Fat Bike Tire Pressure: Dry, Loose Sand

FBA has been picking up a lot of you recently! Welcome to all our new followers of the channel. Make sure to hit the bell icon so you get notified about new videos. Time for a video about fat bike tire pressure and riding on dry, loose sand. This area is mostly untouched by water flow or human traffic so it's pretty fun to explore with fat bikes. Thanks for watching.
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[@fatbikeasinine803]

It's so fun exploring places like this with fat bikes!

[@cienebamtb6033]

Following the path of nature.

[@justcommenting4981]

Thanks. I am interested in trying to ride beaches and this is helpful.

[@fatbikeasinine803]

Fun! I think the best thing to bring along is a small air pump. That way you can experiment with different tire pressure.

[@OldManFatBike]

Nice, float on brother!!

[@carltongadgettmannprice352]

I rode my rigid hardtail Fatbike single speed bike on the same type of sand at Virginia Beach several years ago. I forget to reduce the air pressure in both of my tires and the bike did about the same yours. I'm waiting to return to Virginia Beach soon to see how my Fatbike will do with reduced air pressure in my tires. Riding a steel frame Fatbike in the sand is an excellent Cardiovascular workout.

[@fatbikeasinine803]

That sounds awesome! I’ve ridden the same area in a variety of conditions. Towards the end of August the sand is usually super dry and loose. I’ve tried lower pressure than I did in this video and while you get extra float on the dry sand, the pedal resistance gets up there quickly. As in every pedal stroke requires another immediately after of you will stop cold. When you get back to Virginia Beach try several different pressure levels and see what you like best. Everyone is different so it’s near impossible for me to recommend tire pressure. I weigh about 175lb in the video. As you mentioned cardio really sets in with crazy low pressure. As long as you’re not making rim shots through the tires you’re good. Even soft sand can rim shot wheels. Happy fat biking. We’ll be filming again soon. Everyone needed a break😎

[@BrettArmstrong1]

That’s really impressive - thanks

[@fatbikeasinine803]

There's water flowing through there at this time of year... wild. I use a low pressure tire gauge nowadays to check tire pressure for you guys in the videos. I was actually at about 4 psi in front and 6 psi in back for the loose sand.

[@DISCONNECT83]

That looked pretty chilled.🤘🏼

[@fatbikeasinine803]

Definitely a cool find. Fat bike “trails” like this are not on maps yet😂😎

[@soreloser2798]

I tried biking in sand with my tires a little more pressurized ~8 or 10. I couldn’t get moving without loosing my back tire. I’ll try this out.

[@fatbikeasinine803]

If the sand is really dry and loose, all you can really do is air down a bunch and ride slowly. I have a gauge nowadays and I would recommend trying about 3 front and 5 psi back. I weigh 170lbs and it’s perfect for me. Maybe even 2 front 4-5psi back.

[@alamanako]

Nice bike! Good vid!

[@fatbikeasinine803]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@moonzonetv5480]

Good day sir!watching all the way from winterpeg

[@fatbikeasinine803]

Awesome! Working on some new content soon!

[@ElevationEveryWeekend]

Nice vid! I need to find some sand somewhere!

[@fatbikeasinine803]

Search around creeks and along rivers. Fun fact: sand along seashores comes from rivers. So when we dam a river we’re stopping the flow of sand to the ocean.

[@romuloarrais]

It would be nice a comparison between a fat bike and other bikes with tires such as 29x2.25 and 29x3.0. I've a lot of trails like the one in this video where I live, but it's difficult to find fat and plus sized bikes here in Portugal to try for myself. Nice video. :)

[@fatbikeasinine803]

I’ll look into making a comparison video. You really notice the difference when riding through sand. On a regular sized MTB you really have to go fast through sand and get weight off your front end. Fat bikes just ride right over without the need for technique😂😎 Ill work on a video

[@shawn-stuff]

You will be walking anything less than 4 inch wide. Sand really needs the foot print

[@romuloarrais]

@@shawn-stuff @fatbikeasinine803 thank you both for the replies, last year I bought a Kona Wo, and I'm really enjoying riding in soft sand, dunes and beaches near by. Usually at 4 or 5psi, at least it's what is working best for me. :)

[@heideritamar3262]

Bem vindo ao sofrido mundo das areias fofas 😆...aqui ando muito em dunas e sei muito bem o que é isso de esvaziar e depois encher prá terminar o pedal...valeu mano Fato

[@fatbikeasinine803]

Sim, areia é divertida! Fico feliz que tenha gostado!😎

[@sberwind]

Thanks fir the video How big are your tires? Do you think carbon rims over aluminum for thick sand is better? I’m getting 27.5 x 4.5 Let me know if you think it’s better to go lighter in wheel set carbon vs aluminum

[@fatbikeasinine803]

I have 26” x 4.8” on the bike. If you’re looking into carbon wheels than I say go for it. You’ll definitely notice a difference from aluminum if they are lighter in weight. Anything that shaves weight off of a fat bike is going to make your overall riding more enjoyable. 27.5 x 4.5” is a good wheel size.

[@sberwind]

@@fatbikeasinine803 thank you Fat brother Gobs of gorgeous air

[@georgeskinner2474]

It would be helpful if you stated in the videos if you are running tubes or tubeless.

[@fatbikeasinine803]

Im running tubeless in all videos unless stated otherwise. At this level of biking, everyone should be running a tubeless setup to shed some weight. With tubes the tire sidewalls hold a little more firm, but it’s barely noticeable. I recommend Fatty Strippers if you’re not already setup tubeless. Works great with the standard Sun Ringle Mulefut wheels that have locking bead mount, but not fully tubeless.

