I ran out of chamois cream about a month back. So (like any good ‘merican) I took to the interwebs to shop for a new tub of grundle butter. I was a bit shocked by the explosion of new brands available. I scrolled and scrolled through all of the choices and decided to lay a […]
Archive | Bike Culture
Foto Gordo – Summer Solstice 2023
It’s been a hell of a great spring for riding in the Big Whiskey. Drought conditions make for some really buff dirt ribbons at Kettle, JeffCo, and Camrock. What have trail conditions been like in your region recently? Let’s get right to some of the photos that we received over the last few weeks from […]
2023 Mayday Mayhem Sit:Rep
A few years back, some of our northern Iowa gnome fest cousins started a klunker race, called the Mayday Mayhem. For one reason or another, I hadn’t been able to attend. In the meantime, I urged pretty much anybody that would listen to go in my stead, because, in addition to my obvious fat bike […]
Fat Tribe Thursday – Winter ’23 – Vermont – UK – Utah – CHI – IL – New Hampshire
Fat-Tribe Thursday is back to support the age-old, adage that one picture says a thousand words! All of you have been so awesome with sharing your photos of fat-bike fun, we decided it was ‘high time’ that we post some of them to show the entire, fat-bike tribe! We start off on the East Coast ( of […]
Shelltrack ’23 Race Report
The Snow Crown Race Series kicked off its first race last weekend in Manitowoc. The Shelltrack race goes back to the beginning of fat bike racing in Wisconsin. It’s one of my favorite spots that host a race and it’s only a couple of hours away. The course is in a county park that’s nestled […]
2022 Fat Biker’s Holiday Gift Guide
It’s the Fat-Bike.com Holiday Gift Guide with something for everyone that has a fat bike enthusiast on their holiday shopping list. This year, we surveyed our Bike Black Ribbon Society brain-trust for what they’d like to see under the tree and researched diverse and creative gifting solutions for months on end. We started working on […]
The Fat Bike Triple Crown Sponsored by Wren
Fat Bike Race Season is heating up with the Fat-Bike Triple Crown sponsored by Wren! Wisconsin seems like the center of the fat bike racing galaxy, because the Fat Bike World Championships, the Fat Bike Birkie, along with with the US Fat Bike Open are all in America’s Dairyland. Wisconsin is hosting all three of […]
Canadian Business Spotlight: Fatbikes.ca – By Trevor (Allroy) Hughes
When Gomez approached me about doing write-ups on Canadian fat bike companies, gear and culture I jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, I am a much better talker than a writer. However, after some direction and encouragement from Gomez, much like a father teaching his child to ride their first bike, I contacted Fatbike.ca. and spoke […]
Fat (video) Tuesday – Summer Squatch
You get a front-row seat to Summer Squatch at Levis Mound through the lens of our amigo rrrrRico (roll them r’s) aka MTB trail Sherpa! There are cameos by (yours truly) and pretty much all of my gnome cousins from Iowa and mi hermano de otras mamacitas, Adam Blake. You’ll see dignitaries from the greater […]
The Dose of Fat – September 2022
NEW stuff – Manitou Mastodon / Otso Voytek / Aeroe Spider Rack
Burley Bark Ranger by Thumbelena
Burley Bark Ranger The Bark Ranger is a trailer designed specifically for your dearest companion. Just like how they make trailers for parents wanting to include their small children on their two-wheeled adventures; Burley makes trailers for pet parents wanting to do the same with their fur babies! If you find yourself daydreaming about including […]
Fat (video) Tuesday – Fat Bike Thoughts from the Coastrider
Bruce shares some thoughts on fat bikes, Surly, and the current state of fat bikes in the UK. It’s an interesting glimpse into the mind of one of fat bike’s early adopters and the beach riding is pretty nice as well. I’m with Bruce, when he says, I’m just going to keep riding fat bikes […]
Event Spotlight – Fatober-Fest (IA)
Our amigos from the Mitchell County Mountain Goats are throwing a fat bike party on October 1st and 2nd! They’ve got a plan for folks to ride fat bikes on singletrack. It’s a novel concept almost completely lost on the cycling industry, but something that we embrace here at the fat dash bike dot com […]
Singlespeed USA 2022
One of the reoccurring waves of enthusiasm for two-wheeled fun that I’ve enjoyed over the years has been driven by singlespeed bicycles. It probably was heavily influenced by growing up near Chicago and the Schwinn Bicycle Company. I grew up riding steel singlespeeds. Somewhere in my twenties, I started mountain biking on a steel Rockhopper […]
The Dose of Fat – Summer 2022
It’s Summer cats and kitties! Have you ridden your bike to a large body of water and then gone swimming? Time to do a cannonball into the deep end!
