Otso Cycles hails from Burnsville, MN., which is a long ways from where the brand’s identity is rooted. In Finnish mythology, Otso is the Spirit of the Bear; the noble king of the forest, a spirit of strength and courage, and also a relative with whom we share our adventures in and out of the […]
I had just hooked my daughter up with a brand new 29er, and was feeling some serious bike envy, when I received a timely phone call from a certain Mr. Gomez. My pleading instruction for my next bike to test was “gimme somethin baller” so I could stop feeling so left out of the cool […]
This week’s Wallpaper Wednesday comes to us from professional photographer David Markman. I met David at this year’s Arrowhead 135 when I dropped by the requisite ‘gear check’ the day before the race. David has been an adventurer for most of his life. He’s canoed across northern Canada twice, once going into the Arctic Circle. […]
When the bike world and the beer world align under a banner that reads SURLY, you know that unlike most watered down, new school, fat-bike events that go down these days, there’ll be DERBY! In addition to a good old-fashioned bicycle hootnanny, there’ll be Surly craft-brewed beer. Surly Bikes plans to have their demo fleet, […]
Get your holidays started out on the right foot at the Pie Burner Fat Bike Ride and Toys for Tots (toy drive) up in the Iron Range in Minnesota. Just go ahead and click on the flyer to visit the event page for all of the details on how you can participate. Here’s a little […]
According to Flickr, this is the most interesting photo that I’ve ever posted over there. I don’t know how that works, but maybe by the powers of black magic or some algorithm that counts clicks and likes, etc., this photo has reigned supreme for a number of years. It’s a shot from a Global Fat-Bike Day […]
Back in January, a Framed Wolftrax Carbon Custom landed in the Fat-Bike.com Bike Black Ribbon Test Pilot hanger bay. You can read the initial product spotlight with all the details of the build and other minutia here. Over the next two plus months, I’ve proceeded to put the Wolftrax Carbon through its paces. To say that […]
It is kind of funny, last year/season we saw a flood of similar “me-to” fat bikes from manufacturers trying to jump on the fat bike bandwagon. Everyone seemed to want to pile on the fat bike craze. From those heady times, we have seen some really interesting and fresh bikes emerge for the 2017 season. […]
Back in September, I visited the QBP corporate campus in sunny Bloomington MN, for an opportunity to meet and talk with Surly’s product development team about a project that’s been in the pipeline for quite some time. I learned of the existence of the Big fat Dummy project about the time that the Ice […]
If you want to see the latest fat-bike hardware and talk to experts about winter camping or racing, this is where you need to be this weekend. Check out all the details at www.winterbikeexpo.com! ATTN: RACE DIRECTORS – Send us a race Flyer! Register your Race. Festival, Demo or Group Ride on the Fat-Bike.com Event Calendar then […]
We spotlighted the new Wolftooth Components Singletrack Pogies (WCSP) back in November. That story featured a really nice video that Wolftooth put together. We’ve shared it again below because it highlights the unique features of this Gnomie Award winning accessory. You read that correctly, just last month, the (WCSP) won the Gnomie for the […]
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. The MN […]
The Freewheel Winter Bike Expo, located on the Midtown Greenway in the heart of Minneapolis recently concluded. The Expo, in it’s fifth year had something to offer every winter cyclist. While the bike shop itself appeared to be, business as usual, with a bustling crowd of cyclist ordering and enjoying coffee and snacks, the real […]
The long-term red dirt review Having reviewed the original baby blue Farley and now it’s cousin, the 9.8, I’d like to make the following suggestion. Let’s change the name. Farley, I get it, ok, sure. But, the direction Trek is moving this bike frame is anything but fat, slow, or a jiggly belly bouncing on […]
Editor’s Note : We interviewed Erik Noren about his new venture, Cake Bikes, on the Weekly Dose of Fat – Show # 8o. You can listen to the interview here. Our report from last weekend’s, Cake Bike Launch comes from our MPLS correspondent, Lilah! Cake! A new fat bike line – by Erik Noren of […]
