[Velobike]

I see there's some places where bike access is restricted, yet walkers are allowed.

I was out on my Pug today and the trails were soft and showing damage from walkers.

How about we post pics here so we can build up a body of evidence so that fatbike riders can get the right to use the same trails as walkers etc?

Here's mine:



NB I live in Scotland and don't have any restrictions, but it doesn't seem right that fatbikes get regarded in the same light as terrain destroying vehicles.

 

[Borgschulze]

Funny, I had a chat about this at work today.

I had an argument with a Hiker when it was soft in the woods... he told me I shouldn't ride my bike through the forest when it's wet.

I was quick to retort that my tire footprint is much larger than his shoe footprint, and pointed to my tire tracks that sank 1/2" into the mud, and his shoe prints that were easily 3" or more into the mud.

 

[XJaredX]

I was quick to retort that my tire footprint is much larger than his shoe footprint, and pointed to my tire tracks that sank 1/2" into the mud, and his shoe prints that were easily 3" or more into the mud.

I was riding today in snow and noticed that the footprints I was riding near and through were much deeper than the tread of my Pugsley.

Then I got off the bike at one point and my feet sank about 6 inches down and that's when it really hit home how lightly the bike treads.

 

[Leopold Porkstacker]

'round these parts, it's the horses that are wrecking the trails right after the rains. I always try my best to smooth out the lines with my "skinny" front 26"x3" Gazzaloddi and 24"x3" Arrow Wide Bite rear tires. Yeah, the contact area of a 1,500 pound beast's hooves isn't very large, and they seem to make deep ruts up to 8" deep in places… and the horse riders claim that we are the problem. Bunch of loonies.:crazy:

 

[icecreamjay]

Don't forget the near constant shitting. Don't get me wrong, I'm polite to equestrians, I just wish they'd go ride in a meadow somewhere.

 

[saltyman]

i have noticed on my last snow ride with pals, they were leaving huge ruts along the soft trails where i was floating and not digging in.....you could barely see my tracks compared to a normal bike.

for a bike that was 20lbs heavier than most, it was a nice surprise.

i have yet to ride on soft muddy tracks to see what king of handling and tracks the fat bike leaves there.

 

[Velobike]

The minimal impact seems pretty well agreed on by fatbike riders. Now to convince the other trail users.

We need photos. No-one is going to believe us without evidence.

 

[Steve Balogh]

The minimal impact seems pretty well agreed on by fatbike riders. Now to convince the other trail users.

We need photos. No-one is going to believe us without evidence.

This was the first winter I ever got a ton of compliments from hikers and trail runners. Apparently they love running in my tracks in the snow. Instead of the usual "Wow! Look at those tires!", I've been getting "Hey! You're the guy making all those tracks in the snow! Thanks!" Sign of things looking up? Hope so.

When the snow melts and things start thawing out, I'll snap some pics for you. Every spring I find damage on some ride I can usually fix with the fat.

 

[zmey70]

We need photos. No-one is going to believe us without evidence.

Just look at these photos! I specialy rode on my Pug in one direction and went back without it.









I feel free when I ride on my Pug by ski trail.

 

[SRALPH]

We have a gorgeous park here(Gatineau Park - near Ottawa, Canada) where the PAVED parkway is closed to traffic and groomed for XC skiing. Classic tracks are laid on each side and the middle is compacted for skate skiers. Lots of groomed trails off the parkway through the woods too. Skiers there are militant against ANY non-ski traffic.

Read a funny post on an XC blog complaining that "someone must be riding a motocross bike on the trails at night" as they see faint tire tracks in the morning.

 

[SprungShoulders]

...And Cc this thread to the Forest Service!

I recently got kicked off a ROAD that's groomed for skate/classic, and has been a fat bike ride for years. It's explicitly stated as a non-motorized winter multi-use trail on all FS maps and docs. When I politely pointed out to the FS flunky that booted me -- who was riding a snowmobile and causing 100x the damage I was -- the 18in deep post-holes from hikers, he said that footprints "don't matter", and that my 1/2" - 3/4" deep tread (80mm Fat Sheba's with Larry's) "...upsets the skate skiers; there have been some complaints.".