FatFOD
Last weekend I met up with some of the fat bike guys from the south of England for FatFOD. FatFOD is an annual met up run by Graham Foot of Smokestone bikes. A couple of social days riding the natural tracks close to Gloucester followed by beers in the evening. Big views Saturdays route was […]
New PDW – Zit Bits Frame Bolts
The typical fat bike has over a half dozen M4 threaded cargo zits, just on the fork alone. Portland Design Works just introduced Zit Bits. Zit Bits are machined alloy bolts that are guaranteed to up the flay-vah of any bike. I think of it as bike jewelry. Your bike already has all of the […]
Mammoth Empire – Spartacus – The Fatter Fat Bike from the Philippines
If the fat bike in your life is not rotund enough for your flotation needs and you’ve been looking for a bike with the widest profile rims on the planet, you’re in for a treat. Adding to the rich fat bike tradition of bike brands like Bearclaw, Corvus ,and 9:Zero:7, which were founded by bicycle […]
S240 – Fat Bike Freedom
The Sub 24 Hour Overnite or S24O is, yet another, sterling example of bicycle freedom and potentially another excuse to ride your fat bike. I’m quite fond of the S24O. I’ve recently taken a couple of S24O trips to two local remote campsites with different set-ups, just to keep things interesting. My old Surly back […]
UP Field Trip – Bearclaw Bikes TŌWMAK
The second leg of my recent trip to the Upper Penninsula of Michigan took me to the east side and the tiny hamlet of Moran, home of Bearclaw Bikes. Moran is near the gateway to the Eastern UP not too far from Mackinac Island Ferry but far enough away to fly completely under the radar […]
Klunkedekic Video Tuesday
Sunshine and klunky Tuesdays amigos! Does anybody else have Spring Fever? Today’s clip really got my blood going with the story of how the Crested Butte Pearl Pass tour all got started. Do you have an old mountain bike or klunker in the shed? Here’s an event in Osage Iowa that just popped up on […]
Dose of Fat April 2020
It’s April and the transition from Winter to Spring shook me to the bone with what I like to call Prescription-Strength weather. My bike rides provided a front-row seat to the epic battles between the seasons until I high-tailed it to Sunny California for Sea Otter. I came back to Wisconsin and Winter continued to […]
Ice Swampin’ by Raoul Glute
As our sun-starved pallid bodies become reintroduced to the bright warm stranger in the sky, I’m compelled to recall a recent last bit o winter biking frolic. During my typical mid-February cabin fever-induced blues I came across a quaint blurb from a bike-minded Gnomish friend talking of turning cranks across a local frozen swamp. Needless […]
2022 Sea Otter Classic Bike Expo (Part 3)
We’re back with Part 3 of our coverage of the 2022 Life Time Sea Otter Classic presented by Continental. The bike industry came out of hiding and brought out all of the new toys for all of the girls and boys! #alicecooper Surly Bicycles wove themselves into a new taller tent during the pandemic. They […]
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 […]
2022 Sea Otter Classic Bike Expo (Part 1)
The 2022 Life Time Sea Otter Classic presented by Continental was last week. Racers, fans, and our favorite brands gathered at the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey California! I walked the aisles of the expo to bring you the latest and greatest products coming to the US market from all of the best companies. It […]
Dose of Fat – March ’22
The calendar says that it’s Spring but Winter isn’t over until the fat-bike sings. The Dose of Fat is back with a look at what’s going on in the fat-bike.com test bunker and what our colleagues are working on out in the field. Stand by for Spring….wait for it….It’s snowing again….remember that gnomes control the […]
Chasing the Last Snow
For the last dozen, or so, years, my wife, Bethany, and I, have been blessed to live with Bodhi, Cecil & Cowboy. Bodhi and Cecil are both gone now but Cowboy is still around. All three of our boys are what they call Bernese Mountain Dogs. They’re like little bears and they have a thick […]
Spring Thaw and Mud Season
The transition from winter to spring is underway and our trails will be experiencing freeze-thaw cycles until the frost is out of the ground. This means checking trail conditions will be more important during the transition between frozen and completely thawed. In the big whiskey, we call it mud season and it usually starts in […]
Dose of Fat – February 2022
Here are a few things happening in the world of Fat Bikes! It’s the end of February and Fat Bike Racing is set at the proverbial “eleven”! We just got a new fresh coating of snow and I’m looking forward to some sweet Wisconsin singletrack this weekend. I was looking at our event calendar and […]
What to get your Fat-Bike for Valentines’ Day ♥
Want to show your fat bike some love this winter? Here are our top-ten ideas for what you should get your Fat Bike for Valentines’ Day. Click the photo to see more! If your fat bike is anything like my fat bike, Ten Beers, it could use a spa day. My bike is usually pretty […]
Dose of Fat – Prime Winter Race Season – 2022!
