There has come a ‘new’ bike craze that is happening now.
It’s the fat bike. I put the word new in quotations, because it’s been around
for quite some time being used in races in Alaska.
They have grown quite a bit in popularity over the last few
years as Surly has made them a staple in their production line. Other companies
have seen the fat bike popularity, and have followed suit. In our line, not
only do we carry Surly for your fat bike needs, we also carry the Kona Wo &
Moots FrosTi (special order only). More on the differences in a moment.
Why would one buy a fat bike? These bikes excel in snow and
winter riding. The size of the tires starts at 26x3.8 and can go to 4.8”. The wider the tire the less tire pressure
(anywhere from 8psi-20psi), less tire pressure means better traction. These are
able to float over a lot of different kind of terrain. Snow is the big one, but
sand, gravel, roots, rocks, etc. are handled just as well with the wider tire.
So this line of bikes is not limiting at all. You are able
to ride fat bikes all year long. There are those that are ditching their mtn
bikes, and just riding these all over the place all year long. With the big and
wide tires, put that together with the low psi; and the bike will absorb much
of the trail. In a sense, the tire becomes your suspension.
One of the apprehensions with fat bikes is the question of
handling. How do they handle? The answer is simple; just like any other mtn
bike. They are however, harder to get to high speeds because of the tires, but
you’re not picking one up for speed. Once you are able to ride one, you realize
the ease of the maneuverability of the bike.
I recently picked up a Surly Pug Ops & was able to take
it out on a local mtn bike trail before all the snow hit, and it handled just
as well as any other mtn bike, except I was not concerned with taking the
‘right lines’ or rolling over a rock or root wrong. I just went, and let the
bike do the rest. It will
just power through and over anything you put in its way. The gearing is low enough where climbing is not an issue.
The differences between what we carry are as follows:
The big one is frame material. Surly deals in 4120 cro-moly
steel. The tubes are designed for the frame. They are not taking regular tubes
that would be used for other mtn bikes and ‘making them work.’ You have a
higher bb, like you would find on a mtn bike; which gives you ample clearance
over objects. The way Surly set up the
geometry is that it is able to be ridden off road just as well as an all day
grind or day out exploring the winter wonderland, trail, or whatever nature may
throw at you.
The Kona Wo is set up similar to the Surly line as far as
geometry goes. They do have a different cockpit out of the box, and is made of
aluminum. The aluminum will save you some weight (my Pug Ops comes in at 34
lbs), and will stiffen up the ride a bit. Both have 2x10 drivetrains.
And if you know Moots; the FrosTi is, you guessed it, Ti.
Moots only does a limited run of these frames, so if you want one, you have to
get on the list early. They do the frame, we’ll do the rest.
So feel free to stop on in and talk to us about getting fat….
