It all started with a Facebook message which, as a fan of the riding offered in Livigno, hooked me in quite quickly. I knew the trails from the proposed itinery, plus a night ride and another overnight in a Refuge so really, it was a no – brainer. Livigno is a great location for sports, great trails, uplifts, food, its all there.

Friday started early with a gathering and registration, think there was about 20 people all together. Titanium, carbon, Aluminium, Unobtainium, Steel all present. Rigid to full suss, its all here. Everyone was in their own niche.

Fat_bike_GM_14-7308 by Andrea & Rick, on Flickr

A real mix of people and bikes. Industry folk, bike shop owners and distributers, Giuliana Massarotto the Italian 24hr Mtb champion, tour divide and Iditerod riders, local riders and me, the pie eating ex pat… so as the only Brit, it was like joining a group of mates for a weekend away and with Italians, your never stuck for banter and chat

Fat_bike_Livigno_GM_14-7698 by Andrea & Rick, on Flickr

Day 1 was a local loop for press and photos. It included the Motolino bike park after the ride, personally, Livigno is a duty free zone so I went shopping for Schnaps and other stuff… The evening was a night ride to a superb spot for dinner. What took about 90 mins of climbing was equal to 10mins of free fall fatbiking in the dark. Those bikes kick up a load of dust at speed. But smiles and laughter all round.

Fat_bike_GM_14-7501 by Andrea & Rick, on Flickr

Fat_bike_GM_14-7440 by Andrea & Rick, on Flickr

Day 2 was set up for a trip through to Cancarno and an overnight at Fraele http://www.rifugiovalfraele.com/ saw us setting off latish for the climb to Trela. The sun was beating down as we ticked our way up to the top of the pass at 2295m. Everyone going well and making a good social day of it. Bikes were swapped around but the full suss fatty ripped through the descent, loads of smiles again. Trela was a superb lunch break amongst the mountains and much the local food was superb.

P1190696 by Andrea & Rick, on Flickr

P1190692 by Andrea & Rick, on Flickr

P1190705 by Andrea & Rick, on Flickr

Another kamikazie downhill duststorm saw us at the Cancarno reservoir with a gentle roll in to a beer at an organisers house and then the accommodation for the night. Another superb evening of food, beer and chat was a welcome end to the day. Fraele is a superb location, I will be back.

P1190710 by Andrea & Rick, on Flickr

Day 3 broke, sunny, warm, still and clear. Honey, fresh bread and cheese was the breakfast of champions and we saddled up again for the run over to Livigno. Reunited with the others of our team we also met an Italian legend Marurizio Deflorian who had popped over that morning to see us.. His 10kg Beargrease was a thing to behold.
Climbing back through Passo De Alpisella was a joy, big mountains, good company and chat to get you up the hills. An obligatory photo call at the top

P1190719 by Andrea & Rick, on Flickr

P1190721 by Andrea & Rick, on Flickr

Then another charge to Lago Di Livigno. There were loads of folk climbing towards us as it’s a classic circuit… I think we gave them something to talk about that night. 20 fatbikes descending at speed make a lot of noise and dust…

More pics around the lakeshore as we finished the run back to town in glorious sunshine and a little bit of narcissistic pleasure through the main street, slowly dodging tourists and locals alike. We did turn a fair few heads. Had a pit stop where I met Hans Rey on a previous trip

No Way by Andrea & Rick, on Flickr

So all in all, a superb weekend, impeccable organisation and preparation plus the backdrop of the Livigno area to top it off. The bikes just ate up the ground, coped superbly on all the terrain and technical sections without feeling out of their depth.

P1190702 by Andrea & Rick, on Flickr

A big thanks to Livigno for hosting us, Marco Costa, Michele Boschetti Nure, Michele Zanoli and Daniele Castelani as organizers and guides. Picture credits G Meneghello

More here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/musselburghbikers/sets/72157648510039455/

Livigno, 28 Settembre 2014, secondo giorno del festival dedicato alle fat bike, giro “adventure”: Trepalle, Sentiero val Tort

Posted by I Love Livigno on Sunday, September 28, 2014

Livigno is great. Mega cheap whisky too…

i paid 8,50€ for a mediocre tomato soup in Livigno this year… got to ride the trail from Madonna dali Resa again, so not all bad… seriously one of the best trails i’ve ridden in the Alps. the top is very exposed, don’t-tell-mum, nadgery riding till you reach the Baitel where it gets very flowy and fast. technically not allowed to ride it, mind.

OP had better weather than i did this year…

Alpin, it was 25 degrees all weekend… (off to google Madonna dali Resa)..

Those orange floaters have ruined an excellent article 🙂

The floaters alone weighed more than some of the carbon rims and hubs… but they are wearing very well…

W O W 🙂

Looks fab Rick. ‘Like’ 🙂

Does look great – i just have a question about fat bikes. I’ve seen them get popular however i don’t know anything about them and assumed that their niche was snow/sand/deep mud, so interested to know what the advantage or difference is in conditions like the above eg dry single track.
Not knowing anyone that rides one i’m genuinely interested to know?
cheers

Great write up and photos. Looks amazing.
Thanks for posting.

Normal size tyres on what used to be a normal Mountain Bike no longer look right. Fat looks appropriate everytime these days.

Jim, I’ll try to answer your question as best I can. Things are subjective but this is my take on it.

To be fair, any regular tyred bike could have covered these trails in the pictures. They were dry and in the main, hard packed dirt, mostly singletrack but some 4wd track too.

You mention mud / snow / sand and thats a given for these tyres but your asking about dry conditions. Where we did better than regular tyres on this trip was getting traction on loose surfaces and roots, particularly up hill. We passed a fair few people that were just spinning out on narrow tyres. Personally, I try to keep biking to the bitter end as its easier than walking so good traction helps. Typically these bikes run 10 – 15psi, I put mine up to 20psi occasionally to reduce rolling resistance but the profile of the tyre on the rim is pretty flat, so traction is still very good.

With the larger tyres also, they are very comfortable for long days out. Maurizio Deflorian has posted pics of biking a 120km day on Etna and he is using his Fatbike more than ever. Have a look at his FB page for some cracking pics of Fatbikes in big mountains.

The 26″ rims with the larger tyres give an overall circumference similar to a 29″, so they cope with tech stuff well and are faster and more agile than you think. These bikes went from 10kg – 15kg so not overly heavy. The full suss Beargrease is 32lb and just wafted through everything, plush as you like.

For me, the one bike does for 80% of the riding I do. The IBIS Tranny (rigid fork) or the Mojo get less use now than previously. You could go downhilling on a Fatbike (or any other type of bike for that matter), one of the funny memories was standing in the queue for the Motolino bike park amongst the hordes of freeriders / downhillers. We all got down the trails and Northdhore, just we rode it in a different way.

Probably best to find a mate and try one for yourself. Make up your own mind…

Thanks for the insight Rick – comfort and grip in all conditions, what’s not to like then! Now i just need to have a play on one.
cheers
Jim

That part of the world has been on “the list” for a while – it just moved up a couple of places…

Rick – loving your “work” there, looks like a smashing weekend, those coloured floaters would spin heads through 360 degrees?

Was an excellent weekend all round, riding speaks for itself, but the food, banter and general organising was absolutely spot on. This was the first gathering, I think there will be a winter one and another next year….

*like*