My Personal Fat Race Sled

Have you ever raced an event more than once on the same course? At our local ski area (Monarch Mountain) there is (or has been pre-COVID) an ongoing fatbike race. What makes this one special is that it is a race up a ski resort, back down, back up, and back down again. It incorporates an ascent up a black ski run (yes, everyone ends up pushing), down a fast groomer blue where my GPS has clocked about 55mph, and on the second descent down a black mogul-tree run aptly named “Pinball.” This is a special race and I always imagined a special bike for it.

Most fatbikes are built on XC or bikepacking geometry by companies located in places like Minnesota and Alaska. Makes sense. Fatbikes are great on hardpack and groomed snowmobile trails. But the most dangerous bike I’ve ever owned, the one I’ve crashed most, was an old Alaskan fatbike with a super steep head angle.

What I needed was a climbing goat, geared to ride as far up a steep hill as possible (walking is almost always slower), and to descend an incredibly steep and smooth hill with maximum stability. That calls for modern enduro geometry on a fatbike. What you see here is V2, refined into a relatively light (sub 30#) bike that climbs and descends flow trails better than most. A deep BB drop (65mm) keeps the weight very low for high speed. A steep seat tube (76º) with a long-travel dropper post allows for great pedaling efficiency when climbing, and very stable descending with the saddle out of the way. The slack head tube (66º) and long chainstay creates a wheelbase over 1200mm! That means it doesn’t do wheelies or jumps well, but that’s the trade off!

As an added bonus, it can still handle the serious rock gardens of my local Cañon City trails.

But, it’s still not ridden the race it was built for! Here’s hoping this winter see the return of some pandemic-free racing!

SRAM GX Eagle 12 speed

e*thirteen Cassette with 9-50 range

OneUp Dropper

Summer and Winter tires