I first saw one of these bikes with the huge balloon like tires early last fall, parked outside amongst a couple of cargo bikes at my local bike shop, I paused for a second to take a look and then continued on into the shop to get whatever I had gone in for that day and didn’t give the Fatbike a second thought.
Fast forward to February, its been just over 2 months since the snow first started flying, restricting my cycling activities to the trainer, when I saw someone out on one of these Fatbikes. As they glided across the far end of the pond and disappeared into the forest I was amazed by what looked like a stable and effortless ride, two things I would not have associated with cycling in the snow! Later that week, a buddy of mine mentioned that he saw a whole group of riders out on these bikes with really big tires while he was out skiing.
Well now I had Fatbikes on the brain. After a little bit of research it turned out that the shop where I first seen the bike in the fall rents them out. It was a no brainer, I reserved one for the weekend and right after work on Friday headed over to pick a large white Surley Pugsley with a granny smith green Brooks saddle and bar grips, the colors of the shop.
Day 1
I live in a location ideally suited to snow biking, with no shortage of easy to access riding possibilities. My neighbourhood is bordered to the east by a forest with a large pond in the middle and to the north and west by a river and bay, to the south there’s a pathway system what travels east/west along the river banks. My first ride was on the same pond where I had seen the Fatbike earlier, then a quick jaunt thru the forest and out onto the pathways which had been hard packed by a combination of skier, snow shower and walking traffic.
My first impression of this bike was how amazingly stable and sure-footed this bike was. I have ridden my road bike in early spring over patches of snow and ice that has yet to melt and the main thing I remember was the squirrely feeling in the back-end when going over the slippery stuff in anything other that a straight line. The Fatbike did not suffer from this in the least, WOW.
The bike was heavier that what I’m used to but after a couple of minutes I didn’t seem to notice. In fact on hard packed or even up to 3 inches of loose snow on top of a crusty base, peddling was fairly easy going. Anything more than 3 inches was a different story and you definitely felt it.
After about an hour and a half, I realized that I probably should have spent more time on the trainer this winter as my legs were definitely starting to feel the workout, luckily my route was more or less in a big loop and I wasn’t too far from home.
Day 2
Hello sitbones! I felt them a little after my first ride but didn’t realize the magnitude until I got back on the saddle, I decided to just ignore and continue. Today I jumped over right onto the river and rode along the shoreline. The ride was great, I had a good time the day before and even more so today. I have ridden this route many times before on the shore, riding on the river offered a completely different perspective. The river surface was a combination of a hard crust of snow with a few patches of glare ice. The biggest difference between the ride the day before was how SMOOTH the river was, it was almost like riding on ashvault.
Day 3
The bike had to be back at the shop for 10am, plenty of time between getting everyone off to school/work and 10am for another ride. I didn’t go very far, mostly just stuck to the trails through the forest behind the house and a quick jaunt down the river and back in the opposite direction from the day before. These Fatbikes make winter riding in the snow completely possible and enjoyable, opening up a whole new potential for winter cycling. I enjoyed myself immensely.