I about blew a gasket. The scope and depth of the hate surrounding low-impact fat tire travel on "public" lands is breathtaking. Even on multi-use winter trails.

SRALPH, I definitely empathize. I oftentimes get more flak from skate skiers while riding approved, multi-use winter trails than I do while riding my regular mountain bike(s) on dirt!

 

[SADDLE TRAMP]

zmey70: Great pics; just the kind of self-evedient evidence we need! There are those who will refuse to see reguardless, but why give them an opening?

One side question though; you ride Large Marges; what would a side by side comparision of 100s show, I wonder?

Thank You Velobike for starting this.

 

[zmey70]

zmey70: Great pics; just the kind of self-evedient evidence we need! There are those who will refuse to see reguardless, but why give them an opening?

One side question though; you ride Large Marges; what would a side by side comparision of 100s show, I wonder?

Thank You Velobike for starting this.

Now it is a great problem for me to convince walkers and skiers in unique features of my bicycle which allow me ride by winter multi-use trail more gently.

I wrote large message called "Fatbike. Trace in the snow" in my blog. Sorry, but it is written with my native Russian language.

I think that it would be more interesting to obtain dependence between the trail damage possibility and the pressure in tires and to make some photos with side by side comparison of the fatbike traces on the different pressures.

I very often change pressure on the fly.


Now pressure is about 3-4 PSI. Can you find my trace on the snowmobile trace?

 

[rmac]

I got caught unexpectedly on a very soft section of trail the other night that had deep skinny tire ruts and horseshoe holes and divots. I found that I could flatten out some of the tire trail damage with the fat tires and wondered if I was actually helping to repair the trail? Of course then I went all unrealistic thinking that the rangers should encourage fat tire usage while it is still soft…
I had much less positive impact on the horseshoe damage than the skinny tires.

 

[bmike]

From our lakefront multi use path. Paved down there somewhere.
Pretty difficult walking and riding now...







The snow is hard now, temps in the single digits. Thaw, rain, freeze + walking has set this up. You can't stand on the crust, you break down and post hole. Even on the well trampled sections you still sink in.

But with Larry and Endo... you leave barely a mark.
(note that the section above is just about unrideable... other sections were challenging but not impossible)

 

[MendonCycleSmith]

Yeah, the skaters are fast approaching the high maintenance status of equestrians.

I got yelled at for skijoring with my dogs. Yep, yelled at for skiing on a ski trail,

There are other areas of this park that are left "natural" for those who want a BC type experience (fine by me, let's all get along), and I see the postholing that happens there from all the foot traffic. Far more dangerous than any dog print, or fattie print as far as twisting an ankle or taking a tumble.

Perhaps the skaters just need their own private place, where they can pay to have a groomer ride behind each of them, so each and every one of them gets a fresh, unsullied surface:skep:

 

[anthony.delorenzo]

It's not worth going near XC ski trails, I think it can be universally said that they are a testy bunch. Snowmobilers, snowshoers and dog walkers are your winter friends.

 

[utabintarbo]

We have a few local trails where XC Ski trails are groomed. I tend to stay away from those when the snow warrants it. On other trails where there is no (official) grooming - those are still "in play" AFAIAC.

FWIW, I am a Trail Coordinator at one local trail, and I plan to do much of my early-season :assessment" on my Pug. There are always a few asshats who can't wait for Spring and will rut up the trail, so I hope to be able to use the Pug to remove or mitigate their damage. If I run into that, I will try to get before & after pics.

 

[Velobike]

...I found that I could flatten out some of the tire trail damage with the fat tires...

I do the same

 

[MrMostly]

I second the horse comment. It would take 1000 man team of bikers to do what a riding club does to a trail in one soggy afternoon ride. Around here they also have a bad habit of cutting across switch backs.