This is the Snafu Knob Job tire (26×2.35), acquired lately after doing some research and review about availability of fat tires for dual purpose usage (see previous article about tires). These tires seem to be acceptable for tarmac usage, on the other hand provide good grip and have got much better offroad capabilities than Schwalbe Fat Frank that I used previously. Also, they look quite durable and nice and were cheap due to some special offer over here. However, I have not yet done much of test riding.

BTW I may very well throttle this blog a bit within the next weeks or months since there are some motorcycling issues currently attracting my attention. But the Big Dummy stuff will be continued as soon as salt on roads will be swept away.

I will have to replace my Big Dummy tires for my 2009 trips. Up to now I used Schwalbe Fat Frank, which showed good riding comfort and low resistance, but I was not really impressed with their durability. I am currently looking for longer lasting tire alternatives. My requirements are

• big fat tires with good riding comfort
• hybrid tread pattern for road and light offroad usage, running easily
• acceptable durability even with some load on bicycle
• not too heavy if ever possible

These are some ideas for pretty wide 26″ Big Dummy allround tires:

• Maxxis Hookworm (2.5″): good looking and durable, but extremely heavy, good grip on tarmac, limited offroad usage
• Maxxis Holy Roller (2.2″, 2.4″): leightweighted, good offroad capabilites
• DMR Moto folding tire (2.2″, 2.4″): thanks to Björn for pointing me to this! Lightweighted and good hybrid tire
• DMR Transition (2.2″, 2.4″): road usage mostly
• IRC Lovers Soul (2.25″): road usage mostly
• Halo Twin Rail (2.2″): several tread colours available, hybrid tire pattern
• Kenda Kiniption (2.3″): road usage mostly, cheap, click here and scroll down for all 26″ sizes available
• Kenda K-Rad (2.3″/2.5″): currently my favourite. Affordable, similar to DMR Moto, not too heavy, good hybrid quality, click here and scroll down for all 26″ sizes available
• Snafu Rim Job/Knob Job (2.35″) (scroll down page)
• Geax Tattoo (2.3″), Geax Booze (2.3), both have rigid and fold versions. The sooner is also available with white color

BTW Schwalbe provides a new colour for its Fat Frank tires besides black and creme: brown (USED HQ has got an image of a complete cycle with brown Fat Franks, looking kind of red). Should look nice at the Big Dummy. However, there were durability issues with my creme coloured Fat Frank at the Big Dummy.

Finally, for you fancy wheelbuilders out there I would like to point out availability of white powder coated spokes at Halo. They are selling them in many lengths, unlike those colourful atomlab spokes being sold only at some very specific lengths for atomlab hubs and rims. I have been searching for such spokes previously, so I would like to add it here.

Late addendum (2009/01/28): I finally decided to order a set of Snafu Knob Job tires, listed above. I got them fairly cheap and they look nice. In the long run I might switch over to using the new Schwalbe Marathon Extreme DD being not as heavy on the one hand, but longer lasting on the other, but these are very expensive and they are not yet available right now.