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Most fat biking I see is regular riding or the odd beach, good to see them being stretched.
I think it's mostly in the head but since getting my new fatbike, keeping straight/flat bars and having suspension forks, I'm definitely treating it more as a regular mountain bike but with big tyres. I've not yet found the sweet spot between tyre pressure and fork pressure/rebound though. Maybe there just isn't one and I'll have to accept a compromise.
I guess you have to up the pressure a bit to stop flats but then you lose grip.
Which one are you in that video?
The one holding the camera 😊
I took the 9zero7 round Glentress a couple of times and it waz pretty good. Laggan was awful. I'd be tempted to try again with the Cube though.
A famous fat biker once told me about all the different snowy situations a fatbike couldn't handle which seemed to make them as much use as any other bike in snow. For what's it's worth I was out on my normal bike with 2.5" tyres in the snow the other day and managed lots of riding, I honestly don't think I'd have managed a lot more with a fat bike.
I use my fatbike as pretty much my only mtb in the winter and ride it as a trail bike. It's got rigid carbon forks and carbon bars for a bit of give and a dropper. Dillenger 5s work great in mud and are fast rolling for fat tyres. I do live in the south east and wouldn't use it if I lived somewhere rocky
My 5 stages of snow:
1. Powder. So deep and loose that any attempt to ride it is pointless. Tyre size is almost irrelevant.
2. Firm. Still fresh but floatation (and momentum) makes it rideable with wide tyres. Often the most fun. Even falling off doesn't hurt 😁
3 Consolidated. Either naturally through freeze/thaw, mechanical pisting or traffic (motor or foot). Mostly rideable, the less consolidated, the more a wide tyre helps. There's a difference in range between skinny, 2.6, 3, 4 and 5 inch tyres, each extending the range of rideability
4. Packed. Quite often as a result of motor/foot traffic. This can get shiny and very sketchy. A wider tyre will often help when scrabbling for grip and a wide, low-pressure tyre will ride out compressed footprints better.
5. Ice. Usually happens when type 4 starts to thaw then refreezes. Becomes lethal with a thin layer of water on top. Only spikes will help you here.
At this time of year I can expect to encounter all 5 types on any ride but will try to avoid types 1 and 5 as much as possible. A fatbike is essential on type 2 and extends the possibilities of types 3 and 4.
stevenmenmuir
For what’s it’s worth I was out on my normal bike with 2.5″ tyres in the snow the other day and managed lots of riding, I honestly don’t think I’d have managed a lot more with a fat bike.
You'd be surprised, but it's always hard work in soft snow. Plus size tyres do make ordinary mtbs far more usable in snow conditions though.
Otherwise what scotroutes said, but I'dd add No 6.
6. No5 refrozen after forestry trucks have left big ruts and then a couple of inches of virgin soft snow on top. Ruts are quite rideable until you get near the bottom of a slope where the melt under the snow means you may as well be riding on oil. The slightest touch of your wheel on the side of the rut and you're off.
I remember as a wee boy my mum telling me that Inuit had 100 words for snow but no word for hot. There are indeed hundreds of types of snow and all could benefit from their own tyre. Unfortunate considering the price of fat bike tyres.
there are folk on my local trails who do drops and jumps and what not on their fat bikes. I admire their bravery. I still have nagging doubts about the unpredictability of riding on snow to really let go. Which obviously makes it even sketchier.