in Group Rides, Bike Trips, and Events

Come ride the QR trails tonight before we get more snow! Trails were great this wknd and should be pretty dolid tonight.

 Meet at 6:15 in the parking lot.

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Think I could ride it on a normal bike?

This is my first winter mountain biking and I'm wondering if the trails get icy when it gets warm and then cold again?  I might show up with a set of studded tires if they do.  My options are:

* low pressure 2.4 tubeless at low pressure - does a better job of staying out of ruts at low pressures.  Doesn't do any better than the 1.75s in fresh snow though.
* 1.75 studded - great for ice and does an ok job of cutting through a small amount of fresh snow.  Can only handle small ruts.

Both sets of tires have a pretty good tread.  Any advice would be appreciated.  Also, I'd love to make it out and see nick's new fatbike.

Interested in this as well. I was looking for fatter 2.4 studded tires and found some but didn't recognize the brand

Interested in this as well. I was looking for fatter 2.4 studded tires and found some but didn't recognize the brand

Do you have a link? - I've been keeping an eye out for something like that as well. 

My friend found a good deal on a studded tire, but it wore down way faster than my nokian mount and ground (I have 2 years on these tires with lots of pavement riding and no sign of wear).  I suspect his studs were high carbon steel rather than carbide.  So that's something to watch out for I guess.

Trails are hopefully solid enough for a reg. Mtb. *crosses fingers*

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Trails are in great condition! Get out and ride before they get covered up.

Thanks to the guys who came out with me.

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There are these...45NRTH Nicotine

http://www.bikeman.com/TR4530.html

http://45nrth.com/products/tires/nicotine

No link I'm afraid. Something I just happened to see while looking up info on something else. Not sure how fat of a tire I can put on the SJ FSR.

just put it on the effing credit card and go ride.  you need fat tires, period

http://www.framedbikes.com/v2/minnesota2-wht-org.html

Think I could ride it on a normal bike?

I tried riding "half-fat" on 2 different bikes.  While better than a regular MTB, even a half-fat has serious issues.  Even a 2.4 rear tire has issues getting traction if the trail is not firm and well, packed--it wipes out in any "fluff"

Something worth noting as well is that places that have grooming in place restrict bike tires to 3.8" or greater often times.  Skinnier tires can leave a rut in the trail.

just put it on the effing credit card and go ride.  you need fat tires, period

http://www.framedbikes.com/v2/minnesota2-wht-org.html

I'm a little worried about the geometry.  Particularly the stand over which is not listed and handling which looks like it might be twitchy?  I sent them an email about the stand over; I'll have to wait and see if they actually reply.

What about the geometry makes you think the handling would be twitchy?

I'm betting that one of the fork offsets listed is incorrect also...I highly doubt they're using 2 different forks on these bikes. 

The only one that looks twitchy to me is the 20" and that's assuming they are correct with the 71degree head angle and incorrect on the fork offset and are actually using the 4.5cm offset fork.

71degrees with 3.8cm offset seems about right OR 69-70 degrees with the 4.5cm offset seems about right.

69-70 with a 3.8cm offset would yield a lot of trail and would be the opposite of twitchy.

What about the geometry makes you think the handling would be twitchy?

I'm betting that one of the fork offsets listed is incorrect also...I highly doubt they're using 2 different forks on these bikes. 

The only one that looks twitchy to me is the 20" and that's assuming they are correct with the 71degree head angle and incorrect on the fork offset and are actually using the 4.5cm offset fork.

71degrees with 3.8cm offset seems about right OR 69-70 degrees with the 4.5cm offset seems about right.

69-70 with a 3.8cm offset would yield a lot of trail and would be the opposite of twitchy.

Thanks for the reply Nate.  I was looking at the 1.0 although I am also considering the 2.0.  I don't have much intuition for rake/head tube angles like it sounds like you do, but I just calculated some values of mech. trail which seem to be in agreement with what you said.

mechanical trail
Minnesota 1.0 (17" and 19"): 83mm (90mm if there is a mistake with the fork)
Minnesota 2.0 (16"): 100mm
Minnesota 2.0 (18"): 94mm
Minnesota 2.0 (20"): 87mm
Motobocane's Fatbike (all sizes): 84mm (bike is now out of stock in most sizes)
9zero7 (med): 89mm

So I suppose my question now is if you think the 16" 2.0 would have too much trail for snow riding?  I'm assuming lots of trail is good, but it could be overdone at some point?  I'm 5'8" so I'm looking at the 16" 2.0, 17" 1.0, or 18" 2.0.