As owner of a new garage (and house), I’ve been trying to sort out the bike storage situation. I figured I should get it right the first time instead of the hodgepodge that inevitably comes to the surface. In the past, I’ve used the ubiquitous garage utility hooks, Gladiator bike hooks, and Delta Cycles hanger. […]
Our neighbors and amigos at 1Up USA over in Dickyville Wisconsin manufacture an accessory for their excellent hitch racks called the Rak Attach that allows the fully loaded rack to pivot ninety degrees and lock into position so you can gain unfettered access to the back of your vehicle. (photo below) The Rak Attach is […]
The 1UpUSA Rack systems are are some of the best options for getting your bike to where you want to ride it, but what do you do with your rack when you’re not bringing your bike? Do you set it on the floor? Do you clear out shelf space? Do you just lean it up […]
I’ve been using a Wahoo Element Roam GPS Cycling computer for the last 110 rides. We published an initial story about how the first phase of the Roam test went. Even though we were only at the beginning, it was clear that an old dog can learn new tricks! The Roam is as easy as […]
Last Minute Gift Ideas for That Buddy or Loved One You know you blew it. It’s now the week before Christmas and you have a handful of gifts to pickup and your back is against the wall. But you’re cool and collected. You’re not sweating it because you know you’ve got your friends at Fat-Bike.com […]
I’m old enough to have owned a pair of Oakley Factory Pilots. They were red to match my 1986 Specialized Rockhopper. We all wore them because Greg Lemond wore them and he won the TdF. In the years between then and now, I’ve sunk thousands of dollars into high-end fashionable cycling eye protection (sunglasses). I’d […]
The 2019 Fat-Bike Holiday Gift Guide
Check out the latest addition to Revelate Designs’ collection of bikepacking gear that leads the industry in innovation. This is their official product news release. For Release November 27, 2019 Anchorage, Alaska – Answering the call for carrying capacity in hard to use spaces, Revelate Designs releases the Hopper frame bag and Joey downtube bag. […]
I first noticed Cedaero bags when they sponsored the Marji Gesick 100 a few years ago. I saw some wildly colored top tube bags with tidy stitching. The business was just getting going in the back of SpokeNGear bike shop of Two Harbors, Minnesota. That’s way up nort der, just a bit past the big […]
When I was out in Washington last month, my main man Randy Pulk had one of these and as soon as I saw the Click Stand in action, I knew that I’d be ordering one. Randy had bought his Click Stand for bikepacking in high open ‘sagebrush’ trips that don’t have trees to lean your […]
I met with the folks at Bontrager at the Sea Otter Classic earlier this Spring to talk about what they had in the pipeline for 2019. One of the products that piqued my interest was the promise of Bontrager coming out with their own line of adventure bags. Some time passed and somewhere near the […]
(L) – 1Up-USA Equip-D Rack (R) – 1Up-USA Heavy Duty 2″ Rack I’ve been testing a 1UP-USA Equip-D Beta Hitch Rack for the last six months along with a couple of dozen other consumers and industry folks. I’ve been a 1 Up-USA Rack owner for quite a few years and I’ve been involved with fat-bike.com’s […]
News release from our amigos at Revelate Designs Anchorage, Alaska – With roots in camping centric mountain biking adventures, Revelate Designs diversifies their line up with the Shrew, their smallest seat bag ever built for long days on gravel, singletrack, or utilizing the dead under your seat space while using a rack. The Shrew is […]
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 […]
Testing bags at Kettle Moraine photo by Justin (Case) We have two bags from our amigos at Revelate designs in for review. The Salty Roll Dry Bag and the Egress Pocket. I’m integrating these two new components into my bikepacking set up alongside the fork bag test that we’re running. Egress Pocket Let’s take a […]
The more that you ride the more you need a little tender loving care for certain areas of the body that experience higher friction during the natural biomechanical process of bicycling. Whether you call it grundle butter, crease grease, gootch balm or chamois cream this ointment can literally save your ass on a four day […]
