Pistard

This guy shows up at work with a fat bike, I happen to look out my office window, right a way a half a dozen people looking it over etc, as I look closer it just looked kinda weird, big wheels and no brakes or gears?? well $ 189 at Wallymart he says!! could not believe it, I guess the tire prices will drop soon LOL.

intransit1217

Well, The Moose has put a conundrum smack in my biking craw. Wishing I hadn't bought the paragon for the dual sport. That's a chunk for a better fattie. HATE the bb5 brakes.
And when you add up all the upgrades I'm thinking about, I can afford a mukluk three or a felt double double. Gah !

Jseis 

Riding the beach.

I ride nearly 100% on a broad sandy beach at mid to low tide and a narrow beach at mid to high tide.


The sand is challenging and at 5-6 mph I'm probably burning 1000 calories an hour and more if I'm headed into wind. The black line in the image shows one preferred route on one day. Riding the driftline as the grass, weeds, small sticks provide stability. The super hard sand is only available on low tides, otherwise I'm pushed higher up the beach. After good rains, the sand can harden up but all it takes is a few days of no rain and the winds will make little dunes of 1-3' high. Tough to negotiate those suckers. The benefit of riding the driftline? Finding an Asian float, likely tsunami debris!

Spoke

Re-posted by request of Jseis.

My usual ride in central Texas is a road bike on asphalt. But while up here vacationing in Colorado I couldn't resist giving fat tire snow biking a go at the Nordic Center of Snow Mountain Ranch, YMCA of the Rockies. Had a blast. Y'all need to give it a try if you ever get the chance. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K664a6dySlQ

Ride On!
-Spoke

Jseis 

Hey thanks! What was it like riding on packed? snow. I'm curious as sand takes a pretty good lick of energy and from your video it appeared that you & company were rolling right along.

Jim

slowride454

In my limited fatbike riding experience, snow doesn't sap your energy like sand does. Hard wet sand has a similar feel to riding a groomed snow trail, but you'd have to be in some pretty deep snow to get the same effort as riding on fine grain dry sand.

lurch0038

Anyone use a FB for surfcasting on a beach? During the spring/summer months SUV access is closed due to plovers (people can walk). Was thinking of picking up a fat bike and loading up all of the gear to reduce the walking time out to specific locations.

Jseis 

2 x 20 and in dry beach sand...I'm in 1st or 2nd. I can only dream of hitting say 6th in those conditions. Maybe downslopeish with a 25 mph breeze at my back.

Roadbikedude

All I have to add is that anyone thinking about adding a fatty to the collection of bikes will have no regrets at all. You can go places that roadies can't , that cyclocross can't, that mountain bikes can't - only fatties can go. Only thing stopping a fatty is the one pushing the pedals. I road around ice fishermen the other day - riding on a lake - now that's a trip for me! Cheers to all and keep on rollin'

Spoke

That was my first ride on a fat bike, so I really can’t say. They used a snowmobile pulling a roller to make about a 4’ wide path. But the Colorado powder doesn't pack very well. If you gave it too much torque the back tire would spin. If you peddled smoothly you can move along without too much trouble. But it didn't take much of a hill to break traction.

-Spoke

Nick Bain

Fat bikes life changing. I just drilled out my Rolling darryls and put on some studded 45nrth tires and running cobrafist poggies I can ride just about anything. Especialy when all the freeze thaw turns the trails to ice.

SHOFINE

Sunset Cruise!

Jseis 

nice pics, is that a Brooks?

SHOFINE

Thanks & Yes, Aged B17.

Hypno Toad

On the way home from work, this thorn gave me a flat. The Pugsley got a flat?!?!?! Big thanks to the wife for being the AAA tow-service, 'cause I was without a new tube and there is very little chance I wanted to fill a fatbike tire with compact hand pump (I don't have 2 hours to burn).

Jseis 

Fatbike: The first 100 miles on the beach.

1. 36 teeth! My country for a 36 cog! Rolling sand all over the beach means dunes at 15-16% slopes, soft dry sand, soft wet sand, wet hard sand that is more like Velcro. 32 big rear cog just doesn't cut it sub 5 mph winding up that steep dune trail (or I'm going to get gorilla legs). I'm a 2 x 10 with 38-28 with 11-32 out back. That 11 is wishful thinking but hey, it's mountain roadie gears.


2. Sand sucks on the drive train and most of the problem results from splashing across shallow streams and drenching the chain/sprockets with a water sand mix. Solution...slowly crawl across the stream, then slowly roll out to get the water off the tire. Fenders will help with some sand flying off the tires but a cover over the front drive sprockets would be sweet.


3. Low pressure tires are traditional on a beach for a reason. More squash is better. My 4.2 H-Billies at 3.5 psi front and 4.0 psi back squash out very good and have excellent traction though severe rolling resistance. An M1A1 Abrams rolls at 15 psi ground pressure, I'm sub 5 psi ground pressure.


