Staying in bike shape

[north woods gal]

So... it feels more stable than studded tires?

Yes, the fat bike does feel more stable in the snow under most conditions, given the tire width is twice or more the width of a mountain bike tire. I have done a lot of riding in the snow, with and without studded tires, so I can also tell you that riding in the snow is also very much a matter of snow and road conditions, meaning there may be times when you are better off with the studded tires. Not all snow riding is the same. For instance, I did a lot of winter commuting on hardpack snow and ice on city streets and the studded tires were just the ticket. It was an 8 mile commute, so probably a bit easier to do with the skinnier tires. 8 miles would have been a long haul with those big monster fat bike tires. For the mostly fresh snow we have around home, up here on our rural roads, though, the fat bike rules. It's also just a blast to ride, anyway.

[ny biker]

I read recently (from someone who tried it) that fat bikes don't handle well on fresh snow, and are more appropriate for packed down, groomed trails. But it sounds like that has not been your experience?

[north woods gal]

Not exactly, because there are so many different kinds of snow conditions when riding, so it's hard to make blanket statements. Handle well on fresh snow compared to what? What kind of fresh snow and so on?

Sometimes it's actually fun to ride in the snow with an ordinary mountain bike or even a cyclocross bike. On a fresh snow/first snow up to 3" or so over solid pavement or gravel where a standard MTB tire can get down through the snow and get good traction with the hard road surface, beneath, you sure don't need a fat bike. I found that a standard MTB tire or even a 700x35 road tire with good tread worked great. Some of my best memories where early mornings when I was the first to ride down a street after a fresh 3" of snow. Pure magic! Same kind of high I get when cross country skiing in a perfect snow.

When the fresh snow still wasn't too deep, but was on top of a rutted, icy snowpack, below, things got a LOT trickier. If the tires were still getting down through the snow to the harder snowpack, below, and the pack wasn't too icy or rutted, standard MTB tires still did a good job. If the underlying pack was too icy and, especially, too rutted or unstable, I found that the studded snow tires really helped. It was those icy ruts and sometimes broken up ice pack that I couldn't see after a fresh snow that were the killer. Always had to be on my guard because I could never know just when the bike would fly out from under me when it hit a rut, below, in the wrong way or the pack gave way without warning. For sure, big fat tires on the fat bike handle icy ruts better than any MTB tire I've found, yet. I would have been first in line to buy a fat bike, back when I was winter commuting, but that was just before fat bikes hit the scene.

When the snow got over 6" in depth, especially if it was a wet snow, riding the MTB though the snow turned into real work and even after dropping the tire pressure as low as I could safely go for the sake of traction, I got a lot of fishtailing and spin outs on the rear tire. Again, this is where I find those big huge fat bike tires work better precisely because they don't drop as deep through the snow. A 6" or even 8" snow is still a pretty reasonable ride for the fat bike. Still work, for sure, but nowhere near as much fishtailing as with MTB tires.

Definitely a LOT less work to ride a groomed trail in the deep stuff with the fat bike, like you say, though. No argument, there, none at all. Breaking trail with a bike or cross country skis is always more work than riding a groomed trail. I even ride or ski a snowmobile track when I can find one for the same reason.

[Geonz]

THanks! I'm figuring you prob'ly have a higher fishtailing tolerance than I do... but I'll think about when I would be riding on what kind of snow and when it would be most fun... the "not dropping down so hard to the ice below" is big.