Unmatched comfort
Among hard-tail e-bikes, that is, e-bikes that don’t feature rear suspension, you can’t find an e-bike that offers a more comfortable ride than a fat-tire model. We don’t often discuss this, but optimal pressure for a four-in.-wide tire is less than 10 psi, and it can approach 5 psi if the tires are being run tubeless, rather than with inner tubes.
Running such low pressures makes the tires a bigger contributor to a rider’s comfort than a suspension fork. This is because a suspension fork does very little to give a rider comfort at the saddle, and how comfortable we are where we sit has a bigger effect on our overall perception of comfort than how comfortable our hands are.
Traction that can’t be beat
The combination of knobby tires and a “footprint” bigger than a toddler’s shoe means that a fat-tire e-bike enjoys traction in the dirt that can’t be matched by any other sort of tire. Traction is one of those dimensions of a rider’s experience that also influences how confident they feel when riding. And traction, unlike calcium, is something you can never get too much of.
Also helpful is how as tire pressure goes down and rider comfort goes up, so does traction, stacking two benefits in one variable.
Floats on both sand and snow
The softer the surface a rider chooses, the bigger the fat-tire e-bike’s tire footprint grows. That means that on surfaces such as sand or snow, a fat-tire e-bike “floats” on top, rather than sinking into the sand or snow, the way our feet do. This also holds true in forests where soft pine duff might make up much of the riding surface. The one place it isn’t a benefit is in mud because to gain traction in mud, you need to slice through it to the firm soil below in order to find traction.
If you live in a place with lots of sand (say near a beach or desert) or a locale with snowy winters, fat-tire e-bikes are the only way to ride.
Powerful motors
The big wheels and tires of a fat-tire e-bike require a strong, stiff frame to maintain solid control (again, a rider’s sense of control is related to their level of confidence). As a result, a fat-tire e-bike is a heavy beast, even before you add a motor and battery. To overcome their weight and give the rider a sense of easy performance, they need powerful motors. Most of the fat-tire e-bikes we test are equipped with 750W hub motors that can peak at 1000 or more watts. There are a few fat-tire e-bikes equipped with even bigger motors.
With so much muscle at your disposal, riders enjoy all the benefits of the frame’s stiffness while not being hindered by the e-bike’s weight. That’s a win-win, for sure. The powerful motor also means that they are terrific performers on hills and accelerate away from traffic lights like few other kinds of e-bike. And combine a fat-tire e-bike with a big motor and a torque sensor and you get a remarkably responsive ride.
Fewer flat tires
It’s a fact that the more a balloon is inflated and that rubber drawn tighter and tighter over a greater volume of air, the easier it is to pop. Those skinny tires on racing bikes just look for excuses to flat. By contrast, a larger tire with very little air pressure in it is difficult to puncture. Whether we’re talking a rock, nail or piece of glass, a fat tire is more likely to deform around the object than be pierced by it.
Some fat-tire e-bikes are equipped with tires and rims that are tubeless compatible. This means that the tire and tube can be removed, the rim wrapped with a special air-tight tubeless tape and then the tire can be remounted, sealant added and that further reduces the chance for a flat and even if the tire suffers a puncture, the sealant will fill the hole and prevent the tire from going completely flat. Tubeless setups also allow a rider to run even lower pressure than you can with tubes, further improving its resistance to cuts.
