Does your bike look fat?
Then you might be one of the enthusiasts of an increasingly popular bicycling niche that is fat bikes.
These multi-geared monster bikes have wheels and tires that are twice as wide as a mountain bike’s typical 2 to 2½ inches. They look like motorcycle tires and are inflated to pressures that are one-tenth or even less than a mountain bike’s.
These big, squishy tires make the bike seem to float through sand and muck and snow, where even the best mountain bike would bog down. They also make it possible to ride right over logs, rocks and other obstacles.
(Click image for larger version)
That’s exactly the kind of riding they’ll be doing at the third annual Fat Bike Festival next Saturday. Starting at 1 p.m. at the Nike Road trailhead of the Montour Woods Recreation Area in Moon, it will be a winter ride over 10 miles of trails, no matter what the conditions are. In addition to fat bikes, mountain bikes and skinny bikes will take part.
Sponsors of the event are the Hollow Oak Land Trust, which administers this and other airport area parks, and Trail Pittsburgh. They also welcome hikers, runners and dog walkers. And after the rides/runs/walks, everyone will gather to enjoy a big campfire, barbecue and bring-your-own beverages.
There will be a fat bike demos by three sponsoring bike shops, says the trust’s executive director, Sean Brady. He’s an avid mountain biker who has tried the fat ride, including in Alaska, where the trend started. While he prefers a lighter bike, he appreciates the “magical traction. It’s like riding a dune buggy.” You can try one if you bring your ID and a credit card.
He expects twice as many participants as last year’s 50-plus, but doesn’t know how many will be on fat bikes. He asks participants to drive slowly to the Nike Road parking lot, which isn’t normally open to the public. While there should be plenty of food, you can RSVP by emailing info@hollowoak.org.
See more things to do all around Pittsburgh: EVENTS GUIDE
There could be a couple of fat bikes that day in the fourth annual Frigid Bitch, a women-only winter alleycat urban bike race in and around Lawrenceville. Organized by Pittsburgh Babes on Bikes, it also starts at 1 p.m. Suz Falvy will be riding one, fresh after competing in the last weekend’s 2017 USA Cycling Fat Bike National Championships in Grand Rapids, Mich. (She was last year’s women’s champion fat biker at Gravel Worlds in Nebraska, and took first in the women’s expert class of Oak Hollow’s first Race to the Moon annual mountain bike race this past September.)
Sara Pearman rode a fat bike in last year’s Frigid race. She says it helped her learn to enjoy rather than fear mountain biking. “Now I just think they’re fun,” she says.
If you’d like to try a fat bike, one of the few businesses that rents them is Tandem Connection, a bike shop on the Montour Trail in Henderson, Washington County, near Canonsburg. Co-owner Dave Poe has a fleet of four Fujis like the ones he sells for $1,000 to $1,500. Fat bikes can cost three or more times that.
For $15 an hour, Mr. Poe gladly will let you take a 17- or 19-inch bike (fitting most people 5 foot 4 to 6 foot 2) for a spin on that stretch of the trail, which is crushed limestone. It can get quite squishy when wet or covered in snow.
But on a fat bike, it can be smooth if not fast pedaling despite the almost cartoonish bigness of your wheels. Mr. Poe, who’s used to turning heads when he rides one, says, “They do look a little intimidating at first. ... But it’s just like riding a bike.”
Hollow Oak Land Trust’s website is hollowoak.org, but information about the Fat Bike Festival is on a Facebook event page. Full details on the Pittsburgh Babes on Bikes race can be found at pghbabesonbikes.com.
Trail Pittsburgh’s site is http://trailpittsburgh.org.
Tandem Connection’s site is tandemconnection.com. The shop is located at 5 Georgetown Road near Canonsburg.
Bob Batz Jr.: bbatz@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1930 and on Twitter @bobbatzjr.
First Published: February 4, 2017, 5:00 a.m.
