fat bikes

[nakman]

I keep looking at these things on CL.. and see quite a few in the sub-$1k price point. Who's got one? Is it that fun? Maybe I'm just intrigued because it's different. Doesn't look like they really do suspension on these. I realize I really know nothing anymore about bikes, in fact I haven't ridden a 29er either.

I want to get out more this summer though, and figured why not pick up something different. By current bikes are a Gary Fischer Sugar 2, and Bridgestone MB1. So yeah, it's all new to me.

http://denver.craigslist.org/bid/5389880506.html

 

[DaveInDenver]

Don't let Art Hog hear me tell you this, but they are fads and suck for anything other than beaches and packed snow.

Kirsten has demo'd them, she really wants to be interested in them but when the time comes to put the money down it just really doesn't scratch the itch. Me, I just fail to see the benefit of the niche they fill, which they do very well in their specialty.

Buy a 29'er, you'll love that. Then you can be an unhip wanker, too. To me the 29 is perfect (for someone less cross country more downhill oriented or maybe a little shorter the 650b is very similar) in that it sucks or excels pretty much equally in all scenarios.

It's got a few places where it does well but mostly it's just a do-it-all. The fat bikes are awesome at what they do at the expense of IMHO really sucking at the stuff they don't.

 

[arthog]

Dave is a fad. Tim we can talk later, I think were being watched.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Dude, you know it's a hipster trend when the NY Times style section covers it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/travel/in-idaho-thin-snow-means-fat-tires.html?_r=0

How much more anti-punk can something be?

 

[DaveInDenver]

The fuzz loves their fat bikes, you tools of oppression. Make sure you get the kickstand option with it.

 

[Squishy!]

My brother LOVES them. You can air them down to 5 psi and bomb hills with em. He swears by them and all he does is draw, eat, ride bikes, fix bikes. He works at the Giant store in Aspen Grove if you ever want to demo one or ask a guy who rides his daily.

 

[smslavin]

The fuzz loves their fat bikes, you tools of oppression. Make sure you get the kickstand option with it.

That made me smile.

I'm kinda on Dave's side. It's a bit of a fad but they're here to stay. They are incredibly fun in the snow which is where they excel. There are a few local frame builders too and if you want to spring the front end, RockShox has the Bluto fork. The bikes Surly puts out are solid.

I wouldn't want one as an every day mtn bike though. So much terrain around here that I just don't think their suited to riding.

I've never been able to justify it to myself as there's just not enough snow here in the city. I'd probably only ride it a handful of times through the winter. If I was further up the hill, or down in Durango/Telluride, I'd be all over it.

As Dave mentioned, a 29er would serve you well. They roll over everything and climb well. The larger wheel size equates to a two tooth difference on a chainring.

I have yet to ride a 27.5 because well, 26 ain't dead. How's that for being an unhip wanker? I have a feeling I'd really love it though. Climb like a 29 and descend like a 26. Pretty good compromise.

 

[nakman]

So if your back yard was something like this... Good for a fat bike? Or just pump up the tires on the Bridgestone and get out there?

 

[DaveInDenver]

Why do I dislike them? They take a refined, efficient machine and make it like an inelegant, obtuse, ugly tractor. Blah. I prefer Paola Pezzo to Bluto Blutarsky.

Packed like that, no real advantage to a fat bike. Run studded tires and it might as well be dirt. You'd want to air down, not up. If you must, tubeless larger 29'er (2.3ish) and you'd ride for hours.

Plus people have been running their bikes in all conditions for a century. Buck up, buttercup.

 

[LARGEONE]

I have zero personal saddle time on one...but EVERYONE I know that has one loves it

I'm holding off to see if Dave is right

 

[DouglasVB]

There's a store in downtown Golden that will rent them if you want to demo one. Take it up to Apex Park and try it out in the snow. I only see fat bikes when there's any snow on the trails.

Kinda sucks because my old racing XC bike (~18 lbs fully kitted, used to compete in OBRA events in college back when I wasn't fat) sits in the garage all winter due to the snow. Out in Oregon I'd ride year round on the fire roads and trails through the forests but here in Colorado I haven't found a fun spot to do the style of XC biking I prefer to do. Maybe up around West Magnolia?

 

[smslavin]

Out in Oregon I'd ride year round on the fire roads and trails through the forests but here in Colorado I haven't found a fun spot to do the style of XC biking I prefer to do. Maybe up around West Magnolia?

West Mag isn't bad. Lots of stuff to explore. Not too technical. Have you tried Staunton State Park or Buffalo Creek?

 

[DouglasVB]

West Mag isn't bad. Lots of stuff to explore. Not too technical. Have you tried Staunton State Park or Buffalo Creek?

