Haystacks
Well-Known Member
There is this whole rhetoric that those of us that use fat bikes are somehow lesser than the posers, you know the ones who spend a fortune on mountain bikes then ride up and down smooth roads or cruise promenades, you know, the types whose bikes only see rough terrain as they pass through it attached to the back of a car, you know, the types who sneer at the big knobblies and never really see the need for chunky tyres, yeah those types.
Well i'm not one of those, a fat bike is a necessity where i live if you want to enjoy our beautiful back garden, you see there is nothing but wild rugged moorland all the way to Scotland, here if your bike breaks, it's a long potentially dangerous walk home, here if you have an accident theres a good possibility mountain rescue are bringing you home in a body bag, here your status symbol wouldn't cut the mustard, you wouldn't even get up the foothills. Funnily enough the only pictures of up here on google maps is from a group of mountain bikers and in both of them the reason they had stopped was to fix their bikes.
And this is where the justifiable anger rose the other night on the "Apples to Apples? Bosch vs. Bafang Ultra" thread, certain members trying to sow the notion that fatbike users are lazy couch potatoes riding silly bikes. When i go for a ride i take a survival kit, first aid kit, waterproofs and i am generally wearing thermals; yes even in summer. You? Probably some of those sachets of instant energy is the closest you'll get. When i go for a ride, if solo, people are informed of where i am going and when i expect to be back, they have access to the GPS on my phone and watch in case i don't make it back, you?
So heres a little pictorial of a small route i regularly take if i am out for a short ride, some of it is extremely technical and your vado/como/whatever wouldn't make it and i doubt your abilities would allow you to make it. Off road motorbike skills come in handy and electric fatbikes open up this ground to us in a quieter more eco friendly manner.
First of all here is my deeply offensive monster. I've recently renamed it 'Maschine' (yes i know thats not how you spell machine in english) This picture was taken where it starts to get gnarly.
Now we start to move into more difficult terrain. These pictures showing the climbs are taken with the phone perfectly vertical.
Now we start to move into the challenging aspects of this route, once again taken perfectly vertical.
This bits a killer
Once you leave the foothills and the moorland opens up it makes the slog worth it
Time to start the descent.
So are fat bikes monsters? Are they mobile couches for couch potatoes? Or can they be a necessity? I know where i stand, you?
Well i'm not one of those, a fat bike is a necessity where i live if you want to enjoy our beautiful back garden, you see there is nothing but wild rugged moorland all the way to Scotland, here if your bike breaks, it's a long potentially dangerous walk home, here if you have an accident theres a good possibility mountain rescue are bringing you home in a body bag, here your status symbol wouldn't cut the mustard, you wouldn't even get up the foothills. Funnily enough the only pictures of up here on google maps is from a group of mountain bikers and in both of them the reason they had stopped was to fix their bikes.
And this is where the justifiable anger rose the other night on the "Apples to Apples? Bosch vs. Bafang Ultra" thread, certain members trying to sow the notion that fatbike users are lazy couch potatoes riding silly bikes. When i go for a ride i take a survival kit, first aid kit, waterproofs and i am generally wearing thermals; yes even in summer. You? Probably some of those sachets of instant energy is the closest you'll get. When i go for a ride, if solo, people are informed of where i am going and when i expect to be back, they have access to the GPS on my phone and watch in case i don't make it back, you?
So heres a little pictorial of a small route i regularly take if i am out for a short ride, some of it is extremely technical and your vado/como/whatever wouldn't make it and i doubt your abilities would allow you to make it. Off road motorbike skills come in handy and electric fatbikes open up this ground to us in a quieter more eco friendly manner.
First of all here is my deeply offensive monster. I've recently renamed it 'Maschine' (yes i know thats not how you spell machine in english) This picture was taken where it starts to get gnarly.
Now we start to move into more difficult terrain. These pictures showing the climbs are taken with the phone perfectly vertical.
Now we start to move into the challenging aspects of this route, once again taken perfectly vertical.
This bits a killer
Once you leave the foothills and the moorland opens up it makes the slog worth it
Time to start the descent.
So are fat bikes monsters? Are they mobile couches for couch potatoes? Or can they be a necessity? I know where i stand, you?
