Do You Need Fat Tires on Your E Bike? The Pros and Cons of Fat Tires on Electric Bikes

Do you need fat tires on your E-bike? Stick around to find out.

Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and Ebike industry. And today we're going to answer the question, do you need fat tires on your Ebike? But before we get into it, hit that subscribe button below. Stay in touch with us here at Sixthreezero. Be the first to know about all the new content we're putting out, giveaways we're doing, of course, new product releases.

All right, Ebikes are becoming very popular. You're seeing them all over the roads and you're seeing a lot of different tire sizes. You're seeing cruiser-style tires, two inches wide. You've also got road bike tires, very thin on a lot of road bikes. You've also got different diameters, 16 inch, 20 inch, 24 inch, 26 inch. And one of the big differences you see with a lot of Ebike tires is the width. And you're seeing a lot of four-inch wide, what we would call, E bike fat tire, which are about this wide. You've got three-inch fat tires, and then you've got cruiser tires, which are about 2.125 inches or two inches in general. And those aren't considered fat tires.

Now fat tires are growing in popularity. In Southern California, I see a lot of fat tire E-bikes out there with the four-inch wide tires. And I think aesthetically, a lot of people like them. The real question is, do you need fat tires? And what's the real benefit of it?

So first and foremost, with a four-inch wide fat tire, there is some truth to it. Balancing a little bit better on the pavement. Just like a car, cars have very wide tires. It helps to grip the pavement a little bit better. Not necessarily going to be a bad thing to have more rubber on the road. The more rubber on the road, the better traction.

Now the reality is, that most people who are riding a bike have no issue balancing. And on Ebikes, your max speed is most likely going to be around 20 miles an hour. Now with pedal assist, in some situations, you can hit 28 miles an hour, but let's assume the top speed is 20 miles an hour. Road bikes have been going north of 20 miles an hour before electric motors, on very thin tires, and riders have not had an issue balancing.

Now my point is, is there an issue or is there a benefit to a fat tire when it comes to balance? In theory, yes. In practical application, I can't say so for sure because again, most people getting on an E-bike are already able to balance. Now in certain scenarios, wet conditions, again, it's going to be better to have a fatter tire, don't get me wrong. So, there is some benefit if you want more traction on the road.

The other really big benefit is going to be the shock absorption. The fatter tire you have, the less bumps you're going to feel in your body. Because the big rubber tire will absorb as you go over curbs and up and down bumps or you're going off-road, having that bigger tire is going to make it a softer ride for the rider. Now that is factual. If you have a very thin road bike tire and you go over a bump, you feel every bump, because that bike is passing that vibration off to you because there's no tire there to absorb the vibration. With the big fat tire, the rubber is going to absorb that, it's not going to vibrate throughout your entire body. That is a definite plus and could be a much cushier ride. Especially if you don't pump the fat tires up all the way and you maybe fill them to the lowest minimum required PSI, it's going to make it a very soft cushy ride.

Now let's talk about the downside of fat tires. On E-bikes, they're going to be extremely less efficient. What I mean by efficient, number one is it's going to drain your battery much quicker. And you're probably going to want to use a higher level of electric setting because, with the fat tires, it's undoubtedly going to be harder to pedal. If you try to pedal a fat tire bike without a motor, it will be more difficult than pedaling a bike without fat tires. Anything two inches or less. Seems very simple, right?

When you're on pavement or a street and you're riding and you have a fat tire bike and a regular two-inch or less bike, the fat tire will be much more difficult to pedal. You've got more rubber on the road, which is going to mean more resistance when you're pedaling. So as a result, most likely, you're going to want to have or need to have a higher level of pedal assist going as you're using a fat tire E-bike. And if you have an E-bike with a throttle that has fat tires, if you're engaging that throttle on the fat tire E-bike, you will drain the battery quicker because the motor's going to have to work harder to power those fat tires.

So, it's something to think about, if you are interested in doing long haul E-bike rides. The bigger the tire, the quicker you're going to drain that battery, and the more resistance you're putting on the motor. This again means the motor has to work harder, the battery will drain quicker.

Now, the other downside to the fat tires is, that should you ever need to replace your tires, you wear the treads down, which on E-bikes is not a very uncommon thing. If you're out riding a lot of miles with your E-bike, you are going to wear those treads down. It is important to have good treads on your tire, especially if you're out there on slick pavement or even on trails as well. They're going to be more expensive to replace, especially with a four-inch wide, real knobby 26-inch tire. The cost of replacing that versus a 26-inch, two-inch wide tire is going to be about 50% more. Could be double, depending on the type of tire, the type of tread you're looking at, and things like that.

The other piece of that I will say is the rim. The rim's going to be more expensive 'cause you're going to have a very custom-sized rim that's going to be very wide, probably about four inches wide as well. So, those will also be costly to replace down the road.

So I would say on the one side, you've got more balance, more traction on the road, but on the other side, you've got less efficiency. So, it's really up to you to determine if a fat tire E-bike is the right choice for you. Kind of like SUVs, people just like the look of it. I think it looks cool too. I don't think it's always the most practical E-bike for certain riders. But again, if you value aesthetics over practicality, I say a hundred percent, go for it. I love SUVs, minus the fact that they're not fuel efficient, but they look very cool, kind of like a fat tire E-bike. So, think about the application for you, where you are going to use your E-bike. And then you can determine if you think having fat tires on your E-bike is the right choice.

So, if you have any other questions at all about fat tires on E-bikes, go ahead and pop them below in the comments section, or reach out to us, at theteam@sixthreezero.com or call us at (310) 982-2877.

Don't forget to jump over to our website sixthreezero.com, and take our proprietary body fit quiz. Answer a few questions about your body and your life and our proprietary algorithm will recommend the perfect E-bike for you. And we have a 30-day test ride on your E-bike policy. If you don't love your E-bike in the first 30 days, send it back. No questions asked, no money out of your pocket. In addition to that, we're going to warranty everything for a year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we're going to get you the parts and labor needed to keep you up and riding.

Lastly, we have a Facebook group called Sixthreezero Pedalers. Jump into the group and ask questions before you buy an E-bike so you can get comfortable in advance of purchasing. Then when you have your E-bike, post in the group, and make friends. It's tons of fun. And then when you have your E-bike, you can track your rides on our app, the sixthreezero apps available in both app stores. So, thanks for sticking around and don't forget, it's your journey, your experience. Enjoy the ride.