A while back I assigned Buddy Ted the task of riding his bike withe some Canari gear. I’m glad to say he’s getting a gold star for putting his butt on the line (heh) and getting us a great review. Here’s what he had to say: “Canari Lombard Knickers: Some call them knickers, man-Pri’s, shants, […]
Walking into my studio last week I noticed two ginormous boxes. Immediately I thought to myself, “now what did we buy and what is it?” I was relieved to see instead the shipping address coming from Waterloo, Wisconsin and the contents reading Trek Farley 9.8. That’s a good way to start a work day. Over […]
So you get a new fat bike as winter 2015 comes to a close and the thought is, “O well, that was nice, put it in the bike storage until next winter so I can ride it again.” Wrong homie. I took out Salsa Beargrease X01 on the red dirt bacon strip of Cuyuna […]
Advocate Cycles, the first Benefit corporation in the cycling industry to pledge 100% of profits to making cycling better, has launched their crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. We met with our old friend Tim Kreuger, back at the Sea Otter Classic this year, where Advocate launched the Hayduke 27.5+ model, and now they’re bringing a full […]
Duluth is the new epicenter of getting rad in the upper Midwest, and the upper Midwest is the epicenter of progressive fatbike use. So naturally, the first downhill/enduro specifically for fatbikes took place at the city-owned Spirit Mountain, side by side on the ski hill with the regular crowd of knee droppers and knuckle draggers. […]
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 Events! You can list your event on our calendar by clicking right here! If you’d like to see your race or festival featured in an Event Spotlight, list the event on our calendar and then send a race flyer and links to the event page to uncle gomez@fat-bike.com. May the fat be with you!
My goal for this holiday season is to make sure more women get Fat…seriously, we need more women riding Fatbikes, and the Framed Minnesota 2.0 Women’s Fatbike is just the Fatty to do so, at a darn great price. For only one easy payment of $899 you too can get this sweetly equipped beauty, and […]
By Michael McColgan When I found out I was going to be testing the new Framed Alaskan, I was pretty excited. There’s been a lot of rumblings on the interwebs about Framed lately so I was pretty stoked to hop on one to see if the hoopla is justified. Right out of the box, […]
Derrick, Ross and I have been riding the Framed Minnesota 26×4 Fat-bike Tire for several weeks now with various races, trail rides and around town hucking. We mounted the tires on a couple of different bikes including a Schlick APe and a Salsa Mukluk. We also mounted the tires to 3 different rim sizes including […]
Story and Photography by Aaron W. Hautala During our previously chronicled Salsa Bucksaw test ride, part of the never ending love fest needs to be attributed to the wheels, tires, and bars (handlebars, not brownies) on this not-so-average full suspension fat-bike. Enter the Whisky No.9 – 70mm Carbon Fat Rims, Whisky No.7 Carbon No-Rise 760 mm handlebar, and […]
The results and assessment of a three week ride. — Photography and words by Aaron W. Hautala When I received the opportunity to test ride the Salsa Bucksaw I froze. Then, when I received the test bike it was clear this wasn’t just off-the-shelf Bucksaw. I had in front of me a super-freak Bucksaw. While […]
Religion on the River Written By – Mark Sirek Photos by – Nathan Swanson I’m Mark and I live in Minnehopelessness, Minnesota. My lady, The Instigator, and I try, whenever we’re going to be in town for the weekend, to assemble our friends on Sundays and spend the day in the woods, near rivers, and […]
Editor’s Note : Please welcome Buttcrackjenny to the site! Jenny is one of this year’s new Bike Black Ribbon Test Pilots and she’s going to be testing the new Women’s Minnesota 2.0 from Framed Bikes! ~gomez~ I was super excited to find out that I would be the lucky boobed boob that got to test […]
We shared the 2015 Framed Bikes line with you back in August. Included in that line was something relatively new to the fat-bike landscape…..the kid’s fatty. The Framed Bikes Mini-sota is a 24″ wheeled – tiny replica of mom or dad’s entry level fat-bike. This is a bike that should sell on the floor of […]
