Have ridden all the BB events apart from a 200, I was wondering about tyre choice. Having heard about all the tussocks and swamps, am I best off riding it full fat? I assume this year's BB200 won't be acres of tarmac. I've ridden full fat on the Braunton150, YD300 etc on my old fatty and it was fine. My current fatty is just over 11kg, is 2x10 with 22/36, 11/42 and flies on most surfaces.

Cheers for your advice

I assume this year's BB200 won't be acres of tarmac.

There'll be enough to remember and quite an amount will point uphill.

Sounds like you have your decision made there

I'll be on a salsa spearfish short travel 29er. Tyre choice tbc. But likely maxis ikon front and pace rear. 1x11 running 30 or 32 front and 10-42 rear.

And controversially, after a couple of years riding jones loops, may well try some of those straight bars! I hear good things about them...

More than likely tussocks & pushing, but that generally less than 2-3% of the route
Tarmac is generally around the 30-40% range
The rest will be forest roads, farm tracks and moorland crossings

Most people will be on ridgid/hardtail 29ers with 2.2 inch tyres


*I could be wrong, but thats been typical over the other BB200's

My other option is a Cove Hummer with 3x9 at 10.5kg or a Trek full Suss both of which have done itt's like yd200. To be honest I haven't ridden either of them more than a handful this year due to fat being so quick and comfortable.

I'm going with round wheels. It may not be a surprise but they work for me

I need to put some tyres on with better tread as at the moment I'm running with Bontrager XR2/XR1 combo which is fine for summer and rockier tracks but I think I need the grip of my XR4/XR3 combo even if they are a bit draggier on tarmac. Both sets are 2.35 front & 2.2 rear. These will be on a Cotic Solaris running 1x10 11-40 with either a 32T oval or 30T round chainring. I'll decide once I see the route.

Yep I guess till Stu posts the route it's all a bit hypothetical.

dlovett wrote:Having heard about all the tussocks and swamps, am I best off riding it full fat?

Surely the lightest tyres you can fit for all that carrying then?

Hoping I can get my fat bike built up in time. If I do, I'll be on Maxxis mammoths. Still plenty of grip, and fast enough on the road bits.

ScotRoutes wrote:

dlovett wrote:Having heard about all the tussocks and swamps, am I best off riding it full fat?

Surely the lightest tyres you can fit for all that carrying then?

It's shod with Jumbo Jim liteskins, can't really get any lighter than those!

It does carry over fences and styles very easily. I've also found it pushes up hills ok, not gone as far as training to push it like Richard has.

This is it in full race mode.

and in full Bikepacking mode.

the normall single speed iron horse with the normal ardent ikon tyres, but with much less kit than last year

Iv just bought a new KTM sx 125 especially for the event this year

Most of the people I've seen on fat bikes doing the BB200 looked utterly miserable...

...that said, most of the people I've seen doing the BB200 looked utterly miserable.

dlovett wrote:It does carry over fences and styles very easily. I've also found it pushes up hills ok, not gone as far as training to push it like Richard has.

Been too damn injured to do anything resembling training this year. :(

Mike wrote:Iv just bought a new KTM sx 125 especially for the event this year

How are you going to get it over the paddock of fallen trees and through the barbed wire fence....

Add me to the list of people considering riding full-fat!

I'm going to wait until I've seen the route to make my decision but it's light and rolls plenty fast enough (1x11, 28t oval, 11-42t and running Huska Du's) and has the Lauf fork to take the sting out of the bumps.

Another factor, that may prove to be the deciding one, is that I've never used the bike bag I've inherited before and so I don't know what will fit in it.

If not it'll be either the Rooster (1x11, 30t oval, 11-42t with Chupacabra's) or my Lurcher (3x9, standard rings with an Ardent up front and a Crossmark in the rear).

None of it matters really as it's not going to be the bike that's the limiting factor in this equation.

Pedals will turn, legs will hurt, tiredness will be endured and whichever flavour of bike is underneath me will be better in some places and worse in others.

Dave Barter wrote:

Mike wrote:Iv just bought a new KTM sx 125 especially for the event this year

How are you going to get it over the paddock of fallen trees and through the barbed wire fence....

Dave I'm going open up the throttle and power over it!!

Ahah! I've now officially done some training for the event.

I went out this morning to a marsh by a river near me and cycled around a fairly large wet / muddy / tussocky area with absolutely no visible trail. Sadly it didn't have the extreme hills also normally associated, but it was a step in the right direction.

All I can recommend its that you don't put a Maxis Crossmark on the front and then pump it up to 40psi

I shall bring a bike with tyres on. That's as far as I have got. Not really rode much since Divide - so don't really know what works :)

Don't think fat tyres, or anything shy of a magic carpet, would have made much difference on the 2014 route!

I'll be most likely running my standard maxxis ardent up front and maxxis ikon on the rear, seems to work best on all trails and wears very well.

stucowp wrote:I'll be most likely running my standard maxxis ardent up front and maxxis ikon on the rear, seems to work best on all trails and wears very well.

Can you put those heavy ones on that you used for the YD200 then the rest of us can keep up with you?

I'll be on a Swift with a 29+ front and the full three chainrings