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Wednesday, January 21, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
The evolution of the fat-tire mountain bike
By Bjarne Holm
Board Member, Sisters Trails Alliance
Fat-tired bicycles have
cropped up all over Sisters
Country. Where did these
all-weather, all-terrain bikes
come from?
Reports of bicycles travel-
ing over the surface of frozen
rivers during the gold rush in
Alaska date back to the late
1800s, but when bicycles
were invited to race on trails
groomed for the Iditarod sled
dog race, a revolution in fat-
tire bicycle design took off.
The trail for the Iditarod
sled-dog race covers a dis-
tance of over 1,000 miles
from Anchorage to Nome.
The first Iditarod race was
launched in 1973, inspired
by brave mushers who shut-
tled life-saving serum to
Nome during a diphtheria
outbreak in 1925, at a time
before flights to Nome were
possible.
It was back in 1986 when
Joe Reddington, considered
the father of the Iditarod sled
dog race, approached the
mountain bike community
to suggest they stage a long-
distance mountain-bike race
along trails that had been
prepared for the sled-dog
race. The first mountain-bike
race, the Iditabike, took off in
February of 1987, covering
a distance of 200 miles from
Big Lake, north of Anchorage
to Skwentna and back, fol-
lowing a course across fro-
zen lakes, swamps, clear-cut
survey lines and along the
Susitna and Yentna Rivers.
The first race was won by
Dave Zink in 33 hours and 50
minutes. All competitors rode
on skinny mountain-bike
tires, which forced cyclists to
push their bikes on foot over
long distances. The finish
time also reflected the con-
cern that such long distance
events were pushing beyond
human limits of endur-
ance, so a six-hour manda-
tory layover was required
at the half-way checkpoint.
In 1989, race organizer Dan
Bull, along with Mark Frise,
Roger Cowels and Les Matz,
launched the first bike expe-
dition along the 1,000-mile
length of the Iditarod trail,
reaching Nome in 21 days.
Competitors soon experi-
mented with custom-made
bikes.
Dave Ford of Girdwood,
Alaska, combined two rims
together so each wheel could
be fitted with two tires.
There was even the famous
“Six Pack” bicycle, ridden
by Roger Cowels in the mid
1990s, sporting three tires on
each wheel. On hard snow,
only the larger center tire
contacted the ground. The
other tires came into play
when trail conditions soft-
ened. As one can imagine,
the bike was very heavy and
unwieldy.
The first improvement
available to all competitors
came in the early 1990s with
the advent of 44-mm wide
Snowcat rims, developed
by Simon Rakower of All-
Weather Sports in Fairbanks,
Alaska. The Snowcat rim was
the widest rim that would fit
within the frame of a stan-
dard mountain bike, and it
allowed cyclists to lower
tire pressures for a wider tire
print without the tendency
for pinch-flats to occur. Tire
manufacturers soon devel-
oped bigger tires to use with
the Snowcat rims, but were
Dr. Thomas R. Rheuben
General, Cosmetic, Implant
and Family Dentistry
photo by photoJunkie
sun spider at fat-tire bicycle, featuring 26x4-inch tires, aluminum frame, and a 2-speed hub, on display at the
Carnegie science Center in pittsburgh, pennsylvania.
still confined within the stan-
dard frame of a mountain
bike.
In the late 1990s Ray
Molina in New Mexico
commissioned 82-mm
wide rims to go with 3.5-
inch wide tires, called the
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and saw Milona’s creation.
Immediately they both real-
ized the potential for using
such wheels on snow.
By February of 2000 they
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Chevron, or “Mexican Sand
Tires.” They were used on
custom-made bicycles for a
tour-guide business in des-
erts. Mark Gronewald and
John Evingson, both from
Alaska, visited the Interbike
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Grief Relief
Tuesdays; Jan. 13 - Mar. 3; 10:30 am - Noon;
or Thursdays; Jan. 15 - Mar. 5; 5:30 - 7:00 pm.
Reinvesting in life after loss is less painful when the journey is
shared with others. In our eight-week group, participants fi nd hope,
connection, and solace together.
Traumatic Loss Tuesdays; Jan. 13 - Mar. 3; 1:30 - 3:00 pm
Losses by suicide, homicide, accident and other forms of trauma share
common bonds that bring participants together for eight weeks of
sharing, comfort, and support toward healing.
Coffee & Doughnuts with Bob and the Boys:
This support group, for men only, takes place from 9:30-10:30 am
the second and last Friday of the month.
Open Wednesday through Sunday beginning at 5 p.m.
541-549-2699 | 403 E. Hood Ave., Sisters
www.jensgardenmenu.com
PartnersBend.org
Groups take place at Partners In Care, 2075 NE Wyatt Court, Bend.
No cost. Registration required, please call (541) 382-5882.
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