Fat Bike Tuesday
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Pretty excited about the latest addition to the fleet, a 2015 Salsa Mukluk.
I demoed a fat bike when I eventually bought my Salsa Woodsmoke (https://mltshp.com/p/1ARFR), while fun I decided 27.5+ tires were better suited for all-round mountain bike use. What plus tires don’t do well is snow, but central Ohio winters are too unpredictable to justify spending much on gear specifically for that purpose. Some years we might have weeks or months of snow riding, others we might get four months of mud. However, when I saw a flyer at the grocery store selling a Mukluk $499, I couldn’t pass it up. 4” wide tires at 6psi should float and offer plenty of grip on any remotely packed snow, and give a little variety to my usual off-road rides.
Only downside is it’s a medium (17”) while my other two Salsas are larges (19”), but with the long seat post and overall bigness it seems to fit fine. I only had time for a quick ride at some pretty mild trails on my lunch break today, but it was definitely fun (until https://mltshp.com/p/1OSCH). A lot more nimble that expected, the low pressures and big tires have tons of grip and give a really compliant ride. The short gearing and extra rolling resistance keep speeds pretty low, but it’s still a pretty good workout.
It’s also silly fun on the paved trail I took to the mountain bike trail. The tires make a loud growl on pavement, people are already getting over before I can call out “on your left”. I get a lot more smiles and waves from pedestrians, including a few minutes of questions about the bike from a 70 year old walking his dog.
I demoed a fat bike when I eventually bought my Salsa Woodsmoke (https://mltshp.com/p/1ARFR), while fun I decided 27.5+ tires were better suited for all-round mountain bike use. What plus tires don’t do well is snow, but central Ohio winters are too unpredictable to justify spending much on gear specifically for that purpose. Some years we might have weeks or months of snow riding, others we might get four months of mud. However, when I saw a flyer at the grocery store selling a Mukluk $499, I couldn’t pass it up. 4” wide tires at 6psi should float and offer plenty of grip on any remotely packed snow, and give a little variety to my usual off-road rides.
Only downside is it’s a medium (17”) while my other two Salsas are larges (19”), but with the long seat post and overall bigness it seems to fit fine. I only had time for a quick ride at some pretty mild trails on my lunch break today, but it was definitely fun (until https://mltshp.com/p/1OSCH). A lot more nimble that expected, the low pressures and big tires have tons of grip and give a really compliant ride. The short gearing and extra rolling resistance keep speeds pretty low, but it’s still a pretty good workout.
It’s also silly fun on the paved trail I took to the mountain bike trail. The tires make a loud growl on pavement, people are already getting over before I can call out “on your left”. I get a lot more smiles and waves from pedestrians, including a few minutes of questions about the bike from a 70 year old walking his dog.
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https://mltshp.com/p/1OSCG
I'm still getting it dialed in for me, but you can run crazy-low PSI in the tires (down to 4-5 psi even with tubes, I was running 9 psi yesterday and it felt good). Low pressures and wide tires make for a huge contact patch and endless traction in all manner of conditions, so the bike "floats" instead of sinks over snow and sand. Sand isn't really a thing around here, but snow can be (other years we get almost none). There have definitely been weeks where I could have hit the snowy trails on a fat bike (plenty of others did seeing the tracks), but my 27.5x3.0 plus bike broke through or had no traction.
Fat bikes can be good in mud too. As a rule I never ride muddy trails, though occasionally local trail crews will issue a call for fat bikers to ride soft new sections of trail to get them packed down. A few years ago I rode my plus bike in the mountain bike class of a winter fat bike race series, but the snow melted, leaving the course as slippery clay mud (https://mltshp.com/p/1AYGP). Finding traction and staying upright were definitely a struggle for me, but the fat bikes had few problems.
All that said, I never really felt compelled to spend new-bike money on a fat bike. For me this was nice because it was cheap enough that I won't feel like I need to ride it all the time (when a different bike would be better) - but I'll be happy to have the option, and hope it will keep me from being bored on the trainer at least a few days next winter.
I've also heard fat bikes are pretty good as buddy bikes, or for new mountain bikers in general since they are pretty forgiving and slow. That's very true for my fleet, my previous backup was a very twitchy and very fast '96 Bontrager OR which has gotten a few different new riders in over their head.
Not sure I’m pro enough (like, I’m positive I’m not) to want to trade weight and speed for traction and ride, but I won’t kick one out of the house if it suddenly shows up.
Which it won’t because I don’t have oodles of cash for such fun.
Enjoy!
In everyday singletrack riding the plus tires give a lot of the traction benefits of a fat bike, and enough cushion to cut down on fatigue. More importantly, handling is still good, and it doesn't have a rolling resistance penalty anywhere close to the level of a fat bike.