Fat v The Finest

This post was perpetrated by what went on in the movie Ford v Ferrari. There was fierce competition between two different factions. They had different approaches and they both wanted to win. You’ve got the same kind of thing constantly going on in the world of bicycles.

 It’s suggested by many, that you would get twice as far riding a Gravel Bike or a Road Bike than you would riding a Fat Bike for the same amount of time. I also thought this to be true too.

So I did a test. A time trial. Call it “Fat v The Finest”. Both bikes were tested on the same course. I wore the same shoes. The same helmet, jacket, and gloves. The test was held one day apart with essentially the same wind and weather conditions. The same mid fat rider, was employed but he wore clean shorts and socks for each try. The only real difference were the two bicycles, and there are lots of differences between them.

The “Fat” is my new 2020 Otso Voytek fat bike that you might have read about in my last post. “The Finest”, is just that. She is a 1973 Fuji, The Finest, road racing bicycle that has been repurposed as a gravel bike. Nothing but the frame and fork are original. The translation from Japanese to English seems to have gotten her the title “The Finest”

The modern Voytek is all carbon fibre that was beautifully painted deep blue and white. Please ignore the paint chip I installed on the top tube. The Finest is all old school double butted chrome moly tubing that was overall chrome plated at the factory and then selectively painted white. The Finest steers with her aluminum 44cm drop bars. The Voytek directs his line with 740mm wide Race Face straight handlebars that have a little bit of rise. He sports the very latest, 1×12 Deore XT drivetrain utilizing a 10-51 tooth Micro Spline, Hyperglide+ cassette with thru axles front and rear. The Finest relies on her Shimano, 2×10 set up. She’s got a 105 rear derailleur and shifters plus a very vintage Dura Ace front derailleur, 46/36 front chainrings and an 11-28 tooth cassette and she rolls on wheels with quick release hubs. The Fat bear is stopped or slowed utilizing Deore XT hydraulic brakes with 160mm rotors. The old gal gets the job done with some modernish Tektro R539 caliper rim brakes. They sat in the garage taunting each other for days before the test.

Both bikes were set up properly, as per my common sense bicycle riding rules. The Voytek had 7.5 psi in the front and 8.5 psi in the rear of his 26×4” tubeless Jumbo Jims. The Finest had 65 psi in the front and 70 psi in the rear of her old school tubed 700×33 Maxxis All Terrane tires. Both bicycles had their chains prepped with 3 servings of Dumonde Tech BCL that had been ridden in and wiped clean.

As per the rules, both bikes carried all the required tools, and spares as well as front and rear lights. They also shared the now out of production, Lezyne “Enhanced Super GPS” bike computer so that their ride times and mileage would be accurate.

The race route went from my house, then North on Williston Road, turn West onto the LRT trail and ride till you get to Water Street in Excelsior. Head up Water Street towards the lake, turn right on Second Street, go thru that crazy intersection by the Post office, ride past Maynard’s and then head back East on the LRT. Jump off the trail at Williston, head South and then home. I said it as best I could, that’s why I enclosed the map.

On the official course, the only variables were automobiles, stop lights on the road, and stop signs at intersections on both the trail and the road. Pedestrians walking using “social distancing” on both sides of the trail, dog waste, dogs, and other riders on the trail made it interesting. The same courtesy and law abiding techniques were used while riding both bikes. None of those minor variables affected the final results of this test.

Thru each lap my legs spun somewhere between eighty and one hundred rpms, smoothly shifting gears as needed to maintain cadence and effort. All this kept my heart rate in zone 3 during each ride. One, 22 ounce bottle of water was consumed using my left hand while racing. Another 22 ounces of NUUN was downed upon each finish.

The closeness of the results were startling. I never imagined it would be this close. The “Fat” finished the 14.5 mile course in 1:13:24. “The Finest” got it done with a time of 1:08:49. The math indicates that “The Finest” won by just 4 minutes and 35 seconds! She averaged 12.79 mph, while Mr. “Fat” was not far behind at 11.96 mph. The underdog almost had its day but the old dog won, but not by much! Not even close to the 2 to 1 assumption.