When the Surly Nate tyre was released i never gave it much thought as the Larry tyre was perfect for myself for riding on sand, rock crawling, and the sandy singletrack trails along the coast.
All the Internet pictures of people riding with Nates here in the UK were of big ruts left cut through Peat by them and maybe they did make forward progress and be the first to `own` that land on a bicycle,
But to be honest it kind of horrified me that they were doing what has already been happening in many areas used by regular MTBs for years in areas of sensitive terrain and it was kind of going against what i like about fat bikes which is minimum impact from low pressure tyres,
Then last October i saw Nates used to good effect on `The Blue Man` a famous 4 mile hard trail on the North Yorkshire Moors, while most of us were wheelspining and sliding all over the place on larry tyres and leaving ruts, two of the guys riding Nates spun away smoothly across the peat not losing traction, getting grip and unlike us lot left no passing of themselves except there tyre print, i was impressed by these tyres after seeing that...
The Blue Man trail...
So what is a coastrider doing with Nates on his fatbike your asking?
Well having sold my 50mm fat rim Surly Karate Monkey 29er, i intended to use some of the money from the sale and make two bikes into one with a pair of 29er offset wheels for the pugsley with Surlys new 50mm `Rabbit Hole rims` and a pair of the new 29+ 3" wide `Knards`.
However it turns out they do not look like being available now until April or May here in the UK...
So that left me hi and dry with no bike for mud traction.
Something i am not that bothered about is going mud plugging and getting covered in clart, but this winter we have seen so much rain after what was the wettest summer on record in 2012 that even some sandy loam soil trails here above the coast have become waterlogged, some trails through woodland the leaves have dropped then rotted into a greasy pulp, while the woods near home on heavier soils have become pure quagmires. I have never seen so much flood water lying in the fields.
And i don`t want to use the car to drive 5 miles to avoid these conditions that have become not much fun to ride through on the current Surly `Larrys` and prefer to avoid cycling on roads, and so thought a pair of Nates will let me keep on trucking through the slop...
No one seems to have done reviews on using Surly Nate tyres for coastal riding, although friend Colin has a pair on his 9zero7 and says they slip a bit on wet greasy rocks, this is something i expect will happen with the smaller contact area compared to the leech like larger contact of Larrys and Endomorph tyres...
So i hope to try them out on the pugsley at different pressures and terrain and see what they are like.
This is my fifth winter riding my pugsley and i am lucky to have owned a fat bike here in the UK during the best two winters in 40 years where we got proper Arctic conditions and could experience snow riding,
I guess this winter is again due to the wetness something else to experience, so i may as well make the most of it.
I of course have my Moonlander for full on sand riding and rock crawling on the coast, but i fancy fitting the Nates to the Moonie sometime and try them on the wider 100mm rims and also take advantage of the grip of the Nates and ride some of the more slippy green weed covered mud flats...
I headed out tonight after work and after 3 weeks of just riding the Moonlander the pugsley rolled ok on tarmac with the Nates inflated at 8 psi. North on the John Muir Way and through local woods i was impressed with the tracking and grip on the muddy surface cut up by 4x4s...
Stopped in at Law Cycles, Dave is busy building 2013 Yellow pugsleys that have just arrived...
`Marge lites` rims on complete builds now. nice squidge factor!
Lovely Satin Yellow finish, with its pedigree, lighter rims for this year, New ultra front hub and Microshift thumbies like my Moonie i think the 2013 Pugsley is the best value pug yet, so what you waiting for?...
Out of North Berwick and now dark its on with the lights and along the John Muir Way to Yellowcraig and serious slop on a field crossing after 2inches of rain yesterday....
I dismounted and pushed for a bit as it was so muddy. Despite grip i am not wanting to rip up the ground when it is as soft as this. With Viking rubber lace up boots my feet were dry in the wet slop. I don`t see any point in leaving a deep rut cut on a public trail. It does no favours for anyone. Once through the swamped wet bit i could cycle again while only leaving my presence with the tracks.
Here i know my old Larry tyres would have been wheel spinning uselessly . I left no damage and this is what i want to do on a fat bike, low impact...
Through Yellowcraig woods and i have never seen it so wet and greasy here...
I managed to climb up the last section of trail through the woods to Dirleton Village through thick mud without wheel spin. I could also do this on a regular MTB with mud tyres but it would definitely leave a cut rut...
Home and a bit muddier than normally for me these days!, but it was good fun...
here is why the new FD mounted front mechs are better than the original E Type mechs on fatbikes, look at the mud build up, i have a problem solver FD mount to add in the future...
Will probably be on the coast at the weekend and post up how the tyres ride on the sand, and try some rock crawling...
