I Love My Fat Tyre Road Bike But Is It The Future

I love my fat road bike, but is it the future? This is the bike that I've been spending a lot of time on in recent weeks. It is my Orbea Terra Race. Yes, this is a gravel bike, but given that it looks fast even standing still, plus the position on it is nice and aggressive, I have been using it as a road bike, but not just any road bike, a fat road bike. Yes, I think it's great. In this video, I am going to explain why, but I'm also going to address the question of whether fat road tires like these are going to be a lifelong partnership or a brief fling, game-changer, or passing trend. Put simply, are tires like these the future? Big fat road bike tires. We're discussing if wider tires are indeed faster or if it's all one big poke. We know that wider tires have a lower rolling resistance for a given pressure. I really want to try them out and see what they're like, but they won't fit in my bike. Crikey, road cycling has been on some journey over the past few years when it comes to tires. In fact, there's been nothing short of a revolution with tire width and rim width both almost doubling in size in the last 15 years. To the extent that tire manufacturers like Pirelli are now making performance road tires up to 40 millimeters wide. You said it. Not many road bikes will fit them though. Those that do, it's typically the newer endurance style bikes, but that is where gravel bikes come in. A lot of people are taking advantage of them, particularly the newer, more aggressive aero race bikes to create a sweet one bike, do it all setup where you get the very best of one world, gravel, and most of the rest of the other, road. Exactly how much of road? Well, we'll find out, won't we? One of the first questions you might be asking is why on earth stick massive fat tires with zero tread on for riding on the road? It is a very good question. If I'm completely honest, one of the answers is at least initially, because I could. I had this sweet looking bike that is a ton of fun to ride. We had a set of 40 millimeter wide P0 race tires in our workshop. The bike's got enough clearance for them, and so I put the two together. I'm really glad that I did because there's a lot of other really compelling reasons as well that I found out. For example, you get increased comfort with wider tires because they can be run at lower pressures, so you get more cushioning. Then there's also more resilience when riding on rough roads or those with potholes. Puncture resistance is higher because the tire has a greater volume, you're less likely to get an impact puncture. Then because the casing is wider, you're also less likely to get items piercing their way through it. Then in theory, you also get more traction and grip as well. I say in theory, I don't think any of us are ever really that close to losing grip when we're riding our road bikes, except if something changes on the road, like you run over a patch of oil or ice, in which case no tire is going to do anything about it. You should get more grip wet or dry with wider tires. In terms of downsides, there's a little bit more weight from the wider tire, about 150 grams per wheel. It's enough to change the handling characteristics of the bike ever so slightly, but it's not enough to impact the performance of it, not in any meaningful way anyway, and not at my weight, 75 kilos. For smaller, lighter riders, that might be a slightly different story. Then for speedy cyclists, there is an aerodynamic penalty from a wider tire as well. You're looking at about four watts at 30K an hour, and that's between a 40 and a 28, and that goes up to 12 watts at 45K an hour. That's using data taken from the aero experts at SwissSide. Again, it doesn't sound like a great deal, but it would add up, I think, over a long ride. What then about rolling resistance? Well, this is a complicated one. Pirelli have found in their own tests that a 40-millimeter wide P0 race like this one will have a lower rolling resistance than a narrow one like a 28. This is something that's up in every test that I've seen. Importantly, though, the lower rolling resistance is when they are tested at the same tire pressure. Now, as we've seen, you run wider tires at lower pressures. Actually, in the real world, the rolling resistance ends up being about equal, but the rougher the road, the faster the wider tire gets because as you're running at a lower pressure, you get more vibration absorption, and that lowers the impedance losses. Hence, you end up going quicker. That definitely seems like a pretty strong case for why fat road tires can be good, but one of the things that I've been mulling over is not just why 40-mil tires exist, but why now? You see, I'm quite wary about trends in cycling. I think that's probably a hazard of having been around for quite a long time, but in this particular instance, I think there's actually a very good reason for why now. As I mentioned at the start, the last 15 years or so, I've seen a huge change in tires and rims. That has been driven by data and knowledge. We simply understand more about it, which begs the question about why we didn't understand it 15 years ago. Nevertheless, we know now. We