What are your thoughts? I have plus size stumpy which I use year round, and love the additional traction and plushness. I also have a '20 Giant Yukon Fattie (awesome bike!) which I will be using in the winter.
With the changing weather conditions (more ice than snow), what are people using?
In the past we would beat down Spider lake with snowshoes and ride traditional tires, usually studded. The plus and fat bikes certainly offer better traction without doubt. Here in the Valley a fat bike with 4.5s is of great benefit once the snow comes.
Just curious what folks are riding, and where?
PS…got my studded Terrene Cake Eaters enroute so looking forward to some lake riding this year!
Used to ride studded 26" Ice Spikers in the winter, but after one winter with particularly cruddy conditions (snow too deep, Wrandees never got packed down, etc), I bought a fatty and I don’t regret it.
Currently running 4.6" 45NRTH Wrathchilds with custom studding and couldn’t be happier with the setup. Tons of plushness, incredible grip. On pure flatish ice, the regular Ice Spikers are better. Everywhere else, the fatty shines.
I’m lucky to be able to choose between studded skinny, unstudded plus and studded fat for my winter rides. Last winter, studded skinny (preferred for very icy conditions) and studded fat got about the same amount of use. Unstudded plus only got used when there was no snow or it was hard packed with minimal ice – so, not much. I don’t find plus to be even remotely a substitute for a fatty.
I had owned more than one fatties with like 4.0-5.0 tire width studded or non, it always bugs down on me on deep snow mostly of my fatbike weight like 35lbs up plus my weight, hard to roll except downwards.
Then I tried riding trek stache with 29x3 and fatty wit a 27.5x4 tire width, I did find myself floating on snow and pro pedaling for me.
I used a Fatbike (Specialized Fatboy) for several years and loved it when conditions were right, absolute blast. Sold it mid winter last year due knee/hip issues and switched to running 2.2 icespikers on my Stumpy, which is also way more fun than I ever imagined.
Narrow tire with studs was the right decision for last years snowless winter in Halifax, but I’d like to find another fatbike with better Q factor for the snowy winters and ski trips.
