Duro California Bicycles Beach Bum Fat Tire Cruiser Tire (26" x 3")

UPDATE on March 5, 2020: I just ordered/recieved 2 more of these wonderful tires today. I am HAPPY TO SAY that both "black" tires were, indeed solid BLACK... NO WHITE LETTERING (like depicted in the 2nd photo at the top).. I may just order 2 more because, at this price (and WITHOUT the white lettering), this item is unbeatable. And, for those of you who currently are using 26"x4" Fat Tire tires on your rims: these will work most excellently-- you just have to buy inner tube(s) in size 26"x3",too..EDIT/ADDENDUM as postyed on Jan.28, 2020I almost forgot about this review, so now is a good time to update things. I have made one change to the use of the "inner tire" for my 3-tire combination recipe-- it is now a 2.3" tire, instead of a 2.1" tire. Everything else remains the same. If you stay with a 4" outer tire format, go 4",, 3.5",, 3" tire combo with a 3" inner tube. I now have a total of 11,741 miles of flat-free Fat Tire ebike riding, thanks in large part to the fabulous Duro Beach Bum 26"x3" tire. At KUSH's mile # 2,500 I began this little 3-tire experiment (at mile #3,200 I was confident enough that I decided to stop carrying any sort of flat repair apparatus). The KUSH now has 10,928 total miles on the odometer. So, that makes for 8,428 flat-free miles on the 2018 KUSH.During early summer of 2019, I took delivery of the hardtail version (front suspension only) of the KUSH. This newest toy had the 3-tire combo recipe installed prior to going on its 1st ride. It now has 3,313 miles of absolutely no-flat incidents. Again, I never carry any sort of flat repair items. So, there you have the total of 11,741 miles ridden on 3-tire combo's. One viewer comment addressed the use of tubeless tires, etc. I checked into that option early on. I lost interest when discovering that flats still occurred, and the goo mess was pretty much the same as the SLIME mess I had to deal with on my flat tires--gawd, that was a nasty mess. Also, the goo used needs to be replenished every month or so. Then you factor how cold temperatures might possibly adversely affect the tubeless tire sealer goo. I believe that the tubeless tires which are required PLUS the goo/sealant PLUS the special rim requirements all added up to "thanks, but no thanks".. So, I went with my own recipe and it works friggin' AWESOME...EDIT/ADDENDUM as posted on Dec.11, 2018 My original May 12, 2018 review has been replaced with the following posting because a). the 3” Beach Bum tire is intregal to the overall success of “The Recipe”, and b). any fat tire bike/ebike owner will be interested in my modifications to the normal bicycle tire mindset. Plus, it works.. Fat Tire tires and flats.I have never really been a fan of fat tires because I assumed (rightfully so) that , due to their huge footprint, they would collect that much more road /trail fodder than a regular 2” or smaller bike tire.My Kush has had 3 flats on the rear tire and 1 on the front tire. I absolutely hate getting flats. When I go on a 50-60 mile bike ride, I want to ride. I don't want to have to stop and dink with flat repair. I have 6 bikes. Three are old school (pre ebike) bikes and 3 are ebikes. One bike is a roadie bike using 700cc tires. Four are 26” wheel bikes. Two of those 4 are ebikes. Then, of course there is this fat tire monster. The 3 old school bikes all use Slime in the tubes and, as a result I have never had a flat while out on a ride. Nevertheless, I still carry all the required repair items (spare tube/ co2 cartridges/ inflator/ patches/ glue) on every ride for just in case.In regards to the two 26” wheel ebikes: My very first ride on my 2017 Xtreme (brand) TrailMaster Elite hard tail ebike (purchased in Oct. 2017) resulted in a snakebite flat because I was transitioning back and forth over a local pothole (testing the front shock/suspension seat post).It was when dealing with this dual flat that I was introduced to the very drastic differences between an old school bike rear wheel and a rear hub ebike wheel. I won't elaborate here. I did, however, make my initial foray into the world of “flat-free solid inner tubes”.In December of 2017, I ordered an Xtreme 2018 Sedona dual-suspension ebike. That bike has never had a regular inner tube in the tires. From the lessons learned (there were many) while dinking with the 1st ebike, the Sedona was a godsend in regards to my piece of mind about NOT having to deal with a trail-side loss of air pressure-- because there is NO air. When I ride these first two ebikes, I don't carry any type of tire maintenance items. Yahoo!!Now for the KUSH Fat Tire tires. The first of 4 flats (3 were on the rear wheel) was the result of an extended (into the tube area) spoke. The Kush had Slime installed, but, at this location, Slime won't do any good. Needless to say, I had a 3 mile walk back to the casa pushing a 60+ pound dead beast.The 2nd time rear flat was a slow leak so I was able to quickly co2 inflate the tire and go like hell back to the casa. This was a 5 mile trip involving 2 re-inflates and that throttle-only 28+ mph speed was a godsend. I made it home otay. I also discovered that Slime, while performing flawlessly on smaller diameter fairly high pressure tubes in clogging the escaping air, is not adequate in a large diameter large volume lower pressure bike tube (a fat tire tube). While dealing with each of these loss of tire pressure situations, I thought how nice it would be if it was the front tire going flat instead of the super heavy (25+ pounds) rear wheel. I could just go into “wheelie mode” and walk the beast home. A piece of cake.Well, flat #3 was the front tire. A catastrophic blowout at the end of a long descent. The side of the tire itself was destroyed. No inner tube repair this time. And SLIME was everywhere-- what a friggin' mess. So the long walk began. But, hey, at least it was the front tire. Just wheelie that sucker for the walk home. WRONG!! Heavy (60+ pounds) and clumsy and cumbersome like you can't imagine. I finally got that sucker back home and it was then that “the process” began: how to