I got this crazy idea to upgrade the drivetrain on my legacy fat-bike Otis from a 2×9 Shimano/Microshift set-up to a Box 1×11 with a 30 Tooth Wolftooth Oval chairing and Camo/Direct Mount spider. Let me begin by saying that it’s not our intention to disparage our long-time amigo ‘the front derailleur’ or the folks […]
Search results for "otis"
Otis Turns Two – Fatback Review – The extended club version
Otis’s Story Timeline 12/25/2013 – Otis’s Introduction and Naming – http://fat-bike.com/2013/12/fatback-190-product-test-episode-1/ 12/25/2014 – Otis Turns One – http://fat-bike.com/2014/12/otis-turns-one-%E2%99%A6-fatback-long-term-review/ 2/5/2015 – Otis Gets Pimped – http://fat-bike.com/2015/02/otis-gets-pimped-part-one-otisgetspimped/ 6/18/2015 – Otis’s Pimped Parts Review – http://fat-bike.com/2015/06/hed-rims-onyx-racing-hubs-paul-skewers-6-month-review/ That brings us to today and a story that could be called Otis Gets Pimped, Part Two! I had planned all along to apply some sort […]
Wallpaper Wednesday – Otis in Minnesota
Download the appropriate size and use it as your own wallpaper. Just click on the link below to open the full-sized version which you can right-click to save. 1920 x 1440 (4:3) 1920 x 1200 Got your own Wallpaper Worthy Photo? We’d like to feature fat-bikes from around the world! If you’ve got a fat-bike related image […]
Otis Gets Pimped (Part One) #otisgetspimped
As some of you might remember, I have a bike named, Otis, that just recently celebrated its first birthday! Back around x-mas time we ran a long term review of Otis where we mentioned that we’ve been working on a little project to upgrade Otis’s wardrobe. We code named this operation #otisgetspimped. In other words, we’re going to take […]
Otis turns One ♦ Fatback Long Term Review
On or about, one earth year ago, I took possession of a Raw Aluminum 190mm Fatback that I spec’d out with the owner of Fatback (and cool cat) Greg Matyas. I asked Greg to make the bike all silver, black and white, like the Oakland Raiders. I wanted to run Umma Rims with Bud and Lou. I […]
Fat-Bike Radio Contest! Guess Otis’s Weight
Yesterday I met up with Zito and Puck and a couple of the port crew to ride Klode beach up to Doctors Park, where Sprecher Brewing and the Milwaukee Parks Department had a mobile beer garden set up. It was a very wet and wild, few miles of beach with about equal time riding and […]
Not a Wallpaper Wednesday – Otis’ 1st Beach Ride
Back at the end of March, I took Otis for his first beach ride, just across the border, down in Zion Illinois. I took this shot on my way back from the Dead River. Otis is suspended off of the ground by what was once the roots of this small cluster of cottonwood trees on […]
Otis Got a Brand New Bag
The day that I unpacked our Fatback 190, that we eventually named Otis, I made a template to guide Michigander, Jason Snell, in crafting one of his custom sailcloth Barking Bear Bagworks frame bags. I like to keep a frame bag on my fat-bike to store ride essentials or the ubiquitous puffy jacket. A frame bag […]
Foto Gordo ♦ Otis en el Lago de Powers
After much contemplation and the helpful suggestions from friends and readers, I’ve decided to name my new Fatback 190, Otis, after Otis Sistrunk. Otis was one of my favorite players from the 70’s Oakland Raiders teams, when I was growing up. Plus Otis was the town drunk from the Andy Griffith show. So this week […]
Rockgeist Honeypot Feedbag with Spacelink Direct Mount
It all started out innocently enough…I thought that I’d shoot off some bottle rockets one day out on the bike, somewhere safe…out in the middle of nowhere. The launch was a success but the powder from the rockets melted a nice hole in my Revelate Designs Mountain Feedbag. In retrospect, I guess that I should’ve […]
2022 Sea Otter Bike Expo (Part 2)
We’re back with part 2 of our coverage of the 2022 Life Time Sea Otter Classic presented by Continental. Let’s get right back to the parade of cool bike schwag. Our friends from Corvus Cycles made the trip down the coast to Sea Otter to show their wares. I got to ride the new Ti […]
