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Last week we noticed something that seemed like it might be a coincidence: people were still racing fat-bikes at events that had absolutely nothing to do with winter.
Then another week happened.
We've got more dry-land fat-bike racing, a titanium fat-bike getting even more adaptable, and the Wisconsin winter calendar starting to look like an actual calendar rather than a collection of vague promises.
Let’s get into it.
The Big Stuff
Bearclaw Makes the TŌWMAK Even More Interesting
Bearclaw Bicycle Co. has updated the titanium TŌWMAK to Gen 2, with UDH, more mounts, revised geometry and the usual ability to run 27.5 x 4- to 4.5-inch fat-bike tires.
Then there’s this:
It can also run 32 x 2- to 2.6-inch wheels!
Normally, I’m not particularly interested in 32-inch mountain-bike wheels around here. They’re not fat-bikes, and I don’t see much point in pretending every new wheel standard somehow belongs on Fat-bike.com.
This one is different because the bike itself is a legitimate fat-bike platform.
That means Bearclaw is effectively building one titanium frame that can live at two very different ends of the big-wheel spectrum. Run proper fat-bike wheels when you want flotation, then swap to giant 32-inch wheels when you want something faster and narrower.
There’s also a practical angle worth watching. If 32-inch bikes start using fat-bike hubs, forks or other existing fat-bike standards, that could eventually help keep some parts alive that otherwise serve a pretty small market.
Bearclaw says November delivery is planned.
Fat-Bike Racing Continues Into Fall
The Traverse City Trails Festival ran last weekend with fat-bike classes at both 15 and 28 miles.
Then the Mad Cow Fatbike Club in Troy, Ohio held a four-hour poker race where riders collected playing cards while knocking out laps.
Fat-bike riders got an extra card.
Actually, I have no objection to this rule!
This Sunday, Michigan keeps the theme going with the Rode to Hell Gravel Bike Race in Chelsea, where fat-bike categories are offered at 24, 41, 71 and 100 miles.
That last number gets my attention.
A 24-mile fat-bike category could be somebody showing up on the bike they already own. A hundred miles of gravel on a fat-bike is a major decision and commitment.
We may have stumbled into a story here.
For years, fat-bikes were marketed almost entirely around snow, and snow is still where they do something most other bicycles simply can't. But there are clearly riders who love riding all year!
If you keep choosing to ride fat-bikes all year ‘round, drop me a line to [email protected] and tell me your story.
Around Fat-bike.com
The Events Calendar Keeps Growing
The Fat-bike.com Events Calendar is becoming the place to keep track of the winter season without turning every Weekly Dose into six feet of race listings.
Wisconsin’s Snow Crown Fat Bike Series has now posted its 2027 schedule, including:
Fatty Shack - January 9
Fat Camp - January 23
U.S. Fat Bike Open - February 6
Those are getting added alongside Tuscobia, Fat Pursuit, Norpine, Seeley Big Fat, the Fat Bike Birkie and the other events already on the board.
See the Fat-bike.com Events Calendar (Heck yeah! We are even workin on a new look for the site and this is one of the pages that got the treatment!)
If you've got a race, festival, group ride or other fat-bike gathering that belongs there, send it over. [email protected]
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On the Calendar
Rode to Hell - October 4
Chelsea, Michigan
Gravel racing with fat-bike categories from 24 all the way to 100 miles.
Custer's Last Stand - October 10
Augusta, Michigan
The race at Fort Custer includes men's and women's open fat-bike classes on the park's singletrack.
Long Island Bike Festival - October 17-18
Middle Island, New York
Two days of riding, camping, vendors and bike culture at Cathedral Pines County Park. Fat-bikes are specifically welcome.
Fatty Shack - January 9
De Pere, Wisconsin
The opening round of the 2027 Snow Crown Fat Bike Series.
Norpine Fat Bike Classic - January 8-10
Lutsen, Minnesota
Racing, demos, food, beer and enough other things happening to justify making a weekend of it.
Seeley Big Fat Race - January 16
Seeley, Wisconsin
CAMBA trails, winter racing, food and the Big Fat Raffle.
Gear & Bikes
Could 32-Inch Bikes Help Keep Fat-Bike Parts Alive?
I keep coming back to the new Bearclaw TŌWMAK because it raises a question beyond the specifications.
Fat-bikes have always been good candidates for experimentation because the basic platform already ignores a lot of conventional bicycle rules. Huge tires, super-wide hubs, unconventional chainlines and massive frame clearances were part of the deal from the beginning.
So maybe a titanium frame designed around both 27.5 x 4-plus-inch tires and 32-inch wheels isn't actually that surprising.
It may also point toward something useful for the category: shared components.
If another growing niche starts using some of the hubs, forks, rims or standards fat-bikes already depend on, that's not a bad thing for those of us trying to keep big-tired bikes running ten years from now.
One More Thing
The Mad Cow Fatbike Club's four-hour poker race gets this week's nod as a you’re doing it right candidate.
You ride laps. You collect playing cards. You try to build a decent poker hand.
If you show up on a fat-bike, you get an extra card.
That's the entire concept.
Somewhere along the way cycling became extremely good at making very simple things unnecessarily complicated.
This is not one of those things.
I approve.
That’s the Dose
October is here, the winter calendar is filling in, and fat-bike riders continue to show up in places where nobody actually needs a fat-bike. It’s not a need, Its a want.
Which, honestly, may be part of the point.
We'll keep tracking the winter events as they're announced, and I'm especially interested in hearing from people who are racing or riding fat-bikes year-round. If that's you, bring it over to the Fat-bike Lab or just hit reply.
Join the Fat-bike Lab - free, no algorithm, just riders helping riders.
See you next week.
Greg
Fat Dash Bike Dot Com
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