Hello from Québec

[Guyt]

Hi!

I'm French-Canadian from the Quebec city area, a great place to live when one enjoys outdoor activities, although I like to spend Spring and Summer in USA (Cape Hatteras and Columbia River Gorge) for my favorite sport, windsurfing.

Because of covid-19, I had to stay home so I decided to start mountain biking this Spring. Ended loving it, so I bought a fatbike for this Winter, as it is a great complement to skiing. When it's cold and the snow surface is like concrete, skiing sucks but fatbiking is great!

To be completely honest, I find that fatbiking on snow is a lot of work, I would say it requires 30 to 40% more energy than MTB in the Summer. So, I decided to order a good eFat for the next season. On my selection list there was four eFats: Moustache Samedi, Fantic Fatsport, Norco VLT and Spherik SEF6. Will tell you the winner in a future post!

Cheers!

 

[roboticinvesting]

Welcome fellow Canadian (I'm from Calgary). I have an acoustic Fat Bike and totally agree - it requires a lot of energy to keep that sucker moving through the snow. Never thought about an eFat but now you have me thinking .

 

[The Hodge]

Here is on to throw into the mix for you ..
I tried an earlier model of this bike about 5 years(?) ago and had more fun on it than any other bike I had ridden up to that point in time ..

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[Guyt]

Welcome fellow Canadian (I'm from Calgary). I have an acoustic Fat Bike and totally agree - it requires a lot of energy to keep that sucker moving through the snow. Never thought about an eFat but now you have me thinking .

I have quite a few windsurfing friends frow Alberta, all fine people!

I don't know if it was the same in Alberta, but this Winter, there is was fatbike craze here in Québec. Everything was pretty much sold out by October. At one point, guys would buy all the cheap fatbikes on sale at the local Cosco store and resale them for $250 more. I saw ads on Marketplace of bikes offered at the price they paid 4 years ago or bikes bought this year with $1000 added to the price tag.

But it is slowly fading away, the prices are down, as we see more and more fatbikes on sale. A lot of people are discovering that the sport is demanding and requires really good conditions to be really fun. I am lucky, we have a few fatbike centers in the area like Empire-47, that offers 42 km of groomed trails of all levels:

But even so, if the conditions aren't right, it can be hell, so I am not supersized that the fatbike craze is slowly fading away.

 

[roboticinvesting]

Yeah a LOT more fat bikes out there this year - I was talking to guys at the bike store yesterday and they said they sold more fat bikes than they ever have. And they are making a lot of money on the $200+ per tire to get studs.

Totally agree on the the workout - I think people think it is just like normal biking and the amount of work required catches people off guard. New snow is a blast, but man it beats the shit out of the legs and lungs!

 

[jeanmarc]

Hi!

I'm French-Canadian from the Quebec city area, a great place to live when one enjoys outdoor activities, although I like to spend Spring and Summer in USA (Cape Hatteras and Columbia River Gorge) for my favorite sport, windsurfing.

Because of covid-19, I had to stay home so I decided to start mountain biking this Spring. Ended loving it, so I bought a fatbike for this Winter, as it is a great complement to skiing. When it's cold and the snow surface is like concrete, skiing sucks but fatbiking is great!

To be completely honest, I find that fatbiking on snow is a lot of work, I would say it requires 30 to 40% more energy than MTB in the Summer. So, I decided to order a good eFat for the next season. On my selection list there was four eFats: Moustache Samedi, Fantic Fatsport, Norco VLT and Spherik SEF6. Will tell you the winner in a future post!

Cheers!

Salut Guy!
Older windsurfer here... I owned two fatbikes up to last year when I sold both to get an e-mtb. (Giant Trance E+2)
Never regretted that move! FatBiking is hard indeed. The season is short and weather prone.
My two cents says you'd get more out of a regular e-mtb than e-Fat... But that's just me ?
Cheers from Hudson, QC

 

[Guyt]

Salut Guy!
Older windsurfer here... I owned two fatbikes up to last year when I sold both to get an e-mtb. (Giant Trance E+2)
Never regretted that move! FatBiking is hard indeed. The season is short and weather prone.
My two cents says you'd get more out of a regular e-mtb than e-Fat... But that's just me ?
Cheers from Hudson, QC

Salut Jean-Marc!

I agree that the fatbike season is short and weather prone. In fact, I now start to think that snow and biking aren't compatible, unless the snow is hard packed like concrete. BUT when the conditions are there, fatbiking is a lot of fun. And today, it was incredible at EMPIRE-47. As you know, snow was melting yesterday and with the sharp temperature drop (-20C this morning!) combined with incredible work on the trails, I had a ball.

I ordered a eFat (Spherik SEF) for next winter, but an eMTB is also part of my future plans. My wife and I got pretty good MTBs last Spring (Devinci Django) , We also bought 2 new windsurfing boards last season (Fanatic Freewave 75L+95L) so so I don't think my wife is ready yet for new toys.

Check out your Giant Trance E+2, looks like a great bike! I would think that selecting a eMTB is harder than an eFAT, since there are way more options on the market. If I may ask, what were the factors that made you select the Giant Trance?


'

 

[jeanmarc]

Salut Jean-Marc!

I agree that the fatbike season is short and weather prone. In fact, I now start to think that snow and biking aren't compatible, unless the snow is hard packed like concrete. BUT when the conditions are there, fatbiking is a lot of fun. And today, it was incredible at EMPIRE-47. As you know, snow was melting yesterday and with the sharp temperature drop (-20C this morning!) combined with incredible work on the trails, I had a ball.

I ordered a eFat (Spherik SEF) for next winter, but an eMTB is also part of my future plans. My wife and I got pretty good MTBs last Spring (Devinci Django) , We also bought 2 new windsurfing boards last season (Fanatic Freewave 75L+95L) so so I don't think my wife is ready yet for new toys.

Check out your Giant Trance E+2, looks like a great bike! I would think that selecting a eMTB is harder than an eFAT, since there are way more options on the market. If I may ask, what were the factors that made you select the Giant Trance?


'

Hi Guy,
Spherik looks good, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of fun with it!

My reasoning for getting the Trance was (and still is) that e-MTBs are relatively new, packed with technology and at the beginning of their evolution, so I wanted to go with a big name brand and local Bike Shop for support (which is 2 minutes from my house).
It is a good bike, good components, reliable, I really enjoy it, I just upgraded to a newer 625WH battery.
Is is my last e-MTB? Absolutely not… ?
Cheers!