Surly Fat Bike

Thanks Pete, did it have a suspension fork or was it rigid?

Do you think it would suit the trails around Orange?

Krampus. Far more suitable & manouverable than a Moonlander.

Some super fit guy came second in a 6hr XC race on a SS Krampus not long ago. Can't find the link...

If you're going to get a fat bike, you may as well get the fattest.

Agree with above. Half fat is no good for anybody.
I've got a Moonie with the Bud and Lou tyres set up tubeless.
Its a great bike. When they make some fat suspension forks that will fir 4.8 inch tyres it will be even better.

Aido at Belrose Bikes has fitted a Lefty to his fatbike.

I believe rlcsport.com.au is selling Leftys already set up for fatbikes with longer steerer clamp brackets.

I have photos somewhere of Aido's bike.

Re: steel on the beach, aluminium will corrode in a salt environment too if the paint is breached, especially where it contacts other materials like steel bolts or carbon. That's why marine fittings tend to be stainless.

I just took one of these for a test ride along some single track up near Newcastle. Bloody fantastic fun to ride and absolutely ate the single track. One of these will definitely be my next bike

http://www.murucycles.com/

Can't see em when you're riding, too busy steering to look down there. I love how they go where you point them.

Back on topic... I think Arran Pearson rode a Muru on the Tour Divide. City Bike Depot was building it for him. It was a work of art. Didn't get to see the completed bike.

I'm keen to give one a go at some stage.

Errrr, Muru has the uber fantastic Wayne from Dirt Works working there, may just be a catalogue frame with a million percent markup, I'd do my research before getting anything from that guy.

...experience with fat bikes, I have both the Pugs and a Moonie, although the Pugs is in bits…..

Just did a ride with the Moonie, ~700 K's from Albany to Perth. Used beaches,(~100K's) Munda Biddi,(half way between Albany and Denmark through to Walpole) Dirt and bitumen. I was running a Lou and BFL combo, on the dirt I'd run the Lou on the rear and swap it over to the front on the bitumen, of which I did about 180K's of. I could cruise at 22Kph on the flat with little trouble but as soon as I hit a hill I could be down as low as 5Kph, where upon it was easier to get off and push due to balance issues. I ran ~25 PSI on the bitumen. The whole rig weighed in at 77Kg. The bike alone is 22 Kg, water was 8Kg and the trailer, empty, is 12Kg. One problem was the heat of the bitumen, there were some quite hot days while I was on the blacktop, in the AM all was good, I'd roll down the hills, sometimes touching 54Kph and then I'd roll quite a way up the other side but in the PM, I'd drop 10Kph off the downhill speed on comparable hills and damm near stop when I hit the bottom. Dirt was fine, I hit 50Kph on a logging track hill coming into the Frankland river area, that was a hoot.....Pea gravel and sand on the MB was a doddle, where others had to push, I rolled over, ran about 10/12 PSI in the rear and 8 PSI in the front. I tell you, there is some Shite sand on that part of the MB, particularly between Jinung Beigabup hut and Booner Mundak hut.

I think it's a great tourer although the gears aren't particularly well spread for touring and towing a trailet. I have a Rohloff that I intend to lace into the rear. The cluster didn't like being dunked in salt water and then left to it's own devices, I striped it today and the bearing cones are pitted. Surprisingly, the BB was quite free of rust or water, although the crank side bearing was feeling tired, but it was a bit iffy before I left. BTW, the bearings for the BB are easily obtainable from a local bearing shop. They are a 6805 2RS, coincidently they are the same as the bearings off a Maverick SC32 axle and I had some laying in my bits box. They are relatively easy to change. I missed having a front sus fork as it can give a hard hit when loaded and the pressures are up a bit. I'd be the first to fit a front sus fork if they could take a Lou. An USD fork would suit me best for the mounting of low boy style racks. I used to run a SC32 and Thudbuster on the Pugs, with racks, and it was very comfy over the long haul.

The Surly Nice rear rack will fit on the rear with a double set mod to the bottom pins, I've got one on mine.

The front Nice also fits on with the standard mounting gear, sits a bit far forward but I got used to it. The most I usually carry in the front panniers is 10Kg of water and a few bit and shits. It just helps balance the bike when towing the BOB Ibex. I've moded the BOB to take a BFL, but it's a tight fit. I'm going to build a new trailer based on ideas I've had touring, it'll be a lot lighter at about 4Kg. I only really carry my solar panel, battery and maybe a tent on the trailer. Keeping towed weight to a minimum is quite important, particularly in very soft terrain.

Here's a link to a 13 minute uncut / unedited video on that last trip. I'm too lazy to chop it up!!!

Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/zS1vuYt_t7o

Al.

I was riding Manly Dam recently and caught up with a guy riding a pretty cool looking fat bike so as you do, I stopped to chat about his bike.

Turns out he is the importer of the Diamant brand from Norway and had only just set up his business. He pointed me to his website which he said is still under construction. I just took a look now and it does have some detail on the models and some spec's.

www.diamantbikes.com.au

I'd never paid attention to fat bikes before but thought they were all heavy steel things with internal gears. The one he was riding was an alloy frame and XT equipped and looked like a whole lot of fun. I have his phone number so intend organising to have a ride on one next time I'm riding Manly Dam as he's a local there.

Finally after my comments I made in Feb I finally contacted James the importer of the Diamant Fat Bikes a few weeks ago and organised a ride around Manly Dam. He got me to meet him at his house about 3km from the dam where he showed me the 2 bikes we would be riding – a Mammut F4 (14.5kg) and F3 (11.5kg). The lighter one was XT equipped.

We had quite a bit of uphill road riding to get to the dam. My first surprise was I expected these big tyres with 10psi to make it a damn hard slog but all I kept saying to him was “wow” in disbelief at the pace on the road. The one thing I instantly found difficult though was when I was standing on the hills I found the front tyre doesn't like changing direction. As the front wheel zig zags a little when climbing it wants to track the way it is turning so requires a conscious effort to get it to change direction.

Once we arrived at the dam the first thing I noticed was how these big tyres just absorb all that sharp chattery rock. It felt like I was on a duallie yet this thing had rigid forks! When we hit the short climb leading up to the golf course entrance we smashed over the tree roots and past a few cross country riders and they seemed to take it as well as roadies do when I pass them on the road on my mountain bike… It was on!

After smashing all the way up to the top entrance where I felt the bike was nearly as quick as my normal ride we were pulled over by the other group just wanting to chat about the bikes. They also couldn't believe how quick these things moved. On the long descent from the top entrance I took it easy as I just wasn't sure how hard you could smash down the small drops with rigid forks. I found the traction on sandy corners amazing. I don’t know how good though as I didn't have the nerve to push it to its limits. The only problem I had was changing direction on slow bits. As the front wheel turns the nobs on the sides do the work and these are about 5cm from the centre of the tyre so changing direction requires moving the contact point with the ground through say 10cm of movement which isn't subtle like on a 2” tyre.

On the way back to his house James was telling me he had sold a number of these bikes in QLD where you can hire them to ride on sand dunes and was packing a shipment to go to Thredbo for Winter. It left me thinking I had fun at Manly Dam but imagine how much more fun on soft sand or snow…?