Fat tires on regular 26 in cruiser rims?

[Nate Livingood]

Hello, I was wondering if I could put a fat tire on a regular 26 in rim. Also if the engine kits will allow for chain clearance with a fatter tire or if they make any kind of adapter for a fatter tire because I know that my tire now is 1.75 in wide and is already pretty close to the chain rubbing. I have a Huffy and just received my hub adapter in the mail and will be putting it on. And I also am planning on switching to a mag wheel in the future. I've seen some kits put on the mongoose fat tire bikes, but I like Cruisers and would just like a fatter tire if possible? Anybody have any experience with this? Thanks in advance

 

[Old Busted Hotness]

If the chain is close to rubbing with a 26x1.75 there's no way a fat tire is going to fit without re-organizing the whole build. You'll have to move the engine to the left and space out the sprocket. You might be able to re-lace the rim with shorter spokes on the right to pull the tire off-center and create clearance that way, if you have enough space on the right.

I tried a 26x3 on a normal 25mm 26-inch rim and hated it. Problem: the bead is pinched in so far that the tire takes on a "light bulb" cross-section, leaving air space between the tube and the rim. This leads to squishy handling. And the beads are never really properly seated. You also have clearance issues due to the taller tire hitting the bike frame.

Fat tires (4 inch) really need a fat rim (80-100mm) to work properly.

 

[Nate Livingood]

That is kinda what I was thinking..So let me ask you this....will fat tire rims fit on my 26 in. bike without modifying the frame? I wonder if you could "stretch the frame to fit without compromising integrity??

 

[Old Busted Hotness]

Probably not. You'll have to take some measurements.

Stretching the frame is possible if you're skilled with welding and fabrication. But even then it would be a hell of a lot of work.

I'll tell you what does work, though: Downsize the rims to 24-inch and fit 24x3 tires. You can run fairly low pressure (I'm at 25F, 36R supporting 330 lb of bike and rider) for a nice ride and the tire diameter is within 1/4 inch of a 26x1.95 so you shouldn't have clearance issues with the frame. You'll still have chain clearance problems, but nothing that can't be solved.

Finding 24-inch rims for wide tires is a b**ch, though. Felt makes some, but they're not too easy to find.

 

[Nate Livingood]

Sounds like a lot of work your right. I just wanted fat tires for better handling and looks really. Ill prolly just stick with the setup I have until I fine tune the motor. I have a high comp head, reed valve (and windowed piston), performance carb, air intake. exhaust and cdi to put on it yet. This is my first MB Project I bought the whole bike off a lady at work for $200 bucks to save on gas and then I found out all the stuff you can do to those little engines and now I'm hooked and have a new hobby. lol I did all my own port work and gained 2-3 horsepower just by doing that. (Also cut the exhaust down and fabricated my own "expansion chamber using the existing pipe as well as fabricated my own air filter) So i cant wait to see what these other modifications will do. I also got the 36 tooth sprocket and hub adapter. I weigh around 180 so I figure that will be good. may have to peddle little more but the extra speed at the top will be worth it. And I have all kinds of low end torque as it is.

 

[crassius]

OTOH, if you go to an adapter, you can just slide it farther to the left and see how fat you can go