My new Wired Magazine article about fat, supple tires

[Joe Ray]

Hi Gang,

Along with being a Homer owner, my day job is as a journalist for Wired magazine. My regular beat is kitchen equipment, but this past weekend I had a story out about the glories of riding on fat, supple tires:

https://www.wired.com/story/fat-bike-tires-are-better-than-skinny-bike-tires/

In it, I interview Russ Roca of the A Path Less Pedaled Youtube channel (and Sam Hillborne owner), Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarterly/Rene Herse, and ace bike mechanic Steve Gadingan at Seattle's Bike Works. Of course, Rivendell shows up in there, too.

Turns out it was the most popular story on Wired for the holiday weekend--we might be on to something! ;)

I invite you to read it and would love to hear your thoughts.

Cheers and happy riding!

Joe

[Tom M]

Great article; lots of good info. Really liked idea that the best bike is the one you love.

Tom in Alexandria, VA

[Josh (BertoBerg)]

Hi Joe-

Hello from Seattle and thanks for sharing the article! I’m glad you mentioned the usually unmentioned downside of wider, heavier tires…slower acceleration. Something to keep in mind when selecting a tire size for a particular route or group riding style.

Josh

Seattle, WA

[Ted Durant]

On Wednesday, May 29, 2024 at 6:42:21 PM UTC-5 Joe Ray wrote:

Along with being a Homer owner, my day job is as a journalist for Wired magazine. My regular beat is kitchen equipment, but this past weekend I had a story out about the glories of riding on fat, supple tires:

Nice to see you here, Joe. Apple News was very sure I wanted to read that article. Haven't, yet, but I will now!

Ted Durant

Milwaukee WI USA

[John Rinker]

Fine article Joe! I imagine there will now be a run on Riv bikes and RH tires. The more people on bikes, the better!

Cheers, John

[Ted Durant]

On Wednesday, May 29, 2024 at 6:42:21 PM UTC-5 Joe Ray wrote:

Along with being a Homer owner, my day job is as a journalist for Wired magazine. My regular beat is kitchen equipment, but this past weekend I had a story out about the glories of riding on fat, supple tires:

I enjoyed the sidebar with all the appropriate disclaimers to head off the inevitable internet feedback on how uninformed you are. And a shoutout to 603 ...you have definitely been drinking Grant's Kool-Aid!

[Jim Kramka]

Jan Heine has been researching and writing about tire width, tire pressure, and treads for many years. Check out his online journal. He persuaded me to go to wider tires at lower pressures and I've never looked back. https://www.renehersecycles.com/journal/

Jim

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[Matthew Rebmann]

I can't say that I have noticed a slower take-off with bigger tires. I have 48's on both my Midnight Special and my Polyvalent and I feel quite snappy from a dead stop.

[Joe Ray]

Thanks Ted,

Was definitely thinking about all the potential feedback--and wishing 603s became a thing so I could plug them into my older bikes.

Thanks for the good words!

Joe

[Steve]

Joe, thanks for posting the link to your article. Well done! 

I currently have three bikes with tire widths, in ascending order, from 40 to 48mm.  I also recently gifted a fourth bike to my daughter - a late 90s race bike I converted from 700c to  650b with 38mm RH slicks mounted beneath VO fenders. (The poor girl, all she had for road riding was a carbon fiber Liv with naked 23mm tires!!!).  

You might say I'm a true believer. 

Steve in AVL

[Armand Kizirian]

It was about 2013-4, I felt like I was on the cutting edge of bike innovation as a 23 year old converting my Salsa Vaya from 700x35 to 650x48. I'll never forget that first commute from those panaracer pasela's to the compass (now rene herse) 48's. Magic carpet ride indeed!

Joe, how would you describe the arc of your writing career to be a journalist for Wired?

