what bike do I need for riding in snow?

We live in a land of vast stretches of desert, and ringed by amazing beaches. We have a whole lot of sand, and that’s where the majority of fat bikes sold in Australia get ridden. Of course, a fat bike also excels in the snow. The wide tyres (typically 4-5”) can be run at incredibly low pressures, and with the right gearing you can ride over really soft terrain. Like snow. Or a beach. When I decided to visit the Snow Bike Festival, I figured I would need to look at getting a fat bike. Of course, there are options to hire bikes in Gstaad, and just about any winter riding destination have a hire fleet. But first, I asked Australian Greg Saw, who has llived in Norway for over a decade to find out what he suggested, having visited the Snow Bike Festival in 2017. His advice was based on temperature. The colder it is, the harder the snow is, and as the event uses groomed trails, normal 29ers were the fastest option. But he cautioned that as it got warmer and softer, fat bikes were the choice. I looked at a long range forecast, saw it would be -3 to 3 degrees and looked for a fat bike.

Testing the Norco Bigfoot 1

Norco sell two fat bikes in Australia, the Bigfoot 2, and the slightly higher specced Bigfoot 1. With a 1x11 drivetrain, rigid alloy fork and dropper post, and top-quality Schwalbe Jumbo Jim tyres, this was the choice. As the Bigfoot 1 sells for $1799 it’s actually an ideal N+1 bike, for anyone who might be curious about fat bikes this could be a great place to start. This is the same frame that ex-road professional Justin Morris used to win the Simpson Desert Bike Challenge in 2016. The alloy frame has internal routing up the seat tube for a dropper post, mounts for racks on the frame and for bottle cages on the fork, and a dropped top tube for greater standover clearance. The Bigfoot 1 comes stock with a SRAM NX group set but I opted to make a few changes to the bike to gain some gear range, some braking performance and drop some weight. I swapped out the NX group set for a mechanical Shimano XTR shifter, derailleur and chain. With a sealed full length outer I knew it would be reliable. I also fi tted a Shimano XT 11-46 cassette, to extend the low range with the stock cranks and 28t chain ring. I fi tted Shimano XTR Trail brakes with 180/160mm rotors. I also used a carbon seat post, a PRO Turnix saddle with a carbon reinforced base, INOX rails and reinforced shoulders. Along with a light Mt Zoom carbon riser bar I was set! The whole rig still weighed 14.5kg. I added a bottle cage and a top tube bag from Bike Bag Dude for the event. I planned to keep some spare gloves in that bag but instead used it for my on-bike spares like a multitool and pump. I kept spare gloves in my Camelbak, along with other spare clothing.

On the snow

While I rode the bike a few times at home in Brisbane’s searing summer heat and sticky humidity, I mostly looked forward to getting the bike onto snow in Switzerland. And it was so much fun! With a digital pressure gauge

I played with tyre pressures, and settled at 5psi in the front and 6psi in the back. There wasn’t a huge amount of snow in Gstaad when I arrived but some fresh snow flurries meant riding on the valley bike trails was a silent joy. Yes, silent. Fresh snow manages to dampen so many sounds and it’s quite eerie riding along in a winter wonderland with just some squeeky and crunchy noises below your tyres. The geometry of the Bigfoot errs towards their trail geometry, meaning it’s long in the top tube and based around a short stem and riser bar. As the Bigfoot is a little more entry level it does have a quickrelease frame and fork, and that is noticeable when you’ve become accustomed to through-axles and the stiffness they allow – including less brake rub. Once the event began, I was relieved that I fitted the 11-46 cassette. With the extra rolling resistance and climbs of upto 700m vertical ascent, it made a big difference! But that’s not to say all my changes were ideal. We had a lot of soft conditions, where riders on Plus bikes, or 29ers, did get an advantage as the narrower tyres sliced through the slop. At this point I really wished I’d kept the dropper post in the bike, and many riders used them – including riders in the elite field. Riding a fat bike on snow is fun and on rolling trails you don’t need one. But when you point down ski runs you quickly realised that getting way back is essential. And with warm or waterproof gear it’s very easy to get snagged on a high saddle. Similarly, I could have dropped to a 160mm rotor on the front. On steep or powdery descents the front brake is not your friend! But the stronger saddle from PRO was ideal. Firstly I liked the shape and the updated padding compared to the older version I have on my hardtail, but given the amount of silly crashes I had, and the amount of running remounts I did, having a