[@Themilkmanskid.]

Did you make a comparison video at this site with a regular mountain bike tire size, as I read in a reply that you were thinking of making one? If you did please post a link.

[@fatbikeasinine803]

I never did return to that location with a regular mtb. However I can tell you that it would be physically impossible. Super dry on not packed sand here. But, that would be a fun video to make next.

[@michaelborromeo8238]

Thanks for the informative video! What gearing do you have on that bike?

[@fatbikeasinine803]

Glad you liked the info. All of my fat bikes featured in the videos here are running a SRAM Eagle 1x12. The GX version is my favorite for price/features. NX is as low as I would go. The SX version isn’t worth your $. I’m not sure off the top what the exact gearing is, but it’s never let me down.

[@michaelborromeo8238]

@@fatbikeasinine803 Thanks for your quick reply! Is it a 10-52 rear cassette? I’m considering a fat bike for Ft Lauderdale beaches and that sand is very soft too. I think I’ll need 4.5” tires and a 10-52 to get through that sand!

[@fatbikeasinine803]

@michaelborromeo8238 Not sure what the gears are. But, 1x12 is everything needed. I still have 2x10 on my regular Santa Cruz bike. 1x12 is lighter and feels great when shifting. Check out our blog where we just reviewed an intro fat bike at decent cost. But ya a “real” fat bike is expensive. Check out bikesdirect.com we bought a carbon frame w/ Bluto shock for $2500. Single finger break levers and all the bells n whistles you can expect from a $5000 fatty

[@michaelborromeo8238]

@@fatbikeasinine803 Awesome. I’ll check it out. Thanks again for getting back to me and for the great videos!

[@fatbikeasinine803]

@michaelborromeo8238 awesome, FBA is always here to answer you questions. I think the best thing to do is forget everything you know about tire pressure. At 8 psi your fat tire is firm

[@meyeame8956]

I seem to do ok in sand, but I crashed recently riding on a sandy double track because there was hard "edges/burms" to either side of each thin path on the double. Leaving about 5 inches of soft sand to ride on and weeds/hard dirt otherwise. Keeping the bike centered into the soft sand was fine, but when I hit that "side wall" it decayed into loose sand and I lost all traction and slid out. I really have no idea how to handle this type of trail which is unfortunate since there are a lot like it. I guess just going completely off trail or staying fully centered on the double (there is lots of weeds) is the only solution for me unless I figure out how to deal with this.

[@fatbikeasinine803]

Ya skinny, sunken trails are difficult on mountain bikes too. I try my best to just look straight forward and stay focused. Anytime I look to the side too far up trail, I hit the trail edges too… almost every time without fail. Sounds like you’re having fun experimenting with different tire pressures.

[@midlifebiker7424]

What gear are you in? Thx

[@fatbikeasinine803]

Sorry I missed your question from 6 months ago. I’m not sure exactly, but basically you need to be in an easier to pedal gear like for climbing to get started in loose sand. Otherwise your rear tire will spin in the sand and you’ll tend to fall over. Once you get going you can switch up. 👍

[@jamesoneill6233]

What pressure for 4” x 20” ?

[@fatbikeasinine803]

Is this for a child size fat bike? Just pump up until mostly firm? Squeeze tires and they should give a tiny bit and you should be good.

[@ernesttaylor967]

Are those tires set up tubeless?? I bet so but I don't want to assume.

[@fatbikeasinine803]

Yes tubeless with Stans inside. I have done both and don’t notice much of a difference besides a couple pounds of weight.

[@sar4361]

Tire: 26'' x 4.0'' Fat Tires recommended psi for this tire?

[@fatbikeasinine803]

For fat bike tires don’t exceed 15psi unless you’re mounting the tire onto a wheel… and then quickly release air. For road/pavement around 10-12. Start there and then try out different pressure until you get a feel for what you like. Basically if you go too low then you end up with close to 100% resistance and every pedal stroke is needed to keep you moving forward. All riders are different weight. The heavier you are the more air pressure you will need. Check out the FBA blog for an article with a chart for tire pressure. fatbikeasinine.com

[@sailingaeolus]

How wide are your tires?

[@fatbikeasinine803]

4.8 inches

[@sailingaeolus]

@@fatbikeasinine803 Nice. So I'm thinking of getting a fat bike to ride the dry riverbeds here in Nevada. If you are going that low in tire pressure, seems like a 4 inch tire would sink in too much in the sand. Any thoughts? Have you tried a narrower tire? Many thanks,

[@fatbikeasinine803]

We like 26 in wheels with 4.8 in or wider tires for sand. The wider the better. You will not sink in to the sandy river beds. If you go too low with tire pressure the rolling resistance can get to 100%. Or, when ever pedal, you’ll then stop if you aren’t continuously pedaling which is not fun. But, you’ll get legs a steel! Write us at [e-mail] and we can send you back some good info about getting your first fatty.

[@magnusljadas2109]

Fatbike eats other bikes for breakfast 😎

[@fatbikeasinine803]

Yup. Fat bikes are stupid fun to ride and roll over roadies

[@FATKEVMTB]

This would not be fun on a fixie.

[@fatbikeasinine803]

I’d be a serious workout with a fixed gear😂 the free hub was an amazing invention.

[@darrylg7600]

Get a proper gauge. I run 3 or 4 psi in sand.

[@fatbikeasinine803]

Obviously. This is how you can do it by feel. Thanks for commenting as it helps the KZbin algorithm .