NE Riding 2013

[strawjack]

Well, I finally got my Fatboy and got out for a ride today. 45* with a couple of inches of slushy goodness over frozen ground and I had a ball. My daughter followed on the Farley and also had a great time but agreed that the Knards suck in the snow. Gonna get some Nates and all should be well for the next fatty cruise.

Looks like we go back into a snowy period and some nights in the freezer so wintry fatbike conditions look to be a go for a while longer. Funny, I haven't been out skiing yet this year and strangely not really missing it too much.

tires on the fatboy good?

skiing is always fun and I enjoy it everyday i'm out, but the reality is the conditions have just sucked. you're not missing much...yet.

my wife is practically yelling at me to buy a fat bike now. I think she's just sick of me talking about them.

[gravitylover]

heheheh Actually the 19 that we got was spoken for so if you can find one get it, you won't regret it. We do have 17 and 21 for anybody that needs one. We also have 19 and 21 Farley and an 18 Moonie.

The tires. They seemed to be better than ok. Umm more involved answer huh...

Temp was in the mid 40's with some cooler spots and some melted out muddy spots so they saw quite the variety of conditions from ice chunks to mud over frozen slippery ground and straight up water ice at the creek crossings. Traction was mostly consistent, breakaway was predictable (as much as can be in the snow) and they seemed to be supple enough to wrap around things nicely. I had the pressure at 6 1/2 rear and 5 1/2 front when I left the house but I forgot my pack (this is why there are no pics) so couldn't mess with it while riding but I think I would drop it for the type of trails I was on. They have a lot of sidehill stretches and the tires were staying just a bit too round for the side edge knobs to grip so there was more sideways sliding than I like but it was manageable.

I did switch out the tubes immediately upon taking the bike out of the box. They are the heaviest tubes I've ever come across, 1.5 pounds each, and even out of the tire with 1 psi they are stiff so I couldn't see completely ruining a supple tires performance with them even if it means maybe getting a flat more easily. I put on some sweet, sticky, light flat pedals and the bike weighs in at 29 pounds. I wish I hadn't had to wait so long for it but it is what it is, I've got it now and it's snowing again

I'll almost certainly get out and make some turns this weekend and probably the next few weeks too since it looks like the snowy part of the winter is finally here but I suspect that I'll have fatbike trail riding on my mind most of the time.

Rog is right about snow being good and dirt being better. There's something about fatbikes that satisfies a need that's been missing from mt bikes since the early days. When they were new it was like "Wow man, we can go everywhere" and then we found the limits. We were stuck to trails and there weren't enough of them so we made more, but we were still tied to them. Now with the advent of a "proper" mt bike with a tire this size new exploration opportunities have been opened to us. Otherwise difficult conditions have become doable, challenging (in a super fun way) but doable, places that were inaccessible other than on foot have become easily accessible with considerably less of a time investment to get to them. We have plans to do some long beach rides this spring and summer, places where the chances of being bothered by people are super slim because they just won't walk there.

[strawjack]

Was at a local shop yesterday and they were so pissed off that they haven't seen one fatboy yet! I had to throw in the fact that I saw one at their competitors...doh!

They did have six fattys on the floor, one moonlander, couple pugsleys, a beargrease$$$, and another Salsa in the window.

It will be interesting to see what will happen with all these fat bikes that don't move. Rog's place has already dropped their price...of course that Kona is just f'd with those handle bars.

[icelanticskier]

handlebars are easily swappable as i told you

and the skiing has been quite good

rog

[buttahflake]

today was sublime, so nice.
Ascutney in the background.

[buttahflake]

snowmachine trails are level and fast, it was pretty much awesome out there today.
so much grip!



still a shit-ton of snow on the ground.

[crank54]

Was out tonight in HP - most trails were super packed by slowshoe traffic and thus really fun!

Still waiting on my Fatboy to come in though. Freakin Specialized...

[Anospa]

Some riding friends have gotten super into fat bikes this year, and have been building grooming equipment. Russell Mill is apparently they're crown jewel, so if you've got a fattie I'd suggest heading that way!

[icelanticskier]

^^^^^^^^no need for trails or grooming from boston to southern maine right now. Glacier pack that yer fatties will stay on top of. Ride anywhere in the woods . So killer. Super grip too. Regular 2+ inch tires wouldn't work, at least up my way. Got a good 16+ inches of settled glacier on the ground up here. We'll be snow riding into april fer sure.

rog