How utterly brilliant was that!

1. Following sand blowing down the beach
2. Ride through seaweed
3. No mud, at all!
4. So utterly different to any other mountain bike ride I’ve ever done. ( not suggesting any other rides were not special)
5. Simple bike with no frills. Surly Wednesday, bog standard, except…
6. Brooks Cambian saddle is also utterly fabulous!

No longer fat bike curious, totally smitten

Welcome to the next part of your biking life…

It’s pretty good fun. Did you find yourself laughing to yourself like a kid who had just mastered riding a bike for the first time?

Had my fatty since the summer and have made the most of the North Norfolk coastline. It has opened up a whole new area for me to explore at a pace that suits my dog meaning we can go out for all day adventures.

I fell off in loose sand in the dunes and laughed out loud.

I also was finding myself going ‘wow’ and other noises as I rode along the low tide harder sand whilst white horses raged a few feet to my right and a cloud of sand made patterns in front of me as I rode down wind.

Only question is boingy fork or no.

Boingy fork…

Personally. No

Did you see any need on your beach ride plus, Sand and salt will kill it, keep things simple.

it’s money you could spend on mid ride bacon rolls.

Stop it Andy!

On Sunday riding round Gisburn we caught up with a holidaying guy from NZ on a hired Surly fatbike of some description. Then ended up riding with him for the next hour or so – seemed pretty fast and loads of grip climbing rocky stuff. Hmmmm.

Next I find myself looking at the Surly website.

Then Rose bikes and Canyon….

Now I see Grizedale have some for hire…… And someone in our village works in the shop…. so we might pop up there over Christmas…..

Starting to worry where this will end up 🙂

p.s. how is junior doing?

Hi Mick, how are you?

The balance bike has done its job. It’s been to Wales and France on various adventures. His present for Christmas is a 14″ Pugsley (shhhhhh). His school teacher is going to teach him to ride in parallel to me, so I’m getting very excited about the next step…

Perhaps one day soon we will be riding on a beach together.

I am going to donate the balance bike to his school, which is a specialist school for moderate to severe special needs.

I have to admit that the Wednesday is such fun to ride. I was mentally writing a review in my head saying “It’s appalling how such a fun bike can come from simple steel tubes. There are no exotic materials. It’s criminal! How could a bike so simple be this good”

Rickmiester, you are right. The only change I need will be better brakes, just because I prefer hydraulic for better clearance as well as stopping power

You couldn’t stop to take a photo? Tsk.

Sorry zippykona. Next time, I promise.

I must admit once you’ve ridden fat you won’t go back….only ridden the fatty since its been raining…no need for fancy forks, just big grippy tires that roll through and over stuff better than a 29er with the comfort of a short travel FS and the climbing ability of a goat……plus as you point out….they just make you smile….

Rickmiester, you are right. The only change I need will be better brakes, just because I prefer hydraulic for better clearance as well as stopping power

Best upgrade I made to my Pug. Shimano XT brakes bought for 50 quid an end in CRC’s sale. Despite all the doom and gloom from the nay-sayers, they’ve not seized up due to the sand and salt.

Valid upgrade IMO. BB7’s are Guff 😀

Cheers Davesport, no more excuse needed for me to buy the brakes

Can i have your old BB7s then Davesport? need some for the old Pugsley 😉
Beachriding… Good to see more folk seeing the light, I prefer winter than summer as quieter and as mentioned mud free riding!,
Come to East Lothian next April for Forth Fat Gathering and ride the coast here which has everything from Dunes to rock crawling and every type of beach conditions inbetween, And if folks think its all flat and boring we can taylor the ride to take in some of the most techie rock riding you could want at low tides… 😉

welcome to the Fat club, since I got my Fatty trail a month ago I haven’t even looked at my trail bike 😆

Finally got to ride the beaches of Dorset last weekend. A different kind of fun to the Jekyll for sure.monly thing I had a problem with was deep pea shingle.

If you want to feel the heat…you gotta have meat..fatbike!!
Welcome to the club….I’ve yet to ride on the beach….but the Surrey hills are just awesome on it….still waiting for snow…now that should be fun!!

Hope u packed your BB with plenty of grease as the salty sand loves to devour the bearings!

I must admit once you’ve ridden fat you won’t go back

Nope.

Bought a used pugsley, was alright but a bit meh…. Sold after a few months. Buying used was a good way to test the water though, before I realised it wasn’t for me.

I will do all bearings with some special grease I got from a bearings shop. It’s the stuff they put on boat trailers that get dipped in the brine.

House!

this is fatbike cliche bingo isn’t it? 😉

Congrats. I recently bought a Pug after borrowing one for the weekend. I loved it. Just plain, simple fun.

Open your mind legend, open your mind

Let the right ones in….

Thanks for the update Andy – fantastic news and would be great to hear what the balance bike does next. I’m now doing nicer frame stickers so will send some next time I get a batch cut. 14″ Pugsley – can’t believe how fast kids grow 🙂 (I’ll be able to share a CX bike with my eldest lad next year….)

Can someone do a simple idiot’s guide to the Surly / Salsa fatbike range? So many models my brain hurts……

I’m certainly not planning to make my own – only managing to braze one or two frames a year and frankly fatbikes look a minefield of offset rear hubs, oddball bottom brackets etc. The Rose ones also look amazing value – it would cost me more to buy parts and some steel tubes!

I’ll set up a scrap book for the Balance bike. I am sure it will be equally appreciated by all those that ride it.