know about rolling resistance. We know about impedance losses and all of that jazz. Therefore, manufacturers have a reason to make tires like these. We then get to use big fat road tires that are built for performance and for speed as opposed to the big fat tires of yesteryear that were built for touring and commuting. There's also something else. The bikes. Now, as I said, not many road bikes can fit tires like this. Not at the moment. Anyway, more and more are coming. The big driver has been there for gravel bikes. That is where things get even more interesting. Because you see, I think one of the big reasons I love this new fat road bike that I've got is not actually the tires. It's the rest of it. Now, as I said, this is not a road bike. It is a gravel race bike. Because of that, the designers at Orbea have tweaked the geometry of the bike and therefore the handling compared to a road bike. Now, in part, that's because of its intended use case, gravel. It's also in part because when you design a bike around wider tires, it allows you to make certain changes that you otherwise wouldn't be able to. Now, one of them, the most significant perhaps, is lowering the height of the bottom bracket. You see, wider tires are also taller tires and so your pedals are further away from the ground. What that means is that a designer can then lower the height of the bottom bracket relative to the wheel axles without increasing the risk of your pedal striking the tarmac if you're pedaling around a corner. What this does is subtly change the characteristics of the bike. Even though you yourself are not lower, you are lower in relation to the wheel axles. What this means is that you then feel more planted, more resilient, like you can ride the bike more aggressively. Then, in order to stop the bike from feeling too stable or too boring, you can then tweak other aspects like the steering characteristics to liven it back up again. What you get then is a bike that feels resilient and playful, but yet in the hands of perhaps a less experienced rider would simply feel confidence inspiring. That's all fairly positive then really. Therefore, is this the future? Are bikes like this going to spell the end of road bikes as we know it? Well, as I said, for some people, bikes like this are going to be absolutely brilliant. However, there is a but. You see, I think a big part of the appeal of road bikes is not just that they're designed to be really fast and really efficient, it's that they're designed to feel fast. The combination of angles and dimensions that make up a bike are not an accident. They have evolved and been refined over the years to reward your senses. Long before app designers focused on triggering dopamine hits, bike designers did the same. Just instead of the result being wasting your life doomscrolling, you're out and about in the fresh air getting fit and healthy. While that sounds stupid, to an extent, it is absolutely true. When I get back on this bike then, which is my Orbea road bike, the Orca, their lightweight race bike, the first few pedal revolutions, it feels flighty, almost nervous, but then literally after just a couple of minutes, it just becomes addictively responsive instead. That's the thing about road bikes, is they've been designed to be this perfect blend of agility and stability so that every corner or out-of-the-saddle acceleration just feels really good. Tires are part of that equation too. Narrower tires, as we heard, are lighter, so they feel more responsive, they feel faster, and they are faster too. More dopamine, more thrills. When you compare the numbers, the Orca has less bottom bracket drop by eight millimeters, quite a significant number, and it helps the bike change direction more quickly, but the biggest difference is the length of the bike, the wheelbase. The Orca is five centimeters shorter for the same size, one centimeter off the chainstays, and the rest as a result of the steeper head angle and less fork brake. It makes me think that while fat road bikes or gravel bikes with slick tires on are a future, they are not the only future. I think the cycling world is big enough for both performance road bikes and fat road bikes to coexist quite happily. If you are lucky enough to be able to have both, I think you could justify having both and enjoy it, but if you're a one-bike kind of a person, then I think a lot of it will depend on where you ride. If you are blessed with smooth tarmac where you live, then an out-and-out road bike is the clear choice, but if you live somewhere with rougher roads, cobbles, mud, dirt, gravel, and cow ----, then a bike more like this is definitely going to be something to consider. I think as well as I alluded to earlier, you as a rider, your size also plays a part. For bigger riders, fatter road tires make total sense, but for smaller, lighter riders, the narrower tires are still going to win out. I'd be super interested to hear your thoughts on all of this, so please get involved in the comment section down below. I will read them with interest. Please also hit the thumbs up button if you've enjoyed it. If nothing else, out of pure sympathy because it is so cold today, think I might have hypothermia.