[Jay]

I know a lot of roadies, who don't mountain bike, who have never tried a tire about 30-32mm.  Before these nice, supple tires became more readily available I had mountain biked and had tires for riding that bike on the roads (off-season), and then I got into cx bikes I had 32mm (ish) tires, and they were all awful (and over-inflated!).  When I went up to 40mm that was an improvement.  A supple tire of anywhere north of 32-35, on a bike that is not overly stiff, pumped to the right pressure, tubeless if you like, is magic.

Nice article!

[Patrick Moore]

IME, even very supple skinny tires can be surprisingly smooth if not pumped too hard; I recall being surprised almost 35 years ago at how smooth 23 mm Specialized 26X1" Turbos felt compared to overinflated 35 mm Fatboys (I thought then that the label max pres was the correct pressure). Much later, Michelin Pro Races at 22 mm actual on narrow rims felt surprisingly comfortable at 80 f/90r, and today's 28 mm (actual, skinny rims) Elk Passes feel almost pillow-like at 55/60 except over the damned 8" to 12" expansion bumps on my access road that I keep meaning to complain to the city about.

Speaking of which: I'm curious about others' preferences for air pressure: what pressure for what tire -- width, type of casing -- on what surfaces. I recently started riding my ~49 mm (27 mm IW rims) regular casing Oracle Ridges at 17 psi, down from the 20 that felt harsh over horse hoof chop and stutter bumps, and yes, 17 feels smoother over small bumps while not compromising the road-tire-like handling (on the Matt #1) on pavement -- the ORs handle like the slick Soma Supple Vitesse SLs on pavement, and both tires make the bike handle as I'd asked Chauncey to make it handle, much like my Riv Roads.

Current preferred pressures for max bump comfort with pavement cornering precision:

ORs ~49 mm actual, combined pavement and (sandy) dirt: 17 psi.

Extralight 559X42 mm Naches Passes, mostly pavement, brief firmer dirt: 30/35. I expect I could use as low as 25/30 but this bike sees 30-40 lb rear loads.

175 gram 559X28 mm Elk Passes: pavement: 55/60, and were it not for expansion cracks I guess I could drop 5 psi from each.

I used to put 20 psi in the 61 mm paper-thin sidewall Big Ones but now I'd drop that to under 17; cornering on pavement be damned, they never did corner crisply, and I expect that at 15-16 with 27 mm IW rims the sidewalls would remain stable.

I rode the 72 mm actual WTB Rangers as low as 12-13; since these were ridden almost always on sandy soil, and I'd have used that as the norm except that these were tubeless tires on ~20-21 mm IW non-tubeless rims, so I usually kept them at 15.

Patrick Moore, who wishes that the Elk Passes measured closer to the labeled 32 mm on the admittedly 13 mm IW rims.

[Dan]

Patrick,

I run 35psi on my 43mm GK SKs for all conditions. 

35psi for road and 30psi for unpaved on my 43mm GK SS+. 

I have 55mm Ultradynamico Mars Robustos on my Appaloosa, and it’s a new world for me. So far I’ve tried 30psi (too firm) and 25psi, which feels very nice on and off road. I wonder how low I could or should go?

[Joe Ray]

Thanks Patrick,

How many bikes is that?!

Picking up on your last point, I had a set of 700x38 Barlow Pass XLs on there which, after 8-10 months of riding measured 40mm on my rims, then swapped to Snoqualmie Pass 44 XLs, and, on the same rims...also 40...even after a couple months of riding, and a few days in storage pumped to the max on the sidewall.

I'm running 40 psi on those, which is about the minimum on the RH Tire Calculator. Feels great.

Joe

[Richard Rose]

The RH pressure calculator is enlightening. On my Clem I run Simworks Homage 55mm tires with tubes. I normally have them at 25-30psi which is pretty much in line with RH as is the 30-35psi range when loaded for a Sub24. I’ve been toying with giving the 43 Homage a try as I am going off road less with the Clem since getting my Gus. But RH suggests 35-45psi for those. That sounds like a noticeably rougher ride to me?

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 4, 2024, at 1:49 AM, Joe Ray <joe...@gmail.com> wrote:



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