Listen now by clicking here: [audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/spokesmen/The_Spokesmen_95.mp3]
Panelists:
Topics Included:
- Lance Armstrong
- Chooses Not to Talk to USADA
- Among 10 Most Hated Athletes
- Federal Whistle Blower Lawsuit
- Doping in Gran Fondos
- UCI Cyclocross Worlds Report\
- North American Handmade Bicycle Show Report
- Snow Bikes / Fat Bikes
- 2r iPad Cycling Magazine
How to Listen:
Hmmmmm, rider complains bike isn’t fast enough, and is heavy. While two riders ahead of him have no problem going fastER on nearly identical bikes. Then says he wants internal gears and front suspension, both of which will add more weight to the heavy and slow bike he’s complaining about.
Really?
After listening to the show again, I think discovered why you weren’t able to go fast. You said you’re a sea level guy riding at altitude.
Being from 750 ft. I just got back from Grand Targhee, Wyoming, where I rode a fat bike at 8100 ft. elevation. It felt like someone removed one of my lungs, installed a smaller heart, and swapped my leg muscles with rubber bands and sent me out to climb mountains on a Pugsley.
But it was still more fun than skiing. (I can’t ski)
The best way to make a fat bike faster is….. mount smaller/lighter/narrower tyres.
A typical Surly tyre is 3.0 inches wide. An everyday normal mountain bike tyre, like the Maxxis High Roller, comes in a 2.7 inch width. Is the huge additional weight of a fat bike worth it for a 10% wider tyre? Really?
A full-on downhill bike weighs about the same – but has gears, and suspension, and real brakes, and is a whole lot faster, in *any* kind of terrain. But yet nobody wants to go for a sedate ride in the woods on one.
Craig,
The “two riders ahead of me” fell just as much and went just a slow.
Chris S,
Then how’d that go over the snow? It wouldn’t.