More beach riding and Moonlander - Pugsley comparisons...

Another days riding the new Moonlander and some more tests to compare it along side the Pugsley.
Jason joined me for a ride out to the hallow ground (for new fat bikes) of the WW2 submarine wrecks out on Aberlady Bay. It was an interesting comparison on some varied conditions...
Someone getting arty at Gullane Point...

A lovely piece of wood washed in, bleached white with the salt water...

And again in Black & White...

The Moonie is a lot smoother every where, stutter bumps like here on rippled sand are a lot easier to ride, All today's judgements were also made by Jason would always say `hold on i want to try ride that on your bike` -:) ...

The west Submarine, the incoming tide had submerged the other...

Riding east we rode onto a wet sand bar, turning the pugsley would try to tuck in and the rear would follow, we both had alternative goes on each bike...

Moonlander left two tracks, Pugsley right two tracks...

Riding lines between headlands again the smoothness of the bigger tyres just made it easier, all possible to clean on the pugsley, but just easier on the Moonie...

 Stunning scenery here...

Easy work over loose shells, it tracks perfect...

And up over some larger rocks...

Another 1000 years and this lot will be sand... will there still be beach riding then?...

East of Freshwater Haven and more rocks to play on,

The pugsley stalls out easier on rocks on the shore line and on a bank of loose pebbles would eventually spin out... here Jason  filmed the Moonlander doing its stuff,  it was a bit dark as the light had gone for the day...



On to North Berwick...

And fish and chips and a can of the national drink Irn Bru -:)... it was getting bitter cold with the damp air so not a day to sit in a cafe then come back out for the ride back... what a fun and interesting day.

Again today the extra float of the Moonlander proved its worth. A lot of fat bike owners bought the larger 4.7"  `Big Fat Larry` tyres when they came out and crammed them onto Pugsleys and the other makes of bikes. Many pics had clearances of the frame of just a few mm, and chain contact with the rear tyre in 1st and sometimes second gear, this is also an issue by just fitting 80+ mm rims to these bikes, even the stock Salsa Mukluk has chain /tyre contact in 1st gear, and the Pugsley Necromancer with its wider rims must not have an ideal chain line with its front mech set up, so not all are an ideal solutions to getting more float.
I reckoned those larger tyres would also feel squirmy on narrow rims and need the big 100 mm rims to work at there best, or as we call 100mm rims  `Hundies`...

The Moonlander is a very well designed bike, look here at the chain line, this is it in 1st.
The next 4 -5 gears are all usable in its chain line.
Also note at least 12mm  (1/2" ) clearance between the tyre and chain, and  around 25mm  (1" ) clearance on the lower chain stay and about 18mm (3/4" ) on the upper stay, loads of mud clearance...

How they have wrapped the chain stays around the 4.7" tyre is neat, look you cannot see the rear brake caliper!... the rear is 28mm offset compared to the Pugsley`s 17mm...

Another view of the chain clearance from the upper right (seat) stay...

Left hand side upper (seat) stay clearance is again approx 19mm (3/4" )...

And lower approx  18mm (3/4" ) clearance with the tyre...

Chain / tyre clearance in 1st gear...

And the massive forks have approx 19mm (3/4") clearance for the tyres...

This bike has no compromises to take the tyres, and they work really well on the beach...
Everything we thought this bike would do better and work well it does, very well, and as i thought you do not really want to ride it far on the road, and it will be for myself kept stripped to minimum for carrying,
It is an ideal beach bike, needs better hubs though for beach riding, more about them soon enough...