Fat Bikes

pharcyde

pharcyde

Likes Bikes and Dirt
kooga said:
Very subjective question i know, but what speed would people average riding on the sand with a fat bike. Considering purchasing one for commenting to work next year, with beach the whole way. Would prefer riding this than a road bike on a single lane highway, and the beach is shorter anyway?
Cheers in advance.
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That day in the picture above, as stated was harder due to a solid headwind. Overall on that ride I averaged 7.7km/h. (im just a punter average rider with below average fitness. Strava tells all my lame fitness stats) To be honest tho, average speed is MEH considering you get to ride in so many great spots not normally seen on a MTB. Download a tide chart app and sync up when the tides at its lowest. High tide on soft dry sand is death on any bike regardless of tyre width.

I took 2 years to DECIDE if buying a fatbike was a good idea and took 2 rides to KNOW it was a FKN brilliant idea.
 
gcouyant

gcouyant

Farkin Advertiser
pharcyde said:
High tide on soft dry sand is death on any bike regardless of tyre width.
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There are many types of "sand" but I find that the most reliable is dry sand up high. It is best to set up the bike, pressures and cockpit to ride dry soft sand and then anything easier is a bonus. To me, death on a bike is a beach that has a pronounced fall to the sea. Riding soft sand with a constant side slope is a sure way to make any man cry real tears.

Riding 90 mile beach for example is dead easy on the dry or wet sand. Venture further north of Cape Conran towards Dock inlet on the other hand and the wet sand is too mushy to ride so you need to ride on the dry. The beach is steep right up to the vegetation line and you need a vastly different bike configuration and riding technique to survive.

As a comparison, 90 mile beach on Bud and Lou tyres - 3psi front 5psi rear and conventional rider weighting front to rear. Dock Inlet, 1psi front, 6-7 psi rear and almost 100% weight bias towards the rear. The front tyre must just skim over the sand and because of the side slope you don't have the luxury of the rear following in the compressed footprint created by the front tyre. Suspension forks in these conditions make the job that much more difficult.

I hate to admit this but I often have a 50mm stem buried away in the back pack to replace the 100mm unit I would normally run for when I encounter prolonged sand riding with a side slope. Makes it easier on the body to maintain an efficient riding position - especially if you're to be in the saddle for hours on end.
 
ZENNON

ZENNON

Squid
SO keen for a fatty! Started doing some research - my spreadsheet already has 56 options (models) in it lol
 
Calvin27

Calvin27

Eats Squid
Gripo said:
So what's the cheapest off the shelf FBike out there....
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Probably depends on the minimum you will settle for. A few on biek exchange for around $600 that I probably won't recommend. But I have seen on of the Cycling Deal have one for $850.
 
camzh

camzh

Likes Dirt
I saw that one too.
Its only 3" wide tyres on it.
Seems kinda pointless...
not sure its worth it for 18.8kg !!!
 
ChopSticks

ChopSticks

Banned
Wow
thats a really good deal!
tapered head tube for future proofing (bluto)

xtr shifters..... Really? Typo?
xt mech (not bad)
deore brakes (not bad)
 
fatboyonabike

fatboyonabike

Captain oblivious
if you scroll back to post #301, looks like old mate with the yellow jersey in on a Taurus!
and seeing as cycling deal have also stated the XTR part number for the shifters, its very unlikely that it is a typo..
was looking at one of these myself, but now doing a swap on my KLX moto for something much much better (thanks James!).
 
pharcyde

pharcyde

Likes Bikes and Dirt
fatboyonabike said:
if you scroll back to post #301, looks like old mate with the yellow jersey in on a Taurus!
and seeing as cycling deal have also stated the XTR part number for the shifters, its very unlikely that it is a typo.. snip
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Its not typo



And "old mate in the yellow jersery" rode everything and more that day, pinned harder than EFTPOS!
 
fatboyonabike

fatboyonabike

Captain oblivious
pharcyde said:
Its not typo



And "old mate in the yellow jersery" rode everything and more that day, pinned harder than EFTPOS!
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if you know this man, maybe see if he wants to do a review on the Taurus..i couldn't find any feedback on this model, but there is a few on the lower specced steel Savannah. seems a bit weird that more people were going for the steely at only $100 bucks less than the Alu framed Taurus, and the Savannah has a straight 1 1/8 steerer so no bluto for later on!
hope he is happy with it, I bet his wallet is most happiest!.
 
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