Snow with a fat bike - first impressions

[harryS]

Here's my 2WD fatbike. Two geared 500W hub motors running off a 36V dolphin and a 52V Luna mini. Controls are throttle/PAS on rear and throttle only for front. It was 58 pounds with rear motor/battery only as a summer bike. The front motor/battery and winter tires takes it to 74 pounds. Vee Rubber snowshoes.

I'm still getting my bearings riding thru snow and ice. On flat pavement with snow, the rear wheel is adequate. When I try front wheel only, there's not much traction. In deeper snow, the front wheel wants to slide out, so it seems better to have the rear pushing. For winter pavement riding, I think the bike would work, but I'd still want to be very careful, especially in turns. I'm not 60 any more, ha ha. It's still far more stable than my mountain bike with rear hub motor. I would never take that thru any snow.

In off/road on snow covered grass, I'm using both throttles and hoping I don't bog down and tip over. Hasn't happened yet, as the bike has good power. I've climbed down into some some mild valleys and come out again. Getting started in snow requires throttle for me. I now have great respect for the guys/gals that run unpowered fatbikes in the snow.

 

[JRA]

The fact that unpowered fat bikes are at least 40lbs. lighter might have something to do with it. You can get away with heavy on solid ground but snow it is a different story.

Your front tire choice might have something to do with lack of traction as it is not very knobby and looks like it packs up easily as opposed to your rear one which seems to shed the snow better. Keep experimenting with the concept though!

 

[Ann M.]

@harryS, don't get much opportunity to ride in snow like that in Central Texas, especially up an incline! What sort of tire pressure are you using? I know that the psi matters when riding in sandy or soft dirt, lower works better. Is it the same for the snow or is it more dependent upon the tire/tread combo? Please educate me . If you're in the Midwest or Northeast, looks like you've got a bunch of the flaky stuff falling right now!

 

[Nutella]

Tire pressure is everything on snow, a lot of people ride down in the single digits. I'd second that a more suitable tire up front would be better, that one is also mounted backwards.

 

[harryS]

I will take the tire advice. I kept the original tire that came with the bike up front, and although I had a pair of V-rubber snow shoes, I only put the one on back and kept the other one on an unpowered rim. Looking at the pic, I see what you mean, as it looks like a smooth tire, although it isn't.

It's backwards? Oh my.

 

[Nutella]

On any tire with a V shaped pattern, which is almost every knobby once you look at it, the bottom point of the V should point forward when you are riding and looking down on the top of the tire. It helps clear the tire when under load and also puts the side knobs at the correct angles when the tire is laid over cornering. It's also usually labeled on the tire somewhere. If you have to make a choice, put the more aggressive tire up front, if you rear tire slides, it's not a big deal, if your front does, you're going down.

 

[Ann M.]

That label that @Nutella mentions, is usually a big arrow symbol printed somewhere in black on the black sidewall pointing in the proper direction of rotation . Occasionally, it takes a little extra lighting to see all of the data on a tire's sidewall.

 

[James Kohls]

Thanks for the post. I plan on getting a fat bike next year for rounding out my desire to commute 365 by bike. Still not sure if I will get a pedal power or electric. I'm riding currently on my Turbo X with 700x38c studded tires. They are great on 1-2 inches of wet snow, ice, hard pack, but no good on powder or especially greasy snow (frozen snow mixed with lots of salt—which I find all over on the road shoulders). Greasy snow can't get out of the way fast enough because it is so thick, but still viscus so it is quite slippery. My back tire slips, but my front tire rarely does.

One thing about riding with low pressure for traction is to be careful of hazards that may cause pinch flats like potholes, curbs, etc. Could ding up your rims too.

Posted footage of one of my rides here.

 

[Hugh]

Nice picture, I just bought a fat bike and plan on equipping it with some type of electric drive, I just havnt decided to fo front wheel geared hub or try a mid drive, so I,m very interested in your riding impressions