Pugsley

First Dirt:

Let me be honest and say why I bought a Pugsley:  I am fat-curious. 

I have no doubt in my mind (especially after riding one) that these sorts of bikes simply dominate in situations requiring lots of flotation. I personally don't get in many situations where the flotation is really needed.  The question for me, then, is:  How to fat bikes perform as all around trail bikes?

I have been spinning along just fine on my 29 inch wheels for some time now and am very happy with them for overall trail riding purposes.  I am also reasonably dedicated to the rigid mountain bike as one of the more fun trail contraptions ever made.

My admittedly biased hypothesis going into this is that Fat bikes are superb niche bikes excelling in situations requiring flotation, but not necessarily the best tool for the job in other situations.

So what is the ultimate unsuspended trail bike?  29", full fat?  Fat front?  I am going to try to find out that answer for me.

I shortened the stem and installed a bash ring on the Pugs, set the psi to 8 front and rear, then hit the trails.



Climbing, the weight was pretty noticeable but not particularly annoying.  I did stall out unexpectedly on some steeper obstacles.  The only thing that annoyed me was the lack of traction for the rear endomorph on loose over hardpack. I dropped the pressure to around 4-5 and saw no significant improvement.  Most of my knobbly 29" tires have much better traction.  In this situation, flotation is a negative.  It broke loose in an interesting way in that it didn't lose traction as suddenly as a skinnier wheel, it broke a bit and gave plenty of warning so it was easy to control.

Time to hit some obstacles:


I found the weight of the wheels pulling me sometimes into lines I didn't necessarily choose, but it didn't seem to matter because whatever they pulled me into, they also usually got me out of.

The Pugsley "rides small" and I thought handled quite nicely, neither too nervous, nor overyly blah.

Climbing moves were harder for sure.  There is no denying the weight.  Downhill slow loose tech was about the same to a little easier than 29" hoops.



Bashing through rough rocky downhills was a hoot.  It is absolutely still a rigid bike, but pretty idiot proof.



I didn't pinch flat although I am sure I hit the rim a couple times since I did not raise the rear pressure from about 4psi until the end of the ride.  I wasn't going real fast though so I got away with it.  I have one small bit of Endomorph sidewall showing some fibers after this ride.

Never once did I run out of braking traction on the front.  Considering how loose it is, I was favorably impressed.

The bike acquitted itself well in rolling sections.  It was confidence inspiring, but still felt pretty slow, even downhill.



While we were riding, my son commented on a couple sandy sections.  I didn't even notice them.  Now he wants fatter tires for his bike:)

Conclusions?  None really, but a couple early thoughts forming:

1.  Most of the benefit for trail riding seems to be coming from the front.  I have a fat front on the way for the Jones, so more on that later I guess.

2.  These are very heavy, yet very capable bikes.

3.  I wonder how the tires and wheels will hold up to technical terrain/riding?  This is not putzing along through snow/sand.  A reliable source has told me that offset wheels simply will not hold up to this treatment, and if I stay in fat land, I will eventually end up on a symmetric set up.