In the past year, fat bike wheels have not undergone major changes, but the trend is that the width of the rim is getting wider. Due to the epidemic, the production of fat bike wheels has also been stagnant.
If you’re looking for wheels for your fat bike, you’ll find many choices and options. When you first start to look, this can be not very clear. There are important details you need to know before you start, and they will help you find your new fat bike wheels more easily.
- What width hubs do you need?
- What tire clearance does your frame have?
- Fat Bike Wheel Rims Material
- Spoke number
Choose Suitable Fat Bike Hub Width
Fat bike wheels have gone through various iterations of hub width. To begin with, they have offset 135 mm width hubs, your old mountain bike standard. As fat bike popularity grew, manufacturers began to produce dedicated fat bike hubs and fat bike frames to support these new hub standards.
The biggest game-changer was moving to thru-axles. Thru-axles better support the weight of huge wheels. Breaking quick-release axles that had fat bike wheels on was possible. The move to thru-axles has found that most fat bikes now use a 15mm x 150 mm front axle. A few notable exceptions, such as the Surly Pugsley, use an offset 135 mm front wheel. That is why you need to double-check what you have.
At the back end of a fat bike, there have been a few standards before we settled on one, a majority favorite. Most fat bikes will now use a 190 mm or 197mm by 12 mm thru-axle. Some will come with a 190 mm quick-release.
A standard also fits between plus bikes and 5” tired, fat bikes. That is the 10 or 12-mm axle with either a 170 mm or 177 mm width. This option will generally be found on bikes with less than 5” tire clearance. Again, bikes such as the Surly Pugsley use a completely different 142 mm by 12mm option. That is so you can fit a Rohloff hub.
27.5er Fat Bike Wheels F774 is ICAN’s new fat bike wheelset launched in 2024, with high quality and durable design.
Know Your Fat Bike Frame Clearance
How much clearance your fat bike frame comes with will depend on how wide a rim you need. Fat wheels of different widths need to match tires of different sizes. ICAN fat frame clearance is generally 15x197mm. Below is the fat tire size to Match the fat wheel width.
- 70mm-100mm rim width for 3.8 – 4.2 inch tire
Fat Bike Wheel Rims Material
Fat Bike Rims material is also important when you consider buying fat bike wheels. A good Rim can help you ride more smoothly and make your fat bike wheels last longer.
Fat bike wheel rims are made from aluminum or carbon fiber. With rims up to 100 mm, a lot of material is needed to make a rim. Many aluminum rims will then come with cutouts to save weight. One of the issues with the cutouts is that they can help make setting up tubeless more of a problem.
You might think you’ll stick to tubes and not worry about setting up tubeless. That, though, brings another host of problems. With the low pressures, you need to run on a fat bike. You’ll find you’re very likely to get pinch flats. Changing a tube and pumping a tire on a fat bike is not fun.
There is now a solution, though—carbon fiber rims. These rims will be lighter and stronger than the majority of aluminum rims. They also won’t have cutouts, making them easier to tape to set up tubeless. The lighter weight is excellent, and the ease of setting up tubeless is even better.
Number of fat bike wheelset spokes
Spokes are an important part of wheelsets, affecting the entire wheelset's performance.
Generally speaking, lighter mountain wheels usually run 24-28 spokes per wheel, stronger off-road or all-mountain wheels may use 28 spokes, and the strongest wheel systems usually use 32 spokes. These numbers are not set in stone; generally speaking, more spokes means stronger.
So when you buy fat bike wheelsets, you need to know the number of spokes, which is the number of holes. The more spokes, the stronger the bike wheelsets.
The spokes also determine the feel of the wheel. Heavier spokes make the wheel harder but stronger, while lighter spokes do the opposite. For example, Sapim CX-Ray is a good spoke product due to its strength-to-weight ratio and is widely used in our wheel construction. Sapim Force spokes are stronger and stronger for MTB and gravity-oriented wheel construction.
What are fat bike wheels for?
Fat bike wheels, intended for riding on rougher surfaces, suit snow riding environments. The fat bike wheels can run well in the sand or rocky landscapes.
Are fat bikes good for heavy riders?
Because of the wider tire and good carrying capacity of fat bikes, which are very suitable for overweight cyclists, fat bike wheels are usually up to 90mm wide, which can transmit most of the pressure to avoid discomfort.
Conclusion
Now, you can avoid the pitfalls of buying the wrong size hub for your fat bike, and you also have a quick and easy guide to ensure you get the correct rim width for your tires. The only thing to do now is to work out if you can afford aluminum or carbon fiber rims. Going carbon will be lighter, easier to set up tubeless, and a better ride feel out on the trail, so I’d suggest going carbon fiber.
