any other cyclists here on the forum who may have a good local shop, who might have stuff like this? I like to support local shops when I can, but it's looking more and more like I'll be stuck with Amazon or ebay to get my tires....my local guy is literally "a guy", and he deals more in traditional MTB stuff and street/velo stuff, as opposed to the fat tire bikes, so he doesn't have much access to the tires I'm looking for.
