This is correct. Also the theory behind fat bike tires since those have lots of surface area and lower psi. You just don’t want to go too low below the tire’s psi because then you run risk of getting flats. And fixing flats in the snow is not dull
This is a common misconception. For riding on asphalt or hard ground, narrower tires with knobs or studs are recommended because you want to cut through to asphalt using as much force per unit area possible. This is standard wisdom for basically every kind of winter weather tire, even though it is slightly counterintuitive. More surface area makes it much more likely to float on top of the snow, where you won’t get traction no matter what size the contact patch.
You’re talking about cutting through to the asphalt like you’re going through 6 inches of snow in which case i might agree with you, but since most people avoid that kind of riding then we can assume a moderate accumulation of snow since a trail/road was last shoveled. In such an event both a fat bike tire and more conventional tire width are fine for different reasons. In my experience cutting down to asphalt isn’t always the best, since there can be a layer of ice below the snow. Narrow tires/studs/knobs will have less control in such a situation than a wider tire particularly a fat bike tire that didn’t cut to the asphalt like you suggest. The more surface area you have, the more likely you’ll have at least some solid footing (or more accurately, the less likely you’ll have unsolid/ice footing). If things were as you suggest then riding road bike width tires in the winter would be done by everyone, but i haven’t known anyone riding through snow using the narrowest road bike tires.
But i don’t really think it matters all that much. I just use the same 28mm tires year round, in which case yeah my tires are great because i have biked through 1ft of snow before. Would not recommend but not not dull enough to share. And while i don’t want to make an appeal to authority logical fallacy here, these are my personal experiences riding year round bike commuting for 20 years, including riding through some blizzards. In general i would recommend snow/ studded tires and the largest width or close to the largest width your bike can handle
This is correct. Also the theory behind fat bike tires since those have lots of surface area and lower psi. You just don’t want to go too low below the tire’s psi because then you run risk of getting flats. And fixing flats in the snow is not dull
This is a common misconception. For riding on asphalt or hard ground, narrower tires with knobs or studs are recommended because you want to cut through to asphalt using as much force per unit area possible. This is standard wisdom for basically every kind of winter weather tire, even though it is slightly counterintuitive. More surface area makes it much more likely to float on top of the snow, where you won’t get traction no matter what size the contact patch.
You’re talking about cutting through to the asphalt like you’re going through 6 inches of snow in which case i might agree with you, but since most people avoid that kind of riding then we can assume a moderate accumulation of snow since a trail/road was last shoveled. In such an event both a fat bike tire and more conventional tire width are fine for different reasons. In my experience cutting down to asphalt isn’t always the best, since there can be a layer of ice below the snow. Narrow tires/studs/knobs will have less control in such a situation than a wider tire particularly a fat bike tire that didn’t cut to the asphalt like you suggest. The more surface area you have, the more likely you’ll have at least some solid footing (or more accurately, the less likely you’ll have unsolid/ice footing). If things were as you suggest then riding road bike width tires in the winter would be done by everyone, but i haven’t known anyone riding through snow using the narrowest road bike tires.
But i don’t really think it matters all that much. I just use the same 28mm tires year round, in which case yeah my tires are great because i have biked through 1ft of snow before. Would not recommend but not not dull enough to share. And while i don’t want to make an appeal to authority logical fallacy here, these are my personal experiences riding year round bike commuting for 20 years, including riding through some blizzards. In general i would recommend snow/ studded tires and the largest width or close to the largest width your bike can handle