Rewind 6 years ago... and the available Fatbikes were all quite similar. despite various frame material options and symmetrical 170 rear hub becoming a new standard there was only one width of tyre available, marked 3.8" on the side wall they were 4" wide. 4" tyres were the norm.
Then Surly who brought you the original first complete `Pugsley` Fatbike kit comprising a frame and fork, rims and tyres, all of which could be built into a complete bike using regular size Mountainbike parts again came out with another step forward in Fatbike innovation, the same concept again but with massive 100mm wide rims and 5" tyres - The Surly Moonlander...
The bike needed a 20mm wider crankset but again gave a 2x9 drive chain with decent chainline and gear range combined with tyres that could be lowered down to 4 psi where needed and at an average 6 psi gave immense traction and float allowing places previously unrideable on a regular mountain bike and rideable but still a bit effort required on a 4" Fatbike even easier.
Sand and snow was the obvious playground of this new bigger and lower pressure footprint and for myself the coast was just the place for one of these bikes and i straight away placed an order for one,
The Waiting game...
Typically here in the UK we were behind in receiving the latest bling from the USA, though one rider, cycling friend Rob managed to get a Moonie over from the USA before my bike and another (Ritchies) arrived in the UK.
In the meantime we got a review from Surly;
Then Charlie Bikemonger received our bikes...
The excitement of receiving this bike was nearly as much as receiving my first Surly Pugsley Fatbike 4 years earlier. In those 4 years of riding the Pugsley i had gathered enough riding experience that when the Moonlander was announced i knew how much more easier riding this bike would be on the coast, esp in the soft dunes and real slippy low tide exposed rocks...
Pulling the bike out the box and assembling the wheels then pumping them up even though already a fatbike owner i was blown away by the width and girth of the wheels.
A few rides and i was really impressed by what this bike was capable of,
I made a launch film of the bike, and pleased to have an excuse to show this again as maybe one of the best Fatbike films i have made, from a film making point; some of the real Apollo 13 Film which was shot off of the PC with my Go Pro, along with Google Earth footage in black and white, mixed with stills and the Moonlanding audio. Then the Lego space men!, and watch how the camera drops and draws across the WW2 Anti tank block and the corrugated metal mould pattern mixes into the sand dune, that was pure fluke but nice editing. And the sound track by Babylon Zoo - perfect...
The dunes and rocks are where this bike really excels. The later generation 5" tyre 100mm rim Fatbikes are as good and some better with more MTB trail geometry, but the narrow rear end of the Moonlander is good for slow speed trials type riding through ruts and rocks where a wider 190mm axle Fatbike will foul the rear mech and ankles hit on the chain stays when out the saddle riding moving the bike side to side....
And the big Moonie can take an Internal Gear Hub (IGH) giving a clag free simple drive chain, and later models feature a 47mm offset fork matching the rear offset giving reversable wheels, lots of options, all with cheap or bling regular standard parts -headsets, hubs, seat posts,
Here are 2 films i made...
Some fun on the rocks...
New Years Day 2013 and an amazing cycle out across the exposed low tide sands to Lindesfarne...
And the bike is good at Wheelies...
So you can see how much fun i have had riding this bike, so you can imagine the state of affairs when my previous job started to go down the toilet after a couple of clowns leased the place and were late paying staff etc.. it was the beginning of the end there. Sadly i had to sell things to make ends meet with overtime (which was compulsory) cut (one of many breaches of contract) and toys had to be sold to keep the wolf from the door, and sadly the Moonlander was sold, luckily to a work mate Yan who said he would promise to look after it and later we could do a deal for it. A Charge alloy Fatbike frame i built up for this winter was traded with some cash today and i brought the Moonie home this afternoon... :-)
Real happy to get this bike back and will be back out again this week after work enjoying the float...
More soon...
What happened to the uk fat bike forum? Do you have any access?
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