We check out WTB’s first fat tyre
With Arctic winds howling through the UK at the moment, we thought it fitting to take a closer look at WTB’s new Bailiff tyres.
The Bailiff is WTB’s first fat bike tyre, breaking down the door of another discipline for the brand best known for its gravel tyres and mountain bike tyres.
WTB says it has used its four decades of manufacturing experience, plus hundreds of hours of testing, to create the new winter trail tyre.
The tyre is only available in a 27.5×4.5in size and can be purchased with or without studs.
Prices start at £119.99 / $134.99 / €127 for the non-studded version, while the studded tyre is priced at £249.99 / $251.95 / €269.
The Bailiff tyres are available now in North America and due to land in Europe in March.
Carbide studs
The studded tyres feature 312 steel carbide studs in the tread pattern to generate better traction on ice.
This is 96 more than the 216 found on Bontrager’s Gnarwal fat tyres, but not all the studs have to be used, with WTB providing a guide on where best to add them depending on the conditions.
The studded Bailiff weighs a claimed 1,617g per tyre, with the unstudded variant 1,530g.
Studs can be retrofitted or removed, with the tyres being compatible with studs from expedition brands Terrene and 45N.
Soft and wide
WTB says it has tried to strike the right balance between rolling resistance and braking traction, giving the Bailiff tightly grouped centre knobs that support the tyre on harder surfaces, while still enabling the tread to dig into the ground for traction.
The Bailiff gets WTB’s TCS (tubeless compatible system) and uses a 120-TPI casing that WTB says gives the tyre suppleness while minimising rotational weight.
A snow-specific ‘High Grip’ compound that remains soft down to extremely low temperatures is used for the outer rubber, which is said to give the tyre added traction on snowy expeditions.
The brand says the 4.5in width provides a large contact patch for traction and gives the tyre good levels of float for varying snow conditions.