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Readers’ Rides aren’t meant to be all 26″ wheeled basket bikes and there’s nothing wrong with that. Part of the joy we get from running this segment is the home-made, garage-cooked creations. Take this submission for example. Nick couldn’t fit on any production frames so he built his own frame. Then to up the ante, he put a fat fork on the front for some winter shenanigans… Read on below for more!
Considering I’ve reviewed three Surly bikes here on the Radavist and have loved every one of them, it’s a bit surprising that I don’t have one of my own. Thing is, we live in a two-bedroom apartment, and our family collection has room for three bikes each not including cargo bikes: slow, medium, and fast (still slow by many folks standards).
Review bikes come for tryouts, but in the past two-and-a-half years, none which have been able to displace our collection, which includes my Kona Unit (slow), our Soma Wolverines (medium), and my humongous Rock Lobster (OK, pretty fast). There’s a slim chance that a bike could be added, but for the right bike it is possible, and that’s where this story begins.
Author’s Note: This article was originally written almost 4 years ago, but was shelved after thinking I had lost a majority of the photos to a failed drive. After I managed to find many of the lost photos on an old SD card, I figured it was still worth sharing the last trip that inspired me to quit my job and travel the world by bike…
With colder temperatures and snow on the horizon, Pivot has given their Les Fat a new look for 2020 with a midnight blue paint job, a new build kit that features Shimano’s 12-speed drivetrain, with the option of either a rigid carbon or color-matched Manitou Mastodon suspension fork. Be it the snow or the sand, the Les Fat can do it all. Pricing starts at $2,899.00 for a frame and $4,199.00 for a complete. See more at Pivot.
Available in both light studded and non-studded, the Johnny 5 is the newest tire to come from Terrene. Designed to plow through fresh snow at an extremely wide 5″, the Johnny 5 is designed with optimum float and traction in mind. See more at Terrene!
Stephanie’s Surly Wednesday with Studs and Sim Works
Photos and words by Morgan Taylor
Stephanie’s Surly Wednesday represents layers of history, each meaningful and useful in their own right. When studying architecture and art history, I learned that such layers of history are referred to as a palimpsest. Rome is the classic example of a palimpsest, a city in which successive generations have built on top of what came before. New additions have been built on top of existing infrastructure, though the original shape and character still shines through.
Stephanie’s Wednesday has been successively repurposed over the past couple of years, moving away from its original life as a fat bike with trail geometry, to where you see it currently as a cold weather commuter with signs of its enjoyment along the way. Used and adapted, used some more, collecting knicks and character throughout. Our bikes are where we layer our history: through experience, they become greater than the sum of their parts.
Duluth’s trails are something I’ve yet to experience and while they’re ripping all summer, as Advocate Cycles proves in this video, their Watchman fatbike is more than capable of making even a winter trail session lots of fun.
Photo by Morgan Taylor
John’s busy pumping out photo sets of all the radness at NAHBS, but the rest of us can still get out and enjoy the weekend!
Photos and words by Morgan Taylor.
Jarrod Bunk aka @hopecyclery is committed to fat biking year round. So committed, in fact, that he saw the need for a fender that would cover up to a 5″ tire and keep the mud out of your eyes. Jarrod started making fenders in his spare time and others voiced their desire for such a product.
When I got my hands on an early D.Fender prototype last winter, a few people asked why I would even need a fender on a fat bike – they’re meant for snow riding and that’s it, right? Well, I think that’s a shortsighted viewpoint. This style of fender is ubiquitous in the greater mountain bike world, and for good reason.
Porcelain Rocket’s Moots Fatty with Hunter Fork
Words and photos by Morgan Taylor
Our recent trip through the Rockies to visit Porcelain Rocket’s shop was months in the making. The plan was to start with the shop visit in Calgary and then backtrack for a ride with Kevin Tweed in Banff the following day. I was excited to experience first hand the majestic Canadian Rockies, and to ride with Kevin on his home turf – but we were skunked.
In the days approaching our visit, massive wildfires burning south of the border combined with stagnant weather patterns to send a blanket of smoke over much of southern BC and Alberta. I had imagined shooting Scott’s Moots with a breathtaking Banff backdrop that I knew Kevin could lead us to, but that idea was out the window. Fortunately, Scott’s Moots holds its own. The haze lifted just enough to let an orange sun bring out the depth in the titanium, and we made some magic.
Eddie Master is method actor, his art form, mountain biking. In this short but powerful documentary film, Eddie risks his title as “King of the Enduro” in order to prove a point to the world, that there is no shame in fat bikes, and in order to do so, he piles on weight like he’s auditioning for a cameo role in another Eddie M’s The Crumps series. The man simply sacrifices everything for his art, and takes the Morgan Spurlock approach to the proof is in the pudding by simply eating all of the pudding. If you are not sold on fat bikes now, you better start cutting out coupons, because after you watch this video you are going to be buying bulk and living large with a whole new take on meaning of “The fat of the land.”
Is it wild to anyone else that there’s a Fat Bike Nats? Damn, it looks fun.
First debuted at Interbike, State Bicycle Co’s new singlespeed off-road division is now available for pre-order with a mid-November delivery. Their affordable cross bikes are available with a Reynolds wheel upgrade – which is almost as much as the bike itself, or as frames to be built us to your specification. Blastin into the fat marketplace are two singlespeed fat bikes, one coming in under $500 with an admittedly fun coaster brake setup and another with disc brakes for under $700.
See the full State Bicycle Co Off-Road Division below.
I’ve been stoked on this project since first posting about it! Now you can rent or buy the 11-minute documentary Hunting for Monsters at Vimeo!
“Lake Iliamna, Alaska’s largest lake, is home to many native communities, the worlds largest sockeye salmon run, potential site of the controversial Pebble Mine and the elusive Lake Monster – Illie. On a hot mid-July, Bjørn and Brent were deposited to the far shore of Cook Inlet in a landing craft cargo ship and began their human powered journey through Iliamna country to Bristol Bay, hoping to catch a glimpse of the illusive creature and slice of Alaska where monsters can still roam free.”
Moab was the spring product locale of choice for this year’s new product lineup across the MTB realm. Here’s Borealis‘ new Echo hardtail fat bike, using the new Rock Shox Bluto Fork.
Well, this morning we saw the Rock Shox Bluto fat bike suspension fork, with its tapered steerer and ample clearance. Problem is, a lot of the available fat bikes have traditional 1 1/8″ steerers. Although, over the past year, a lot of the fat bike offerings have converted to tapered steerers but the Salsa Bucksaw is the first to be designed around the Bluto. To add to the radness, they’ve added a rear shock too. That makes it the first full suspension – using Salsa’s Split Pivot™ system – fat bike in production.
Wow.
Available in the fall of 2014, the Bucksaw 1 will be $4,999 and Bucksaw 2 will be $3,999, and both will come with the RockShox Bluto fork.
See more at Salsa and make sure you read the Developing Buchsaw post!
Yep. I thought this was going to be on the April Fools list for sure. Turns out, the Rock Shox Bluto is a fat bike suspension fork, slated for release in June. If you’re out at Sea Otter, Rock Shox has a whole fleet of these for you to try out.
Check out more below.
Photos by Glenn Charles
We’ve all read the various theories on tire and wheel size when it comes to long distance cycling or touring but surely, few consider to ride their fat bike for 500 miles on (mostly) sealed roads. The Lost Coast is a relatively untapped goldmine for road porn. It’s a route I want to do some day and Glenn Charles’ photos from a recent ride he did with some friends shows why.
Seriously, if you’re in the mood for some inspirational photos, check out this story on Glenn’s Website!
