so what are they like for riding normal trails?

too heavy

Like this.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf_hsGlW3hI[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS95XW-OaKQ[/video]

Great fun x2

singletracksurfer – which model/bike are you looking at?

I’m hoping that a Nate and a Husker Du tyres will ‘fit’ local trails better than ‘snow tyres’ – but they still haven’t left the states 🙁

Where’ve you ordered your husker du from?

I’m picking my Nate up on saturday.

where you getting a nate from – in the UK ?

I’m not.
Just picking it up from a mates house. 😉

I have one sitting in customs now awaiting clearance 😀

arrgh, really trying to support UK shops, but why have they still got no stock when the tyres have been out for weeks now in the US

no wonder we have to buy most fatbike gear from the USA

just saw a pugsley for sale and wondered…

Just picking it up from a mates house.

there still a chance you could get gazumped

im open to offers on two brand new nates 😀

I have to pay £40 to postal services to get my nates released from prison/customs. Can do it online so hopefully they will be here before the trails turn to gloop

Ordered them from USA as couldn’t get a straight answer from any UK shops regarding when stock would arrive and more importantly if I could secure two of them.

there still a chance you could get gazumped

I though we’d done a swap?

Two Nates for some velcro. 😉

Two Nates for some velcro.

i thought that was for fixing you up with a REAL man on Sat night 😉

If fatboys coming i’m staying at home. 😉

is he a real man then ?

No idea.

And i don’t want to find out either.

are you afraid tazzy will find out you’ve been two timing him ?

Back to the OP
so what are they like for riding normal trails?

Good. Fun. Much better than you would think.

too heavy

IMO it’s not that they’re too heavy for trail riding if you are a steady rider who doesn’t mind sitting down for most of your rides (CoastKid on here would put most trail riders to shame on his and it must weigh as much as my DH bike 😉 ) they are fairly efficient, hold momentum well and in certain conditions can piss all over your average trail bike.

Great fun x2

if like me you tend to stand, sprint, accelerate/brake hard and use your upper body to move the bike around a lot while you ride you’d have to be incredibly fit/powerful to get anywhere near as much fun out of one for trail riding as a traditional hardtail.

Was surprised when I had a quick play on Shaggy’s On-One prototype, how well it handled + accelerated. Didn’t feel like the leaden lump I was expecting at all, really quite fun.
Made me think allot since about how they could open up a different sort of riding. Kind of like cross bikes, wrong but fun.

Would still like to know how they handle proper boggy / winter filth.

That makes sense GW.

I rode my CX bike around the woods tonight, following a mate on our demo Pugsley. The Pug was simply better at everything, including the slop, where I was expecting to shine.

Try one, you’ll be surprised.

arrgh, really trying to support UK shops, but why have they still got no stock when the tyres have been out for weeks now in the US
no wonder we have to buy most fatbike gear from the USA

Weeks…. Hardly a long time. The reason is that they come over in bulk in a boat via a distributor. Rather than individually air mailed.

Just stay calm and all the fats will here soon. http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/26—tyres–tubes-47-c.asp

I am stocking all surly, salsa and 45nrth fat bike stuff with a demo pugsley too. And maybe a mukluk soon.

And to answer the question.

They work real well in the mud. I raced mine at Ssuk a Somme like mud wrestle of a race. Soooo much fun, I even ran someones legs over. Excellent stuff.

are you afraid tazzy will find out you’ve been two timing him ?

It’s all right I already know, I found a love bite on his neck 🙁

on the Fatbike front, out of the ones I’ve played on so far Shaggys on one prototype handled the most like a “normal” bike. Pugs are great but heavy as chuff, still need to have a play on a mukluk, but by all accounts they’re not as lively as the O-O. Come on Brant make the bloomin things !!

If it’s mine you’re thinking of buying, just take the plunge, eh?

They are much lighter than they look. When my normal bike was out of action, I rode the Pugs for day-to-day stuff and enjoyed it. On rocky trails it’s great – no chance of getting bossed off the lines you want. On jumps and drops, it’s very confidence inspiring.

Despite what Charlie says, I had trouble with it in mud at a Gorrick as mud was super-slidey and I only had Endomorph tyres at the time. No edge knobs, meant lots of falling off. In more general mud situations, though, mates will be fighting to ride in the flattened contact patch of your big tyres 🙂

It’s the old swings and roundabouts.

The disadvantage is the extra weight – rotating mass where you don’t want it.

The advantage is that their performance on almost all surfaces is such that you don’t notice it.

The big advantage is you can ride your bike in places where your other bikes can’t go. The big disadvantage of that is when you stop and put a foot down, you sink up to your knee 🙂

If your riding is aimed at taking you places, then they are unbeatable.

I’d say that for 25% of my riding they are much better, for 50% they are no disadvantage, and the remaining 25% is only a slight disadvantage.

It’s that 25% where they are better that enables you to get off the beaten track and really enjoy mountain biking as opposed to riding along maintained tracks.

I’m now beginning to wonder if there are only 2 sorts of bike worth having for mountain rides – a fatbike that can be ridden almost anywhere, or an ultra light SS CX bike that can be shouldered while you run/walk/clamber over the worst stuff.

My positive pugsley mud experience was with two
Larry tyres so lots of panaracer dart style side knobbling going on.

They are much lighter than they look.

not so sure about that one. I think all skinny steel tubed frames “look” lighter than equivalent aluminium frames, they never are though, a rigid steel fork also “looks” much lighter than any suspension fork and for me contributes to the overall skinny/light “look” also, being used to the weight of aggressive tread patern 2.5 dual ply DH race tyres I find fatbike tyres to “look” wafer thin and a practically semi-slick/hybrid tread in comparison but they weigh around the same.

I personally I’ve never got why Surly etc. chose to use steel to build bicycle frames intended for snow/mud/beach riding. it’s not like you’ll ever “feel” the difference through a 3.7″ tyre at 8psi.

I personally I’ve never got why Surly etc. chose to use steel to build bicycle frames intended for snow/mud/beach riding. it’s not like you’ll ever “feel” the difference through a 3.7″ tyre at 8psi.

Because they only make steel bikes.

being used to the weight of aggressive tread patern 2.5 dual ply DH race tyres I find fatbike tyres to “look” wafer thin and a practically semi-slick/hybrid tread in comparison but they weigh around the same.

True, but the less aggressive tread does make them roll faster and feel less sluggish on the trail.

Aye, obviously 🙄

practically semi-slick/hybrid tread in comparison

I take it you’ve not seen Nate then. 😆

Wouldn’t fancy that on a hybrid.

Nates, Larrys and Big Fat Larrys all arriving next week 🙂

Thats a year i have had a pair of Larrys on the pug and the rear is not even half worn yet, probably done 1500+ miles (i ride mine all the time), at that wear rate the big outlay of £85 is not too bad at all 🙂

My 9zero7 felt very much like an alu bike. NOt spent enough time on a Pugsley to comment on it.

I take it you’ve not seen Nate then.

is that the best you can come up with? 8) it’s hardly an agressive tread even compared to a dry condition DH tyre

Wouldn’t fancy that on a hybrid.

‘be a whole load better than one of these would…

is that the best you can come up with? it’s hardly an agressive tread even compared to a dry condition DH tyre

😉
and how wide is that ?

contact patch is considerably less than a nate at about 5-6 psi