Here we are in Prime-Time Winter Race Season 2022 (the year of the Double Duece. It’s the final weekend of January and Fat Bike Worlds starts today in New Richmond Wisconsin. I’ll be headed out there to see what it’s all about! February is chocked full of interesting and exciting events. You can check out […]
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 […]
Winter Riding in Alta Norway
Kenneth Johansen sent us a few shots from a ride along the Alta River near Alta, Norway. The river is famous for being one of the best rivers for salmon fishing in the world. Alta is in the far north of Norway. It’s situated well north of the Arctic Circle and during the polar night, […]
2021 Holiday Gift Guide
Hola Vatos and Hippy Holly-Daze! Every brand pumps out a gift guide these days that tend to feature what they’d like to sell you. It’s kind of turned the typical Holiday Gift Guide into nothing more than a sale flyer. Our gift guide isn’t a sale paper. The ideas and products on this here Holiday […]
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 […]
Levis Mound Fat Tire Festival
If you want to be guaranteed a shirt you should probably go ahead and pre-register. Pre-registration is open until 8/20/21 ◄ Bringing Derby Back to Levis Mounds! ► September 10th thru 12th – 2021 In the tradition of the bike festival formerly know as Gnomefest comes the Levis Mound Fat-Tire Festival set for September 10th thru the […]
Full Suspension Fat Full Monty
I decided that it was high time to get out and ride the Full Monty at Kettle. The Full Monty is a colloquialism for riding the Blue Loop at the John Muir Trail system to the Connector Trail to the Green Loop at the Emma Carlin Trail system. Then back to the connector and home […]
The Occasional Dose of Fat – Summer 2020
The Dose of Fat is Back!. About ten years ago we started to share news and reports from the front lines of bicycle sub-culture here at the fat dash bike dot com. The dose has transformed itself from a weekly blog to a podcast and then a different podcast that gave birth to spin-off podcasts […]
Free to Ride the Country
Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to rough it to get your bike-fun merit badge. I’m here to tell you that it’s ok to go glamping or (gasp!) stay in a nice hotel and soak in the hot tub after a day in the saddle. I see a lot of press about riders […]
Reader’s Ride(s) Adam Blake’s Salsa Beargrease aka Buzz Lightyear
The Details Bicycle Base: Salsa Beargrease 2019 GX style with Kingpin Deluxe fork Hbar: Whisky 31.8 750mm width Stem: Paul Boxcar 90mm up from the stock 70 length, and in SUPER RAD PURPLE Grips: Wolftooth Fatpaw grips Brakes: Sram Guide RS with Centerline-X 180/160 rotors Shifter: Sram GX 12sp Seatpost: SDG Tellis when running a […]
Project Fox Shox – by Tim Mallard
Put yourself in the “way back machine”. Way back to 1997. You are 14 years old and on summer break. You ride to the bike shop every day to drool at the new Rock Shox Judy SL suspension forks. It was as if they were handed down from the mountain bike gods and will forever […]
Da Crusher 40 EX Race Report – by JP Syverud
Todd Poquette is at it again. He loves creating super hard races in the most secluded spots in the UP of Michigan, changing the course every year. This year he outdid himself. His goal, for participants of the 40-mile event, was to experience Mosquito Gulch. Mosquito Gulch is a long stretch of nasty boulders. There […]
The Levis Mound Fat Tire Festival
◄ Bringing Derby Back to Levis Mounds! ► September 10th thru 12th – 2021 In the tradition of the bike festival formerly know as Gnomefest comes the Levis Mound Fat-Tire Festival set for September 10th thru the 12th at the fabled Levis Trow Mountain Bike Trails! This is an event for all of the folks […]