[mplsmtb]

Are you running your fat bike as a singlespeed?
If so, on what kind of terrain and what's your gearing?

Anyone here run single in the snow? How did it work for you?

For the sake of simplicity, I'm considering running my fat bike as a singlespeed this year... just not sure if the lack of gears would be too big a disadvantage.

 

[sslos]

My plan is to be fat and single as well, but we suffer from an acute lack of snow where we live (something I hope to remedy next year.)
We do, however, have an abundance of rocks, roots, and shorter, steep climbs. Having not owned a geared bike for several years, I think it's kind of a no-brainer for me to at least try the Pugsley first as it will come to me (geared,) then go back to single speed and see if it works for me as well as my Wily.
I'll let you know, hopefully next week, how both work out!

Los

 

[racerxti]

Married and average build. Thanks for asking

My bike will be 2x9, mostly because of I need the gears for riding in the Mountains.

I'd assume the larger volume tires float over anything in your way. As for deep snow, low gearing helps. Add altitude and grade and a few gears wouldn't hurt.

The cool part about a pug is your can set it up either or both ways. If I was on the fence, I'd run 9 speed rear hub, and fixed/SS front hub. You can roll SS or geared depending on your mood or the terrain.

 

[sean salach]

Are you running your fat bike as a singlespeed?
If so, on what kind of terrain and what's your gearing?

Anyone here run single in the snow? How did it work for you?

For the sake of simplicity, I'm considering running my fat bike as a singlespeed this year... just not sure if the lack of gears would be too big a disadvantage.

4th place overall in the 2009 Iditarod Trail Invitational 350 was on a SS. John Ross from the UK. http://www.alaskaultrasport.com/race_stats.html

edit: link oops. fixed

3 of the 14 bike finishers were on SS overall.

Just gear a little bit lower.

 

[baker]

Are you running your fat bike as a singlespeed?
If so, on what kind of terrain and what's your gearing?

Anyone here run single in the snow? How did it work for you?

For the sake of simplicity, I'm considering running my fat bike as a singlespeed this year... just not sure if the lack of gears would be too big a disadvantage.

I've done ss, derailleurs, and internally geared hub. For me, the fun factor has gone up in that order.

SS pretty much sucked in the snow. I could have geared a bit lower, but not much. Too much terrain variety and maybe just not enough fitness for it to be fun for me.

With derailleurs, I had icing and shifting issues.

IGH has been pretty darn good, with only a very rare issue of slush refreezing on my cables and causing momentary shifting probs.

 

[Pivvay]

I'm building a single Fatback. 30x22 gearing to start with for the snow enduro stuff. Maybe 32x18 for the short races here in CO where the courses are packed down. I've played with a single in the snow a little bit and it works fine. It has it's downsides but then so does normal SSing. Of course I SS a lot so take that for what it's worth.

The real question will be if I still like it after a year of dedicated SS snow biking but only one way to find out. I'm certainly happy with it in the dirt.

 

[Lord Humongous]

Fat and single go hand in hand

I had gears on my Pug for my first ride and I came home and stripped the gears off because I never shifted. I love my Pug set up SS. I run a 28:19 ratio and there are a couple of steep hills that I can't clear, but I would have trouble on those hills regardless. It just seems to me that there is a perfect synergy between the big wheels and riding one gear ratio:
A singlespeed loves momentum, the Pug has momentum in spades.
A singlespeed loves traction, there isn't a cheque that I have written that my 12PSI tires haven't cashed.
A singlespeed has limited top end speed, my Pug gets jittery right around where I stop pedaling and start coasting.