Not yet. I'm still mentally getting over the fact that I can't ride from my house to the biking I like. I was super spoiled in Oregon with a few hundred miles of trails directly accessible from where I lived. Sure, I have Apex Park now but that's not the style of riding I enjoy.

This summer I'll branch out more.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Not yet. I'm still mentally getting over the fact that I can't ride from my house to the biking I like. I was super spoiled in Oregon with a few hundred miles of trails directly accessible from where I lived. Sure, I have Apex Park now but that's not the style of riding I enjoy.

This summer I'll branch out more.

Chimney Gulch (the Chimney/Apex loop is a very common after work spin) & North Table are literally across the highway from the CSM campus. White Ranch is pretty close, just a little further than Apex from Mines. A good Saturday loop is White Ranch/Chimney/Apex/Mathew-Winter and back to Golden. This is the morning half of the Tour d'Front Range. The whole Tour would add Green Mountain/Bear Creek/Mt Falcon/Lair of the Bear in the afternoon and typically is about an 8ish hour tour.

 

[DouglasVB]

Chimney Gulch (the Chimney/Apex loop is a very common after work spin) & North Table are literally across the highway from the CSM campus. White Ranch is pretty close, just a little further than Apex from Mines.

Yeah but I'm a and want to ride a half mile from my house to the riding I like. Because that's what I did for a couple decades in Oregon.

Also what's the deal with the sun here? I've gotta use sunscreen and sunglasses now!

But yeah, I'll get out to the Tables and whatnot.

This has about 1/10th of the trails I used to ride out in Corvallis. Since I left, a bunch of my buddies have linked up logging roads and old abandoned trails from Corvallis all the way to the coast. There's even a project to make a formal trail along a different route.

I'm realizing that I was such a spoiled in Oregon.

 

[DaveInDenver]

How did you ride 300 miles of trails within a 1/2 mile from your house? Anyway, Chimney is about 100 yards from the Mines football field. North Table is about 1/2 mile, White Ranch is maybe 3 miles, etc. Plus everything is a downhill finish back at the bar.

If you want to spin down to Waterton you can access 450 miles of the Colorado Trail and finish in Durango if you wish. The Waterton-Buffalo Creek-Waterton tour is a great overnight and I used to start that from our house near Univ of Denver when I'd do it. Now it would be a bit of a spin from Loveland, but I have access to Blue Sky Basin, which is a great winter ride because it's mostly flat and protected from wind for 10 miles. Not quite as weather-immune as Waterton but it's also a trail rather than gravel.

FWIW, Jeffco Open Space has about 225 miles of trails total accessible to bikes. To link them all would probably add 50 miles of pavement, though.

 

[DouglasVB]

Probably the better thing to say was that the access was about a half mile to a mile to the entire trail system. And no huge hills in the way of my place and the access point

I can see Chimney Gulch from the hallway outside my office and I've hiked it from my place via Apex a couple times. I've got thoughts on linking a ride from Apex/Chimney Gulch to Mount Galbraith to White Ranch to North Table to South Table and back to Apex. Someday soon...

 

[DaveInDenver]

Probably the better thing to say was that the access was about a half mile to a mile to the entire trail system. And no huge hills in the way of my place and the access point

I can see Chimney Gulch from the hallway outside my office and I've hiked it from my place via Apex a couple times. I've got thoughts on linking a ride from Apex/Chimney Gulch to Mount Galbraith to White Ranch to North Table to South Table and back to Apex. Someday soon...

Mt Galbraith is hiker-only, no bikes allowed. Also watch hiker/biker days, for example linking Apex is better on an even day so that you can descend Enchanted Forest instead of climbing Sluice Box.

It's better to link White Ranch down to Chimney rather than go the other way, especially if you aren't getting a shuttle to the start. Riding up from town you can mostly at least stay off 93 to get the White Ranch east parking lot. If you try to link to White Ranch from the south you have to ride up Golden Gate and Crawford Gulch (especially climbing Golden Gate on a mountain bike just sucks). Those are far better down. Same reason you ride up Falcon and down Lair instead of the other way, so you don't have to climb 74 and rather descend it.

 

[smslavin]

Not yet. I'm still mentally getting over the fact that I can't ride from my house to the biking I like. I was super spoiled in Oregon with a few hundred miles of trails directly accessible from where I lived. Sure, I have Apex Park now but that's not the style of riding I enjoy.

This summer I'll branch out more.

There's also Centennial Cone which is up US6. I like that one.

I'm assuming you know about MTB Project?

 

[wesintl]

Interested to see how it plays out...