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Three Rings for Three Seasons

For the past year and a half I’ve been riding my Schlick Northpaw year-round basically eschewing most of my other bikes in favor of the fatness. Heck, I even sold my 29’er and my 26-inch MTB leaving me with a sole 650B MTB to fill the need if it should arise.

I’ve been running mostly a traditional derailleur setup with a 9SP rear and a 22/34 double in the front with a rock ring on the Northpaw and have, in general, been very happy with my range of gears. There is no way I’d give up the granny for soft conditions, spinning like mad, up steep sandy slopes and it never seemed like I really needed the top end of a “BIG RING”. However, with the new Schlick Tatanka now out of prototype stage and lighter weight components, tires, wheels and tubes making it easy to get a fatbike well under 30 pounds (my current Tatanka is 29lbs-10oz without a silly amount of expensive jewelry) I felt like this was the time to go back to a triple. And by cracky, the first ride I found myself running in the big ring. It just seemed to feel good cruising along in the 23 or 26 cog in the back. I know I can get the sameish ratios in the middle ring but it just felt smoother. Plus, there are gears left for the down hills and tailwinds!

I am also dropping from an 11/34 winter gear to an 11/32 for the summer. Just a bit closer ratios. We will see how it goes. Who knows, next winter it may turn into Three Rings for All-Seasons!

We are look for more ideas for articles on all-season fatbiking. If you want to help by contributing, go right ahead! Just send a story and, hopefully a photo or two, to info@fat-bike.com and clue us all in!

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One Response to Three Rings for Three Seasons

  1. Craig Smith March 27, 2012 at 2:33 pm #

    Sweet ride!
    There are some hardcore Fat-Bikers that firmly believe the Big Ring is not needed on Fat Bikes, I’m not one of them. I love my triple! Fireroad cruising is much more fun when I can use the big ring.
    And I’m Super slow! So slow that I replaced my 22 with a 20. I love that too.

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