For my final review, I took the Panorama Chic Chocs 3 on a new overnight bikepacking route I’ve been working on that started in Watersmeet, Michigan, just over the border from Wisconsin in the Upper Peninsula. My last review of this bike was written as we were clinging to the last of winter here in the Wisconsin Northwoods. I have been itching to dress this bike for bikepacking and hit some sandy terrain.
The 68-mile route I rode has stops at four waterfalls and includes some soft, sandy sections of trail, so riding a fat bike is not overbiking by much. I started recon riding the route last summer on my Omnium with my dog Cowboy, but bailed before riding the second half because the temperatures were in the 90s.
When I planned this trip for this May, I never imagined spring temperatures would approach the summer temps from last year, but it was 85°F the first day and 88°F the second day! The Sawyer Water Filter I packed got a lot of use this trip. I drank 9 water bottles riding the 50 miles on day two.
Before I left, I swapped the straight handlebar the Chic Chocs came with for an alloy Jones H Bar Loop with a Rockgeist Dr Jones bag, two Revelate Designs Mountain Feedbags, a Fenix BC269 headlight, and a stem mount for my Coros Dura Solar GPS headunit. In the back I installed an Old Man Mountain Divide Fat rack, complete with their Ponderosa Panniers and Juniper Trunk bag.
On the fork I mounted two Widefoot CargoMount cages with Salsa Anything Cage Bags. I mounted King Manything Cage to the downtube for a single-wall, stainless, 40 oz Klean Kanteen bottle. I didn’t need to add one, but the bike does allow direct mount top tube bags.
I carried 15 pounds of camera gear along with another 15 pounds of bikepacking gear, clothing, and food. Three full bottles weighed about 7 lbs, and I weigh 165 lbs dressed, wearing my Thorogood boots. Fully loaded with all 200 lbs of me and gear, I initially noticed the carbon frame and fork felt like it had a little more side flex than my steel Milwaukee Bicycle Company Buck Shot.
It could have been a combination of the longer carbon fork and 66.5° head tube angle vs the Salsa Kingpin Deluxe carbon fork and 70.5° head tube angle on my Milwaukee. Whatever the cause, I stopped noticing any flex after only five miles down the trail. It never affected the bike handling or felt sketchy at all. Although the Old Man Mountain Divide rack is pretty stout, I had it set up pretty far back with long adapters to connect to the seatstays, so maybe that contributed to the flex. I will need to do more testing on that setup.
In fact, the ride was very stable and comfortable. Much of the route was very soft, dry sand, and chunky two-track. With the 27.5 x 5 unstudded Dillingers, modern HT angle and 1201 mm wheelbase, the Chic Chocs 3 rolled through it all with confidence. I never felt a loss of control in the rough stuff or the need to sit back to unweight the front wheel in the soft sand.
My Milwaukee Buck Shot has 26″ wheels, and I have only started test riding 27.5″ fat bikes in the last couple of years. With our low snow the last couple winters I have not been able to put the larger contact patch of 27.5″ fat bike wheels to a good test yet. Simple math says a 27.5″ diameter wheel will have a larger contact patch than the same width 26″ tire because the fore and aft measurement increases.
While float is king when it comes to fat bikes in soft snow and sand, that increase in flotation is offset by more weight and slower acceleration. Before I return the Chic Chocs, I plan to take it up to the Valhalla Recreation Area with my Milwaukee Buck Shot and compare the two wheel sizes on soft sand.
I understand that 27.5 wheels and tires seem to have become the industry de facto standard. But as of now, I am in no hurry to switch. My 80mm rims with 5″ tires get me through almost anything. If I were going to look for more float, I would probably jump all the way up to the Moonlander 6.2s.
Sven just updated a 2021 post about 26 vs 27.5 Fat Bike Wheels if you want to delve deeper into this topic, so back to how well suited the Panorama Chic Chocs 3 is for bikepacking. With all the mounts anyone could ask for, and a knee-friendly 203mm Q-factor for all day pedaling, but a slight side flex when heavily loaded, I give the Panorama Chic Chocs 3 a 4 Pink Pony Rating for bikepacking. Because the frame has a modern geometry and a relatively light carbon frame, the Chic Chocs makes for a good year-round trail bike too, I’d have to give it a 4.5 Pink Pony rating overall.
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