Fat Biking Tips

Fat biking is a great way to keep mountain biking all year long. It will help you maintain your fitness through the winter and it’s a lot of fun. Fat biking in the winter is a different experience than your typical trail ride so here are a few fat biking tips to help you have an enjoyable ride. If you are still looking for a fat bike be sure to look at the Fezzari Kings Peak, a full carbon fat bike for under $2,000.

Fezzari Kings Peak Carbon Fat Bike

Dress in Layers

While you are fat biking you need to make sure you don’t get too hot or too cold. If you get too hot it will lead to too much sweating which will make you very cold later. This is why it is important to wear multiple layers so you can shed a layer as you get hot on the climb and put the layer back on for the descent. I shoot for three layers when I ride, a base layer, insulating layer and a shell that is water resistant.

Use Insulated Shoe Covers

If you are still using clipless pedals on your fat bike get some insulated shoe covers like the Pearl Izumi ones below. These will keep your feet warmer and they are also usually waterproof. You can also put one of the instant toe warmers between your shoe and the shoe cover on really cold days.

Pearl Izumi Elite Softshell Shoe Cover

Adjust Your Tire Pressure For The Terrain

Because fat bike tires have so much volume you can run incredibly low pressure with them. Make sure you have a good pump for this. For snow with a 4.8″ tire we generally recommend 4-6psi and for general trail riding we recommend 8-10 psi. Using the right tire pressure will improve your ride quality and maintain traction.

Keep Your Finger Dexterity By Using Pogies

What are Pogies? They go over your handlebar and you can slide your hand into them to keep your hands warm. This allows you to use a thinner glove so you can still shift and brake well while keeping your hands warm. The Pogies below are from Bar Mitts.

Bar Mitts Pogies

Use an insulated bottle

The extreme cold will freeze your water so you should use an insulated bottle with hot water inside to keep it from freezing. By using a sports drink with electrolytes it will also keep it from freezing.

These tips will help you stay more comfortable as you venture into the world of winter fat biking. If you have some other tips let us know in the comments.