4. I average 6 mph. I figure I'm pulling my 198 pounds and 31 pounds of bike around at 140-150 watts and I'm sweating like a pig after an hour. I can think of no better way OR reason to drop 20. That being said, I'd go with a solid 5" inches of fat tire on a new bike, particularly if you're in soft sand and are "solidly built".


5. Hard tires roll better, even if they're fat knobs. I designed (in my head) a portable inflation system using a SCUBA spare air canister after spending a day transitioning from pavement to beach & wishing for a quick way to inflate those monster tires to 20-25 pounds.


6. I'll probably go tubeless just for fun and for the first time I'll roll over a nail attached to a chunk of plywood hidden in the sand.


7. Rolling a fattie works for me 'cause I live next to 24+ miles of beautiful beach here in Wa. state. As it only takes a few miles to burn through calories, you don't need a big long beach. That being said, I get the snow bikes now and why they are fabulous winter riding/base training but for me it's a sand bike. Mine rolls sweet on soft turf, beach grass drift line, pine needles, roots, but my 26" hard tail is faster on single track. I'm still not used to the steering feel. It's downright weird above 7 mph.


8. If I hadn't been riding 1500-2500 miles a year on my road bike, the fat bike would kick my ass. But my cardio is very good and I'm getting gorilla legs as riding the fattie is like going up a perpetual 2% grade, then I turn around and ride into the wind.


9. Post ride rinse & blow dry mandatory. My Park chain cleaner is going to get serious exercise. I may go to a paraffin treatment.


10. The beach at sunrise & sunset is so peaceful.

bruised

Good feedback / tips on sand riding ^

Here's something I tussle with a bit -

The reason for me getting a fat bike was so I could continue riding through the winter, for fitness.

Fitness in my case means avoiding fatness. I used to be very fat and unfit, now I'm less fat and somewhat fit - the fat bike is a tool to help keep it that way through the winter.

Therefore I need to avoid falling into the trap of looking for ways to make riding easier. I read all of the stuff about tubeless, carbon parts and other ways to shed weight and improve efficiency and I get drawn in. Then I remember - that's not why I'm here. Hard is good. Hard means I'm burning more calories for less time in the saddle.

Do I like riding through the snow in sub-zero when my muscles feel like they're about to explode, my hands and feet are frozen solid and my beard is carrying 3 pounds of ice? ....HELL NO. I'm doing it for the exercise and hard is good.

That's not to say that there aren't some pleasurable moments. There are. Many. Like being out later than planned and encountering an amazing sunset, or riding through the woods and stopping to listen to the sound of absolute silence. Or just the satisfaction you feel after a ride on a particularly cold day when you're defrosting with a hot cup of Joe....

Hypno Toad

^^^ This! HOLY WORKOUT BATMAN!!

I do about 5,000 miles a year, and I'm accustom to riding on snow on my winter-commuter (2x26" SS MTB); but the Pugsley said "you're an out-of-shape wimp!" That doesn't stop the endless smiles, fatbikes are just soooooo much fun to ride!

lubes17319

Only place around here that MTBs can't go where fatties can is XC ski/fat-only groomed trails, and that's only b/c tires <3.7" aren't allowed.

Jseis 

You are so right. I guess I didn't stress the three F's of Fatbiking. Rolling Fat, Fit, & Fun. And as Bruised photos show, the incredible beauty of a lake shore, snowy field, and absence of the hustle & bustle of the road. Many times I'm the only one on the beach and while this will change come summer, I'll just be out early morning light when few are awake.

It it is absolutely the most fun & craziest & most commented on bike I've ever ridden.

slowride454

I can't ride any of my MTBs in more than 5-6" of snow or on dry, fine sandy beaches. I can on my fatbike.

jdswitters

One of these days we need to come up with a standardized snow classifications system for fat bikers.

There are so many different types of snow and so many degrees of packed or groomed snow, each of which has an impact on tire pressure and tread.

Class one snow: 1-inch or less over hard pack/pavement ride what you want at 15-20 PSI.

Class two snow: 1-inch over ice tightly spaced block tread at 12-psi studs are a bonus.


....

All the way down to

Class 10 snow: 6+ inches of snow ungroomed 4-PSI, 45 north vanhelga or equal.

These are just off the cuff examples, some people with more experience than I could help pull this together.

The reality is each day is different, but I see a lot of questions about tires and snow and some general starting points would be cool.

bicyclelove

I hear you on the need for lower gears. I had 28-38 chain rings on my front when I got my fatty, I have niw changed to 22-32, much more useable and only cost about $35. The 32-11 is still plenty hard to turn for me and can get me up to about 18-19 MPH if I really crank it on pavement. And with the 22-34 combo I can climb anything!
I still have a lot of riding to do to get in shape. I signed up for the Birkie Fat Bike Race on March 7th. Wish me luck ( not to win, I just hope to finish! )

jdswitters

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Framed Minnestoa 1.0 since last march. Before that I had a mongoose beast that was just a gateway drug.

[IMG]

[/IMG] yesterdays commute pic, but I usually ride a steel frame city bike.

I usually just check in on commuting and utility, I'll start checking in here more often.

Jseis 

this ^^^