Framed Bikes hit the Fat-Bike scene last winter with their Minnesota fat-bike. We featured a bit of first hand riding experience on their bike in an article entitled ‘The Fat and the Curious‘ last winter. For 2015, Framed is establishing themselves as a big-time player in the fat-bike market. They have their Carbon and Alloy Alaskan […]
Last Friday, our amigo Jesse LaLonde pinged me with something pretty hawt. In addition to being the dark knight of fat bike racing, Jesse is a designer at Twin Six. Jesse and Fat-Bike had been talking about a fat-race-bike for the better part of the year now and it turns out that all of Jesse’s R&D coupled […]
Deep in the bowls of the Bare Knuckle Brigade testing bunker and laboratories – {The BKB Speed Factory}, they’ve been developing a new race bike for Jesse. We have a photo of the v1.0 prototype. This was leaked by sources very close to the LaLonde brothers and their (not so very secret) bike riding squad […]
Tjaard Breeuwer sent us some shots from his club’s (COGGS) Monday night fatbike ride. This is what Tjaard had to say about the ride. Last week’s ride was on the beach at Park Point, right at the tip of Lake Superior. The conditions were incredible! We still have large ice floes floating around, with only small […]
By : Jesse LaLonde I don’t recall a time in my life when the weather was ever an issue. In fact I tend to welcome the extreme with hungry lungs and an open mind. I’ll be the first to admit that this mentality can lead to a sink or swim situation but that’s the type […]
We’ve all met them. We’ve all answered their questions. The big eyed gawkers that stare at you as you ride by on your fat bike. “WOW, LOOK AT THOSE TIRES!” “Where did you get that?” “Is it hard to pedal?” And inevitably, “How much did it cost?” After I answer that question, there’s usually only […]
By – Michael McColgan This past Valentine’s weekend, 200 fatbikers showed their love for snowy singletrack by converging on Elm Creek Park’s flowy trails for the Fatbike Frozen Forty, the sixth race in the eight race Great Lakes Fatbike Series. The faithful followers of this site have seen the articles on various trail groomers, […]
Mono-syllabically known to cyclists everywhere as Bjorn, my gnomefest cousin (twice removed) Bjorn, took this shot at the Hitching post during the Arrowhead 135 last month. The Hitching Post’s neon and x-mas lights must look like a true northwoods oasis to riders braving sub-zero temps coming out of the inky darkness. What’s in your camera? […]
Borealis and Wolf Tooth Components have been collaborating on product ideas since the early days of both companies. The new front derailleur direct mount adapter for 190mm rear hub spacing is the first product that is a direct result of that collaboration. The adapter is designed and manufactured in Minneapolis MN just like all the […]
Our amigo Tom Lais is a veteran of the Rovaniemi 150 and the Arrowhead 135. He’s agreed to send us reports live from the front lines of his Arrowhead adventure this year. Tom will be riding his custom A-Train fat bike that he calls Oscar. Tom’s also testing out a pair of Revelate Design’s new […]
By : Jesse LaLonde 12.6 lbs ; The weight difference between LaMere’s new carbon fat bike and my current fat rig. A light fat bike; the oxymoron approach to describing the new LaMere fat bike. Minneapolis; the location of LaMere HQ and home to some of the best kept fat bike trails around. Luckily for […]
Last year in the Arrowhead 135 Todd McFadden took on the best riders that Alaska could throw at him and emerged victorious in a record setting time of 14 hours, 20 minutes. The previous year’s winner Kevin Breitenbach and Multi-Year Champ, Jeff Oatley, tried to outlast Todd, but in the end, just couldn’t put in any […]
Zach Monack is Captain of Wrenches, at Erik’s Bike Shop in Burnsville Minnesota. He made a little day in the life film noir project for us with some of those funky time beats for our listening pleasure. Here’s what Señior Zack had to say about it all… My video is a ride around Lebanon Hills in […]
Pat Murphy of Pedal Minnesota sent us this shot that was taken at Park Point outside of Duluth on Lake Superior last week by Hansi Johnson. Pat told us that ‘Hansi was standing on 10-ft ladder in the lake to get some of these shots’. The lone rider in the shot is Casey Krueger riding a […]