Words by Tony Berger, Photos Tony and Greg Smith Were you a fan of “That Seventies Show” like I was? Do you remember the episode where Hyde made the pot brownies to sell at the bake sale and Eric’s parents accidentally ate them and Red ended up selling the Vista Cruiser? “It’s a Vista Cruiser, […]
Today’s product spotlight takes us on a journey to Island Park Idaho to talk about a relatively new bag company called FBJ Creations. Some of you may be familiar with them because FBJ Creations is run by none other than Bryon Vordermann, Fat Bike Jesus his own bad self (as mi amigo Russel T. Jobs […]
Last winter I bought a pair of (my favorite color – ORANGE!) Tifosisunglasses from Chris at Zion Cyclery after a big group beach ride. They were only $25 and really nice. So when Gomez asked me if I wanted to review a pair of Tifosi’s Swank SL sunglasses, I was like…Sure! I’ve been wearing a […]
We’ve reviewed and used a variety of Fork Bags over the years and this year both Revelate Designs and Apidura introduced new fork bag models that we’re lucky enough to get a chance to test this summer. We’ll be testing the bags mounted to both Salsa Anything Cages and the King Many Things Cage. Let’s […]
Hydro Flask was started ten years ago in Bend, Oregon. They are well known for insulated water bottles that keep water cold, coffee mugs that keep coffee hot, and beer growlers that keep beer delicious. The Journey Series is their introduction into the hydration pack market. The selling point for this line of packs is […]
The 2019 Sea Otter Classic has become the best bike show in the US and they just announced expansion plans for Sea Otter Europe. The US version of the Sea Otter Classic is held at the Laguna Seca Race Track out near Monterrey, California about an hour drive from Silicon Valley. It’s quite beautiful there. […]
The Bikeiowa Pogie Lite – A Pogie for all seasons Bar Mitts, Pogies, hand covers… whatever you want to call them, Pogies (true term) have become go-to accessories for fat-bikers, gravel riders, and commuters. Providing water and wind resistance a good set of pogies can mitigate cold hands. I also always tout that while wearing […]
News Release from our friends at Revelate Designs Anchorage, Alaska, January 23, 2019 – Constantly innovating and improving, Revelate Designs pushes forward with the release of the Polecat, a unique drybag built for use in large volume cargo cages, and the Terrapin System 14L, a full redesign of their flagship seat bag. “Cargo cages have […]
Who’s Henty? That was my first question too. Founded in Tasmania, Australia, (yeah, that’s a real place) Henty started out making suit and garment bags for business clothes. They’ve been adding different versions of these bags and have a line of bags and packs specifically designed for active commuting. The Enduro was launched […]
Late last summer Burley Design released the Coho XC cargo trailer. We highlighted the specifications for this innovative single-wheel trailer here on fat-bike.com, at the end of October. Since then we’ve had the chance to test it out in the wild. We took this trailer up to the Big Holes, to get an idea about how […]
We’ve done a few of these holiday gift guides over the years. In the past, we’ve had our testers chime in with what they wanted as gifts and we’ve done the ‘what’s the hottest new bike’ thing, so this year you get what a grumpy old gomez thinks the fat-biker on your gift list […]
People like to geek out on gear lists. I am one of those people. I always get ideas by seeing how other people roll. To give back to the bike packing community, here is my addition to the gear list cannon. This is what I used for 18 days and around 800 miles of riding […]
Burley Design celebrated it’s 40th anniversary this year. The company has grown and changed over the years since, Alan Scholz, co-owner of Burley Bike Bags designed the first Burley trailer to transport his hand-made bags (30 miles) to a market where he sold them each week. Along with the bags, Alan also carried his daughter and […]
QuietKat is not a company I was familiar with until recently. This is mostly because they specialize in e-fat bikes which are not exactly my jam. Based on the QuietKat site it looks like a big part of their clientele are hunters so they offer a single wheel fat bike trailer to haul hunting equipment […]
