Have been thinking about using my FB more in the non-winter, instead of going with really wide tires on my gravel bike. I'm currently running studded 4.8's. I have some Kenda Juggernauts that came with the bike, and I could just throw those on, but I was curious what people would recommend for a fat bike "gravel" tires. 26 inch wheels. Tubeless. Thanks!
I'd consider a 29" MTB wheelset with 35 mm (inside) rims. Plenty of tire options with widths greater than would fit in your gravel bike and diameters reasonably close to your fat tires.
Thanks. I'm trying to see what I can do without buying new wheels, for any of my bikes. This is a completely unnecessary project, as I have two (3 actually) other gravel bikes. But I was thinking it might be fun to have one "monster" bike for certain kinds of summer rides. I definitely don't want to be pushing my studded 4.8's in the summer, though.
Schwalbe Jumbo Jims are about the fastest fat bike tires out there. If you can find them they come in 4.8", 4.4" and 4.0".... The 4" tires will look tiny compared to the 4.8's you currently have (and they will also lower the BB a bit)... I used to have a summer wheelset with 4" Jumbo Jims, my winter wheelset had 4.8" Surly Bud/Lou combo - the difference was significant when you rode them back to back, Jumbo Jims roll really well...
I used my fat bike to commute for a while, and had an old pair of Surly Endomorph tires. They were wonderfully fast in summer, like a pair of beach cruiser tires and yet wildly terrifying on ice and snow. If you can find them, go for these.
One thing to keep in mind with the Schwalbe JJ. The BRR tests show the older Pacestar version. The newer ones are Super Ground Addix, so they are probably much, much slower.
Does it make sense to put buy a set of wheels too? Those fat bike tires are $100+ ea + tubes. You can get 27.5 and 29" fast XC MTB tire for $40, leaving quite a bit of money on the table for the wheels. You might have to have them built because of the disc and cassette positioning.