go solid inner tube on a 4” fat tire?? I won't elaborate other than to say that I have spent at least $200 on yellow solid bike tubes (2 to a tire), 3” beach bum slick tires (black ones, blue ones) smaller-than-4” inner tubes. I tried everything imaginable in an effort to overcome the dreaded flat tire effect on a fat tire bike. Some experiments would be great for 100 miles and then things would go straight to heck. Time for plan b/c/d/e. Finally, things evolved into my current modus operandi. I have been using it for 700 miles and it works just fine and dandy.Start with the front wheel since it is much lighter/easier to deal with. Use any lessons learned to make the very heavy/cumbersome wheel swap out a smoother operation. As a precursor, let me tell you that I, personally, REALLY like the 3” beach bum slick tires on my KUSH ebike. The original 4” knobbie tires are just too noisy to suit me. These 3” slicks are absolutely Q-U-I-E-T. Therefore, my remedy to flatproofing involves 3” ers. Now, for “The Recipe”: Here are the ingredients;a). one pair of 26”x 3” beach bum slick tires.b). one pair of 26”x 2.5”Maxxis 559 Hookworm Urban wire bead tires.c). one par of 26” x 2.3” Kenda Kiniption tires.d). one pair of Kenda Downhill 26” x 2.3/2.75” 2.25mm schrader valve INNER TUBES. These puppies are awesome, by the way. I use 17psi-20psi tire pressure. I used to check pressure weekly, but nowadays I just squish the sidewalls to see that all is otay. If you use this particular 3-tire recipe, I can 100% guarantee an excellent fit onto your wheels. Also, when you squeeze the sidewalls, there will be a certain amount of "dead space", but not to worry as that is just a side effect of using 3 tires. I have 11,741 miles of proven reliability (as of Jan. 28, 2020) to confirm that nothing negative will occur as a result thereof.For those of you preferring to go with/stay with the 4” fat tires, just go 4” tires, 3.5” SunLite Baja tires, 3” tires, and 3" tubes ( your 4” tire inner tubes are way too bulbous to use with any tire smaller than 4”). You can install each tire inside the next larger tire prior to mounting onto the rim. You can then partially inflate the inner tube, insert it inside the smallest tire, and then mount the whole she-bang onto the rim in one fell swoop-- being sure to align the tube stem/valve with the hole in the rim. After all is said and done put a small amount of SLIME into the inner tube just because you can. Game On, Baby!!You might think that such a setup will be kind of heavy. Such is not the case. Plus, with an ebike, weight is not a factor like it is with an old school bike.So, anyway, I have been using this exact setup for the past 700 miles without the addition of Slime because I wanted to see just how effective the basic installation would prove to be. I still take a complete flat repair kit (including a tube) with me on every ride for just in case. However, as I write this article, I figure that I may as well just go ahead and put some Slime in the tubes and hope/pray that nothing catastrophic ever occurs on my rides. I'll also stop carrying my repair items.By the way, after one of my recent rides, I was scanning my tires looking for impaled “stuff” and sure enough, dead center on the rear tire was a galvanized nail head looking back at me. Since the shafts on these puppies are usually 1”-1.5” long, I was really dreading removing this sucker. But, I grabbed the needle nose pliers and began the slow withdrawal of the invader, listening intently for the hiss of escaping air. Luckily, the nail shaft had been severed and was a mere 1/2” long. No air escaped. Life was good. I filled the hole with silicone glue (or whatever). So, the fact that a 1/2” long intruder failed to penetrate to the inner tube means that I Win!! So, now, should you decide to, you can also be a winner. As a sidenote; I run 17-20psi air pressure in my tires because I ride solely on paved trails/ paths/ roads. I know that many fat tire bikers like to run much lower tire pressure-- even as low as 5 psi. You will just have to experiment to see what works.Also, when dealing with the rear wheel, prior to trying to remove the wheel, go ahead and remove the disc brake main body (2 screws). The re-installation of your rear wheel will be a much smoother/simpler operation. Remember that you are already dealing with the chain/cogset/axle alignment. Do you really want to bend the disc as you manhandle that 25+ pound rear wheel?? Re-installation of the disc housing after successfully battling the other 3 items is simple as pie. Also, the aforementioned "recipe" should also work just fine and dandy for assembling a pair of dedicated STUDDED ice/snow tires. Too much fun..Also, now would be a good time to customize your fat rim holes with decorative duct tape. As for new rim strip material, buy the 2.88" wide heavy duty Gorilla tape. 2 wraps around the rim will suffice. I use both the custom duct tape and the Gorilla tape on both fat tire rims.Concerning the use of "inside" tires: if you are buying new tires, get city/slick tread tires. As for the "outside" tire, it can be city/slick/knobbie, whatever you prefer. However, as an "inside", knobbies will give you a lot of air cavities between the tires-- also, the torque applied on the "inside tires" will rip the knobs/tits right off a knobbie tire. You will eventually notice small humps/bumps on the outside tire. That is those ripped off knobs/tits.. Been there, done that. Learn from my mistakes. Slicks, on the other hand, will give you a lot of solid rubber, which will also come in handy should you decide to use a little green Slime (still recommended) in the inner tube(s), too.In ending (finally), a person has the option of doing Rear Wheel/Tire Only in regards to my suggestions as to how to successfully do battle with the dreaded flat tire prevention on any rear motor hub ebike.. They are all quite heavy and super cumbersome to manhandle as you do battle to fix your limping mighty beast. Then, once you see just how well the "fix" works, you can repeat the same modus operandi on the front tire/wheel, too...End of Edit/Addendum..

