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Wednesday is Surly’s new Omniterra fatbike and although it shares a similar stance to its brother, the Pugsley there are a few key differences in both the geometry and technical detailing. For starters, it boasts a centered 177mm vs 135mm offset rear spacing, a 44mm head tube, shorter stays, a longer top tube and various other tidbits of interest.
Head over to Surly to read all about Wednesday – the bike, not the day.
Do we really need to be reminded that fatbikes are fun to ride year round? I don’t think so. Do we need a video showing them being shredded on some fun and flowy trails? Hell yes. See more on the NO.9 70mm rim at Whisky.
Portland Design Works recognizes niches within niche markets. Like for example, a portable fatbike pump. High volume tires are a pain in the ass to inflate on a trail and The Fat Stevens™ is capable of tackling even the most rotund tires… Check out more at the Portland Design Works Kickstarter, which includes a special edition carrying case by Blaqpaks and see some photos below.
Got a fat bike? Want a thru-axle hub with an XD driver? Like American-made METALLLLLLL? Holler at the folks at Paul Component for their new limited edition disc RHUB with 197 x 12mm spacing.
Bikepacking on the Kokopelli Trail
Photos and words by Joel Caldwell
The Kokopelli Trail is a beautiful route winding from Fruita, Colorado to Moab, Utah. It combines a variety of primitive roads with surprisingly technical single track that kept us guessing around each bend. Scrubby and open in the east, the route becomes richer and the landscapes more Mars-like as we approached the canyon lands of the high Utah desert. Sand, dirt, gravel, slick rock, creek crossings, you name it. Two long climbs topping out at 8400′ tested our fitness and the final descent along Porcupine Rim blew our minds. This is the way to enter Moab!
Words and photos by Morgan Taylor unless otherwise noted.
Six months ago, I hung up my modern mountain bike and began riding a fat bike with thumb shifters and cable brakes as my only bike. Accustomed to the niceties of lightweight wheels, four piston brakes, and an 11-speed drivetrain, I’ll admit I didn’t have a lot of faith in this experiment. I had a feeling I would be itching to get back on my other bike long before the snow melted.
You see, not especially long ago, I held some fairly strong opinions about fat bikes. I worked in mountain bike media, had access to all the newest technology, and was convinced that fat bikes were so far outside the realm of acceptable mountain bikes that I chose to write them off.
Montanus takes us on a journey shared by two friends while bikepacking on fatbikes in Italy.
This looks phenomenal!
“The video was captured in Zermatt Switzerland on the bottom of the famous Matterhorn. Just for fun we went out on the evening of the 7th of March to capture some moonlight shots; with only the four of us to put it all together. We used a variety of techniques ranging from filming on skies with handheld gimbal, drone shots and and some time-lapse. Only due to cutting edge technology is it possible to capture the incredible images illuminated only by moonlight.”
See more at Moonriders.
Apologies for double dipping Firefly this week, but their latest bike is too good to not share. Immediately.
Firefly has appeared to have hooked up with Vittoria to make a custom titanium fatbike, modeled after their new 26″ fat tires, the Bomboloni (named after an Italian donut). All this is merely speculation, but I’m guessing the frosty branding and “bomboloni” on the top tube is enough evidence to deduce that.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a slicker, meaner bike from Firefly. Check out the segmented stays, slightly bent top tube, gussets and thru-axles! Nice work fellas. See the rest at the Firefly Flickr.
Felt’s new Double Double fatbike gets a hefty amount of hucking in Switzerland’s winter wonderland by Gregor Laucht, German BMX rider. The roof drop to OTB was too good!
Curtis Inglis’ company Retrotec is located in Napa Valley, California. Not exactly full fat territory, but as we all know, riding fatbikes can be fun in any terrain. For Curtis, building countless plump-tire bikes finally wore on him, resulting in not only the Best Mountain Bike award, but a new steed in his personal stable.
With a custom-painted Pass and Stow rack, PAUL Klampers, PAUL thru-axles and XTR, it has all the bling of a show bike and the stance of a trail beast. This is my personal favorite fatbike in the show…
Up Nort’ With Angry Catfish
Words and Photos by Kyle Kelley
Every year QBP invites people from all over the world to visit Minnesota during the coldest part of winter for Frostbike. Why they chose this time of year I don’t know but I’ve gone twice and wouldn’t trade it for any other bicycle industry event or convention. The people at QBP, and everyone else I’ve met in Minneapolis for that matter, are exactly the kind of people you wanna be hanging out with when it’s below freezing. They want to keep you warm and comfortable and a bit liquored up and I am A-OK with that.
When I found out I was heading to Frostbike again this year, I put the feelers out to see if anyone wanted to do any partying after the event and Josh from Angry Catfish was the first to respond. All he told me was to bring warm stuff and he’d take care of the rest. So, the Monday after Frostbike Josh picked me up and we headed Up Nort’ to the Angry Cabin with Thomas and Parker, also from Angry Catfish. I made a quick assessment of the supplies packed in the truck and all I could see was loads of beer, tons of cured meat, a comically large flask full of Booker’s and four fat bikes!
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.”
45NRTH has just launched a new website, profiling various trails throughout the USA. Specifically winter trails maintained for fat bikes. Check out this video and see more at Groomed Singletrack. I’m sure a lot of you are stoked on this. It looks great!
Just as at home in the snow as it is on a dry and hot summer’s day, Twin Six’s new Standard Fat MTB is one fatbike not to be overlooked. Available as a frameset ($2000) or a SRAM X1 build kit (starting at $3,200), these bikes have options for through-axle, or quick release and cable guides for 1x or 2x systems. With a 70.5º head tube angle and full titanium tubing, the Standard Fat is make for shredding and slogging…
In stock now at Twin Six.
Built for 45NRTH, the brand behind all that rad footwear and tires, this Indy Fab Chubby D-Lux will be getting broken in at the Polartec Winter Fatbike Series. I really want to see how this frameset builds up. For now, we’ll just have to ogle the frameset photos at the IF Blog.
The latest photo essay from Salsa Cycles takes place in what many Americans consider to be “fly over country.” The midwest is home to some beautiful landscapes, filled with rushing rivers and dense forests. A few guys from Minneapolis went out to Grand Marais and rode the Gunflint Trail on fatbikes, packing in everything they needed for a few day’s outing. The resulting photos and story are inspirational to say the least.
Head over to Salsa to read up!
Surly’s getting ready for Frostbike – which is the best, by the way – with a new Special Ops Moonlander, inspired by this video. While the video’s a bit old, the new Moonies will feature a brand new stainless officially licensed X-Sync narrow wide ring.
The rings will be available later this year and 150 Special Ops Moonlanders will be in stock mid-February. See more at Surly.
