A friend of mine let me use his Salsa Mukluk Fat tire bike for a couple of days while we have snow here in Prescott.

In our neck of the woods we still have about five to six inches of the frozen H20 up in the pines.

I wanted to test ride the fat tire bike to see how she does in the deeper snow before I actually pull the trigger and get one.

When going up any incline with deeper snow you really need to have some momentum and legs. The fat tires do actually get through snow pretty good.

The 82mm rim/3.8″ tire combo was created to go where standard “all terrain” bikes flounder. The floatation and traction afforded by large-volume, low-pressure tires can get you over and through otherwise unrideable terrain…sand, mud, wet rocks and roots, ice and many kinds of snow.

The Mukluk  on John’s bike is a 1×9 and does well in most snow conditions.

The ideal snow level is in my opinion 1- three inches or a mix of decomposed granite/mud.

The fat tire is a great option for riding when a conventional mountain could not cut it. – I think for the money FAT IS WERE IT’S AT….to give you another riding opportunity in rain/snow and slightly muddy conditions.

I loved having the option to get out on the snowy singletrack and not having to sit on my bike in the garage for another boring spin video.

The actual fat tire bike I am looking into in the Surly Moonlander. It has even a wider bigger tire for getting you through snow with better traction.

Here is the beta on the Moonlander from Surly’s web site.

http://surlybikes.com/bikes/moonlander

Steve