This tire arrived in folded condition which skews the wire that is used to do the clinching. I guess it would be cost prohibitive to send it in new condition. I use these on a Soul Beach Cruiser that had 4" tires but the rim is only 3" so the rim accepted the new tire without issue. Prior to mounting it's a good idea to take note of the tire's rotation. I partially pumped up the tire with an Oasser Portable Air Compressor prior to mounting and little by little I made sure to watch the bead carefully and massaged them into place. I then set it to 25Psi and finished inflating the tire. The bike was purchased back in 2016 and it was motorized soon after. The previous Duro Beach Bum(Soul Beach Cruiser branded) rear tire lasted about 2 years. Unfortunately the tire got a hole in the sidewall and other parts started to unravel but it still had plenty of tread left. I hope these can last that long too.

Once you get them on right, they work well. It took me a little while to get them to not pop off the rims though. If the edges were a little deeper/longer they'd be a ton better. As a result of the tires popping off a bunch during install, I don't trust them when I ride them. I have a constant sense that they might pop any second while I'm on them. Not a good feeling while you go downhill at 35mph.

I like these tires, but the molding of the white rubber went outside of the white wall line, make the tires look sloppy. I had to buy a sharpie black paint maker to fix the mold defect.

It's a good tire. Light, quiet, and it grips the road. These tires fit around a standard 26" rim. I had a issue with my kickstand not having enough reach to makeup the new stance of these tires. Also make sure you have disc brakes U brakes pads don't reach around the tires to make contact with the rim.

Awesome fat 3" tires, fixing to buy a few sets in white walls and they look awesome while riding really smooth. These are All Around Good tires. Can't wait to try a Pair of the Soul Crushers and then on a built 49cc to 80cc bicycle project

These tires look great on my bike.