Our family spent 3 weeks biking 900 miles in Alaska. This is the second part of three parts describing our journey. Click here to read Part One. Our adventures of fat biking through Alaska began in the city of Anchorage. Anchorage is a typical metropolitan area. There are tall buildings, lots of traffic, and plenty of […]
I spied one of the prototypes for the Backcountry Stitch Works (BSW) Aww Snap (strapless) frame bags on Will Ross’ Hawt Pank Langxx last year just around the time of the Fat Nationals in Michigan. I quizzed Will about his fuchsia bike purse and he told me that the bag was pretty sweet. So I tried to get […]
I’ve been using Green Guru Gear for a few years now and believe in their Made in Colorado (USA), upcycle/recycle philosophy. Before Davidson, the head honcho at Green Guru, contacted me about checking out their Tubular Insulated Can Sleeve and Sixer 6-pack Insulated Top Tube Holder, I had plenty of experience with the various pouches […]
The first time that I ever saw a rooftop tent was at Sea Otter a few years back. Tepui had one set up on a silver Toyota (like the one I drive) so it caught my attention. I thought “cool idea..and asked how much?”. They said somewhere in the low two-thousands (I don’t remember […]
A few months back I started a review of the Portland design works Fatty Object thing and did a bench test to see if the 38 g CO2 cartridges would fill a 4-inch fat bike tire. You can see that report here. Over the last few months, I’ve done some testing out in the field with […]
I first came across the unique verticle Northshore hitch-style rack out in Long Beach, Washington back in the autumn of 2015. I rented a Salsa Mukluk from Northwest Bicycle Improvement out of Roslyn Washington and they had one of these kick-ass racks on the back of the shop van. (photo below) Since then we’ve tested and highlighted […]
The Ottolock is a unique bike lock that resembles a reusable Ziptie in operation but is A LOT more secure. Ottolock says it is a “Lightweight, compact cinch lock that is stronger than a cable lock and lighter than a U-Lock. Made with steel and Kevlar® bands. Ideal for cycling and outdoor gear to […]
A couple weeks ago the folks at up.bike contacted us and asked if we’d be interested in testing out their new stainless steel rack system. I sent them a photo of the corner of the garage where we keep the bikes that we regularly ride. Like many of you out there, we own a pile […]
In addition to hosting every denomination of bicycle racing, the 2018 Sea Otter Classic has become the best bicycle industry trade show in these United States. Even the corporate giants of the industry come out and show their wares and simultaneously support their race teams. Along with the big boys, the Sea Otter expo area features […]
Apidura Backcountry Bags With virtually the full set of Apidura’s Backcountry series of bikepacking bags landing on my doorstep you could say I was a little excited to try them out, and with my Bivvy a Month #2 just around the corner you could say it was great timing! As stated on the Apidura website […]
It turns out that my old set of 5-year-old Salsa Anything Cages that have been rattling around the shop have a couple of cracks in them. Those cages were on a fat bike up in Tosa, when our tester Jamie discovered the cracks. He’s going to try to repair that set of cages, but […]
Spring is in the air, but for the last few weeks, the Dose of Fat Crew have been visiting Winter on the weekends at events like the Sweaty Yeti – the Hugh Jass @ Trek HQ and the Fat Bike Birkie. We gathered up north in a flurry of activity that culminates this winter’s fat-bike […]
Well, it’s getting towards spring and that means we’ve all made it through yet another winter of fat-bike funskies. This spring we’re going to share some Spring Cleaning and maintenance tips to help everyone celebrate rad adventure and promote safe passage through the warmer months. Today’s spread will feature a few of our test pilot’s […]
Last January we introduced you to the SkiPulk FatBike Pulk Kit. The version we received in the test lab came with the original orange Paris pulk, a black Paris duffle bag, a mountable seat post hitch, and 2 fiberglass poles. Here is the link to the product spotlight for all the specs and initial […]