Disc Brake Flip Flop
In the early days of fat bike development, complete bikes came spec’d with mechanical disc brakes. It was my understanding that the story behind that was hydraulic disc brakes were unreliable at arctic temperatures. I rarely get the opportunity to ride in true arctic temperatures, so when I built my Corvus, I chose a pair […]
Third Coast Beach Safari
One of our Grand Rapids amigos, Thom Goodyke gave me the thumbs up, when I asked him about beach riding conditions on the Michigan side of the Great Lake with the same name. That set my imagination on fire with fat-bike-beach images from the past. I cut my teeth riding mountain bikes in the Wolverine […]
CABDA Midwest Report
It’s been a long time since I’ve walked the floors of a convention center filled with the latest and greatest products from the bicycle industry, but earlier this week, I laced up a pair of comfortable shoes and drove down to Schaumburg, Illinois to explore the aisles of the CABDA show. CABDA isn’t open to […]
First Look – 45NRTH Van Helga 27.5 x 4.0 (Tan Helga)
Otis w/VanHelga in 2014 It’s been a number of years since I’ve ridden a pair of 45NRTH Van Helga Tires. The best that I can tell, it was back in 2014. We’ve published two reviews by a couple of different product testers and the results are all pretty positive. Ken Blakey-Shell wrote, “I think the […]
Wallpaper Wednesday – First Snow Series – No. 4
Otis! My Man! Mother Nature gave the gift of an early autumn blanket of snow to go out and play bikes…so like a kid on Christmas morning, I saddled up Otis and hit the local twisties just after first light. The best snow was on open grassy areas and it didn’t last for long, but […]
Wallpaper Wednesday – First Snow Series – No. 3
Winter Wonderland The wind was lightly blowing all of the fresh snow off of the trees in a sparkling light show. The low slung rays of autumnal morning sunshine always provide some magic to the landscape. Mother Nature gave the gift of an early autumn blanket of snow to go out and play bikes…so like […]
Is it time to Upgrade Your Legacy Fat-Bike? by Jeff Price
Editor’s Note – we should probably try to set some parameters for what we’re referring to when we talk about a ‘legacy fat-bike’. Legacy fat-bikes usually have a drive train with more than one front chainring. They generally have quick-release skewers instead of thru-axles. They might have a fork with front axle spacing that is […]
Wallpaper Wednesday – First Snow Series – No. 2
First Tracks Mother Nature gave the gift of an early autumn blanket of snow to go out and play bikes. It’s only November 6th and it’s already snowed three times! When it snows…I go riding. Snow turns everything into fun on bikes. I saddled up Otis and hit the local twisties just after first light. […]
Wallpaper Wednesday – First Snow Series – No. 1
Good Morning Aztalan! After a weekend of riding in balmy autumn temps down in Kentucky, Mother Nature gave the gift of an early autumn blanket of snow to go out and play bikes…so like a kid on Christmas morning, I saddled up Otis and hit the local twisties just after first light. The First Snow […]
Revelate Designs & Apidura Fork Bag Shootout
We spotlighted two new fork bags from our amigos at Revelate Designs and Apidura this Spring and I’ve been testing them ‘side by side’ on both the Trek 1120 that we have in for review and my Fatback Aluminum bike (named Otis) mounted to King Many Things cages. It’s been a great cycling year for […]
The Burning Bike Podcast – Bikes-Boat~Goat
Spinner Ryerson is the host of our new podcast called the Burning Bike Podcast. The premier episode was recorded at Silver Lake State Park on the shores of Lake Michigan in the State of Michigan. Spinner is joined by Sven & Gomez along with two Daves and my old QQQQ amigo Robb. on a 100 […]
Wallpaper Wednesday – The Beach
