Winter bike / Snow bike thread

I'll plastering it with bright blue ano parts.

Headset
Hubs
nipples
rimtape
seatpost clamp
bottle cage and rack mount bolts.
bar tape (shiney blue fizik microtex)

ftfy ;)

UK license plates are plastic and will break.

You need a US one which is metal and will bend.

Or Aussie. You could probably get a certain amount of bend out of a UK one.
I used to have one kicking about you could've had. Must have binned it in the move.

I agree.

There's not exactly a massive chioce of 135mm front hubs out there though.

Maybe?

the idea of using a fatbike on UK trails is obscene. Why? You would be out paced and out manured by anyone on a 'cross bike, 29er or MTB.

Speculation rather than an opinion based on experience?

People on cross bikes, 29s, and MTBs produce more manure than those on fatbikes? Fascinating.

Don't agree with that personally. I used mine for all my regular XC stuff in Scotland and it never felt any slower than my other bikes, and i never had any trouble keeping up with my riding buddy either, even on the climbs.

Could be the fact that it was my first foray in fatbiking, it was brilliantly easy and confident-inspiring to ride off road, and the fact it's a SS with an unusually high GI make it a bit of a bitch at the slightest incline.

after the two hours ride with the Surly, it's defintely felt like an go-anywhere bicycle, rather than a snow/sand only bicycle, if I had fun with the Pugsley in singlespeed, then the geared version going to be brilliant.

I had the tyres pressure at 6-9psi (give or take), so tarmac wasn't on my mind when I test rode it, I want to see how it handle off the beaten path, the road I know will be fine when pumped to a rock solid 20psi.

Well then there's your problem. If the gear is too high it will be harder work off road, and if the tyres are too soft it will be harder work on road.
Both of those go for any bike.
Regardless of all the assumptions and speculations surrounding fatbikes...they just ride like most other MTB's...I never felt hindered once on mine, and never smiled more on any other bike.

i'm still getting it, in fact, i'll do something stupid and make it into a genuine do-anything bike from Great Divide to touring.

I told you months ago to just get a set of regular twenty niner wheels for it so it could work as both!
Talking to myself

You did, but you hasn't addresses the off-set problem...

It's not a problem...you build the wheels with offset, the same as you do with the fat wheels.

You're neither Josh Bender, nor Daniel Lambert...I think a pair of offset twenty niner wheels can handle what you'll dish out!

It's not a problem...you build the wheels with offset, the same as you do with the fat wheels.

This cant be straight forward.

With a 35mm wide rim, trying to compensate for a 17.5mm offset, I'm guessing the non drive side would have zero bracing angle, and still not manage it?

Eds example up the thread, seems to be using a wide (unicycle?) 29er rim, with the non-driveside drillings redrilled to the over side of the rim. I could see you gaining 10mm of the offset this way. Which would be enough for a decent wheelset.

Alternativly you could cross spoke the wheel (drive side spoke going to non-drive-side of rim and vise versa). On a wide flat profiled rim this would add strength. If the rim round or has depth. You'll get nipple angle issues. I've seen this done on 100mm US Chopper rims (because the rim is so wide it removes the bracing angle, so the wheel was cross laced to get some back). Look bloody difficult........
......I'd love to try it.

Something like the Salsa mukluk gets around this with 170mm rear hub. But if you loved the ride of the pugsley, IMHO, you should go with that.

Like I said. I'd rather have several tyre sets, than several wheelsets. A pair of black floyds, at 20 PSI, on 65mm Marge lights, are going to be similar in diameter to a pair of 29er big apples. The only difference would be a bit of weight. Alternativly Hookworms fit 65mm rims nicely, and there are definitly whispers of the 2.5" - 3.7" tyre size gap being filled. Exciting times indeed.

I'm currently thinking of using the fatbike to commute/shop/trek etc. While I slowly rebuild the CX-Commuter.

Maybe?

Had my heart set on blue :D

$550 a pair without skewers.

This is my point, other than for use in snow or sand I can't see any good reason for a fatbike. In my opinion it's just another niche cycling market designed for people that lack in the more standard disciplines, the idea of using a fatbike on UK trails is obscene. Why? You would be out paced and out manured by anyone on a 'cross bike, 29er or MTB.

Unrelated but:
Another one of my gripes is the 'beginner training' market,
why do all these videos show people riding 140mm £2000 squishy bikes? If I was a beginner I would look at that video and think 'oh crumbs I'm going to need a bike like that to ride trails like that' not 'actually a hard tail would help improve my technique and ability' in my opinion if a tutorial is aimed at a beginner then the instructor should be riding a beginners bike. Just a thought...

I cant argue for fatty trail riding I havent done it (yet).
http://forums.mtbr.com/fat-bikes/shiggy-rocks-758908.html

On the other issue. I agree. Hardtail for the beginner win.

stuff about things

I'm going by the fact that Surly actually suggested it in their brochure when they first introduced the Pugsley...so they must have tried it and found that it worked.

My solution would be to use a single speed cassette hub running a modified 6 speed cassette.
The effective dishing shouldn't really be any different then to a fat wheel with an offset rim.

I'm going by the fact that Surly actually suggested it in their brochure when they first introduced the Pugsley...so they must have tried it and found that it worked.

My solution would be to use a single speed cassette hub running a modified 6 speed cassette.
The effective dishing shouldn't really be any different then to a fat wheel with an offset rim.

I reckon you could use whichever hub you wanted, providing you can find a way of adding a liitle bracing angle to the NDS. I like the my cross spoking suggestion. Admittedly because of its novelty value. But it would make a strong wheel. Othe

Theres a clever link for calculating all sorts of wheel data, including bracing angle. Even has a lot of fatbike components.
http://www.kstoerz.com/freespoke/rim/290

Velocity blunt rim (guess a 6mm drilling offset), laced 36 3x, to a XT rear hub.

Not much NDS bracing angle (1.5deg).

swapping to a center drilled 29er rim.

This gives a bracing angle of 2.7deg, which I could live with. Cross spoking the first 6mm offset drilled rim, would give nearly 4deg. Which would be betterer.

(That little line across the centre line, denotes the centre of the hub. I have set it to 17.5mm offset)

So basically you're absolutly right. A 29er wheelset will fit the offset rear of a pugs....

....and I'm a massive nerd.

And a SS cassette hub would give an even better angle and still a potential 18 gears.
SOLD!

And we're all massive nerds or we wouldn't talk to strangers on a bike forum everyday. :]

Nicely done

http://vimeo.com/34920433

Speculation rather than an opinion based on experience?

Opinion like 99% of the stuff on this forum

I'm really enjoying having the Schwalbe Durano Plus Rigid tyres on my Steamroller this winter.

Thanks to DJ for the suggestion.

I went for the 32mm ones. Some reckon the bike looks better this way.

It does fill up the clearance, new brake pads as well?

Opinion like 99% of the stuff on this forum

Well speaking from experience, It's not true. :]