All our most cockamamie schemes get hatched, and often implemented in the winter. It's been winter for a week now, and fat bike fever has set in. We've sold a Pugsley or two and we have an order in for a Krampus.
Last week we had several Pugsley variants in all 3 repair stands.
One of them was for Abby, who had an irrepressible and unforgettable grin after testing a fat tire bike at another shop a couple months ago. One thing led to another, and now she has a
Neck Romancer, seen here during a ride last week, before we had snow. This is the XS 14" size, which is new this year.
They also go to 24" for you giants.
Meanwhile, I've been riding around on my Pugsley, which is an older version, circa 2007ish, but with modern upgrades including the
Moonlander fork,
Clown Shoe front wheel,
Rolling Darryl rear wheel, and
Surly Knard 26x3.8" folding tires front and rear.
It's pretty sweet.
This morning, I went through the woods to get to work.
This is the Clown Shoe rim in action. Those red things are the rim tape bulging through the rim cutouts, which looks cool. You can buy different color rim tape, to suit your tastes.
And the Knard tire on the Clown Shoe. Sorry there's no scale, but the tire is almost exactly 100 mm (4") wide.
I have owned or tried versions of fat tire bikes dating back to the first purple Pugsleys in 2006 or so. I tried fat front mountain bikes, which are "normal" mountain bikes with a Pugsley fork and front wheel. But I have to say that I'm finally starting to understand the tremendous potential of these bikes as all-terrain adventure vehicles. With tires pumped to maximum recommended pressure (15 psi on the Knard!!), they roll plenty fast on pavement. Let the air out until the pressure is around 5 psi, and the tires will smoosh themselves over just about anything you've the legs and skill to ride over. Sand traps become as firm as pavement, as does packed snow. Big beach rocks and gravel? No problem. It's too bad that the early press on these bikes centered on snow races, because they are much more than snow bikes. Every adventurous cyclist should have one.
