Converting Townie 8D ebike to trail bike

[cjp]

I have a Townie 8D ebike that I enjoy, however, it is for pavement. I would now like to ride rail trails and need to modify this bike or buy another. It has 26 inch wheels with 2.35 wide tires. I know the rim size might be an issue. I can get a new seat post for shock absorption. I took the Townie on the trail to try it out and it fishtailed when I would hit some of the larger rocks plus it was very rough riding. Basicially, what kind of tires can I put on my bike - or do I need a different bike?

[Jesper]

(08-10-2020, 05:54 PM)cjp Wrote:  I have a Townie 8D ebike that I enjoy, however, it is for pavement. I would now like to ride rail trails and need to modify this bike or buy another. It has 26 inch wheels with 2.35 wide tires. I know the rim size might be an issue. I can get a new seat post for shock absorption. I took the Townie on the trail to try it out and it fishtailed when I would hit some of the larger rocks plus it was very rough riding. Basically, what kind of tires can I put on my bike - or do I need a different bike?

I am not "Mr. Off- road", but I know that the tire tread may have some effect without changing the width. I do a little off-road with a road bike that I merely changed the tires on for better traction on non-paved terrain. It helped a lot, but I was limited due to my frame not allowing use of a wider tire (I wanted to be at 35mm or so in the end, but could only get to 32mm). I don't know exactly what you are riding through so it's hard for me to say if your tire width is sufficient enough. I have seen people on much narrower tires riding on some very rough terrain (40-45mm or so). It may be due to the motorized (I have none) drive that is causing the tires to slip; I don't know. We need someone with experience riding on your style terrain with a motor. I assume if you are going to get another bike for that use it will also be motorized. Correct? I have seen those ebikes with the 4" tires (fatbike), but have never ridden something like that with a motor on it. Those bikes probably weigh about 3-4 times (60-80 pounds) compared to what I'm riding with the motor and battery set-up on them.