Here in no particular order are my ‘editor’s choice’ shots from some recent beach riding posts. The photo above came to us from Joshua Macpherson. Josh was joined by riders, Brad Mertens and Ross Cairns, near Myall Lakes, New South Wales, Austalia. Cédric sent us this shot from a beach ride on the coast of […]
RaceFace Atlas Platform Pedal – We can Rebuild them
Back in the spring of 2014, we began testing a set of RaceFace Atlas Platform Pedals. In the Product Spotlight of the RaceFace Atlas platform pedals, I wrote “I have a new bike as of last winter and I’ve been lusting after these RaceFace pedals. My new Fatback 190, Otis, is built up with a heavy dose […]
Wallpaper Wednesday – #BAMfatbike2018 By Tom Ice
Tom Ice sent us pics from his Bivvy a Month Challenge – #5 BAM for May in picturesque Crystal, Colorado. We debuted the new design for the #BAMfatbike2018 merit badge last week. I should get cracking on getting some of those made. Speaking of getting things made…we were temporarily out of Otis stickers, but we […]
The 2018 Summer Sticker Boondoggle
If you’ve been a reader of Fat-Bike dot com, over the last several years, you know that we love to give away stickers. We’ve had some doozies over the years and this latest batch might just be, the best ever. These designs were created by fine artists that have created sticker art worthy of the term […]
Product Spotlight – Terrene Tires – Cake Eater – 26 x 4.0 & 26 x 4.6
Our amigos at Terrene Tires sent us the follow up to their rugged 4 season Wazia fat-bike tire, the Cake Eater. Tim from Terrene shared with us, “Riders asked for a tire a bit less aggressive and lighter than the Wazia and that’s what we’ve developed with the Cake Eater. The new tire is a bit […]
Bikes, a Boat & maybe a Goat – A Traveling Fat-Bike Side Show
A couple decades back, my friend Cale and I started a bike gang called the Bike Black Ribbon Society and over the years BBR established chapters all over the US. When we started to need help with testing bikes for fat-bike dot com, we established the BBR Test Pilots from BBR Chapters and their known […]
Origin8 Supercell Tire 26 x 4.0 Review
The one and only, Pistil Pete asked about this tire and after our editorial staff took a look at them on the interwebz, we decided to pull the trigger and bought a set for $49 each. We wanted to see if we might shed some light on how these babies, would do on the beach, […]
Fatback Corvus Review
I’ve been riding a Fatback Corvus for the last few months and it’s ‘high time’ for me to put into words, the way I feel about the fourth carbon fat bike that I’ve reviewed over the last couple of years. You can read my initial impressions and review this bike’s impeccable racing pedigree here – https://fat-bike.com/2017/04/product-spotlight-2017-fatback-corvus/ In […]
Wallpaper Wednesday – Snafu
On my way back from a recent over-night camping trip, I decided to take the scenic route, through the local rail yard, art gallery. They get some incredible artists and it changes all of the time. It seems appropriate, that during the chaos that defines “life in the year 2017” that I found this particular […]
Product Spotlight – 2017 Fatback Corvus
We have a brand new 2017 Fatback Corvus in the shop for testing. Two of our Black Ribbon Test Pilots, Aris and Travis, recently reviewed the Fatback Skookum and Rhino. I’ve written half a dozen stories about my ‘Made in the USA’, aluminum, Fatback (named Otis), but we’ve never spent any long term, quality […]
2017 US Open Fat Bike Beach Championship Report
Every March we say that we’d really like to go down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina to attend 2017 US Open Fat Bike Beach Championship, but it seems like it’s always in conflict with both NAHBS and the Fat Bike Birkie. So this year we contacted the race director, Shawn Spencer and asked […]
First look at the 4.8″ Snow Avalanche SC & PSC Studded Tires
First look at the 4.8″ Snow Avalanche We recently got hooked up with Vee Tire’s Snow Avalanche studded 4.8″ tires. Vee Tire Co is the only fat-bike tires manufacturer to offer a true 4.8″ studded tire in two different rubber compounds. The Silicone Compound – SC (black) and the Pure Silicone Compound – PSC (white). We’ll […]
Becker Gear – Custom Frame Pack Trio
Some time last winter…in a galaxy, not that far away……our amigo Tupper Becker from Becker Design helped us run a contest on the Weekly Dose of Fat that gave away a bunch of his “Forty Below” down-tube bags. Tupper, is a very generous and giving type of individual and he offered, both Greg and I a […]
The Weekly Dose of Fat – Show #118 – Fatter by the Lake – 1/8/2017
Show #118 was recorded in front of a live audience at Zion Cyclery’s Fatter by the Lake 5 group beach ride. Gomez is joined by JK Livin along with Chris Daisy and Evan Larsson along with our old fried Dave Krueger. The Weekly Dose of Fat is brought to you by the good and kind individuals […]
Weekly Dose of Fat – Show #117 – Recorded at Electronic Chicklet Studios
This episode of The Weekly Dose of Fat was recorded in the groovy new Electric Chicklet Studios near the cloud factory in beautiful Kenosha (by the sea). This week’s show stars – Crazy Chris Daisy and Uncle Gomez – along with Bike Black Ribbon Test Pilots Evan Larsson and Dave Krueger The Weekly Dose of […]
Product Spotlight – RSD Ti Mayor
I voted for the RSD Ti Mayor Part of my responsibilities as Payload Specialist on the USS Faterprise is to schedule bike tests with our Bike Black Ribbon Test Pilots. This year, we’ll be testing an All-Star lineup of 2017’s, like the Fatback Rhino (Travis) & Skookum (Sven), along with a Borealis Flume (Wade) and […]
Preview – Lezyne Micro Floor Drive XL
Back in March we shared the news that the winner of our fat pump shootout was getting fatter and today we’re happy to share our first impressions of the brand new Lezyne Micro Floor Drive XL (MFD/XL). The pump came into the test labs and found it’s home in Otis’s new Custom Frame Bag from the One […]
Gnome-Proof Gear – Sea to Summit X-Series Bowl – Ibex Shak Classic Merino Wool Jersey – RaceFace Next Carbon Cranks –
We’re back with another thrilling episode of Gnome-Proof Gear. I’m your host, Gomez Alejandro Santana de Lago, and on this episode of GPG, thee Spinner Ryerson shares a hydration system for our amigos, of the four legged variety, His Honor, the Mayor of GnomeFest 13, Steve Meurett, nominates the Ibex Shaq for GPG status and […]
Saris Fat Bike Trac Parking System
Saris recently introduced the Fat Bike Trac Parking System (FBTPS) and since my wife & I, our 2 dogs (Cecil & Cowboy) and our rather copious, collection of toys recently moved, all of our bikes needed to find parking spots at the new treehouse. Down in the basement I’ve been working on getting the bike shop appointed […]
New Product Spotlight – Fatdapter – Fatbike Rack Adapter
If you’re looking to utilise your standard roof rack’s fork mount for your fat-bike, you’ll need an adapter. (thanks captain obvious) Our Bike Black Ribbon Test Pilot, Spinner Ryerson, introduced me to a brand new player in the fork adapter market called Fatdapter. Chunky machined, anodized aluminum lends the heft of a fine bicycle component, to the […]
Fat-Bike Vacation Destination – Cuyuna MN
It was four years ago. I was in my first meeting as the newly elected volunteer president of the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Crew. The meeting was with the Advisory Council of the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area (CCSRA) in collaboration with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) Parks and Trail Division. […]
Fat (video) Tuesday ♦ It’s raining Fat-Bikes
Our old friend Deo is back with some rainy beach riding from the Canadian Atlantic Coastline! The beach is often best served, off season and stormy! It’s gonna be ninety plus degrees later this week and I think I’ll take Otis for a swim in Lake Michigan, along with some beach riding. Pro-Tip #72 […]