What triggered this particular verbiage assault is the new fat bike I bought in January. I really don’t know why I waited so long to tell you about it.
My new ride is an Otso Voytek. “What is this crazy thing you just mentioned?”.
Well, Otso Cycles is in Burnsville, Minnesota. They make a whole big bucket of really superior bicycles for on and off road, as well as bicycles to ride on those gravely bits. Otso is closely associated with Lithic who make hoops, handle bars and carbon fibre forks, and then there is Wolf Tooth Components who CNC machine some of the slickest bling bits for your bike as well as headsets, spacers, dropper leavers, chainrings, tools and a butt ton more.
Go to Wikipedia and look up Otso. Then look up Voytek. Voytek is the English spelling of the name of a bear who fought with the Polish army in WW2. Yeah a real bear!
Now the Otso Voytek is made out of carbon fibre, I ordered mine with Lithic aluminum wheels, Shimano Deore XT, 1×12 drivetrain and brakes. 45NRTH studded Dillinger tubeless tires were also installed. Three things I added that were not available thru Otso are the Giant dropper seatpost, SQ Lab 60X saddle, and the Dimension cork grips. My Voytek is shiny dark blue and white. Colors change yearly.
Oooh, I forgot to mention the Wolf Tooth pogies to keep my hands warm.
“ Why did you buy that Otso bike instead of a Salsa, or Surly?” Well, in the past I had a Surly Pugsly, and then a Wednesday. I loved them both. A Surly Ice Cream Truck was on my radar this time. Maybe even a Salsa Mukluk. The Salsa Beargrease looks great but I’m not fan of the 27.5″ wheels and tires. They make the standover a bit taller and weigh a bit more than the same width 26″ tires. The Rocky Mountain Suzi Q had promise because of her narrow Q factor except she had them 27.5″ fatties too. It’s fairly irrational but I’m a 26″ fat guy.
The Suzi Q and the Voytek have a feature/advantage that I wanted/needed. They both have a narrow Q factor compared to the other Fatties. Q factor is basically how far apart your feet are at the pedals. Most Fat Bikes need a wider Q factor to accommodate the wider rear end and tires of a Fat Bike. Being old and mostly a road rider, I find a narrower Q factor bike better suited to what my body is used to. It’s just more comfortable to ride. After a test ride, I was hooked.
You can go to the Otso website and configure any of their lovely bikes to your liking with the “configurator”. That’s what I did. My Voytek came to the shop in a short fat box that looked kinda like me. Inside this beautiful box was my new Fat Bike. Well, sort of. It was really a beautiful collection of parts. I’ve assembled hundreds of bikes from boxes from major manufacturers. They usually need minor assembly. Install the front wheel, put on the brake or brakes, handlebars, seatpost, saddle, pedals, etc. and then adjust everything. Well, the Voytek was a collection of parts in a beautiful box. My anxiety and apprehension of screwing this up got me to enlist the help of an unflappable bicycle mechanic and friend, Brett. He pushed this rock uphill until it became a finished and rideable product. I helped a little.
I’m not going to go into all the magical engineering that the folks at Otso put into this bicycle. On their website you can read about the tuning chips in the back end of the bike that let you accommodate 29er Plus wheels and tires, or make the wheelbase longer for a different ride as a Fat Bike.
I’ve now got over a hundred miles on my Voytek and I’m wondering if this warm March is my cue to take the studded Dillingers tires off and put some summer tires on this bear, or should I wait for a spring snow storm?
I couldn’t wait. The snow was gone. The LRT trail was mush. The streets varied from wet to dry.
Now before you condemn me for trail riding on a wet trail, I must explain. The trail of which I speak is a shared bicycle and pedestrian trail that was once a railroad. The LRT is basically flat and is covered with crushed limestone. It does have some low spots and hence the orangey mud all over me and the bike. Riding over this on 4” wide tires has no bad effects on the trail. Dog poop is a bigger issue.
Once everything dries out and the mountain bike trails are open, I’ll take my Voytek off road and risk a broken clavicle or separated shoulder again. If all goes well maybe I’ll get me a set of them 29er Plus wheels and tires for some summer frolicking.
Right now it is snowing hard. Maybe we get three inches, maybe we get six. I’m thinking about putting the studded Dillingers back on the Voytek, and I’m not going to put the snowblowers to bed for the summer yet either. Anyway, I’ll wait and see how the rest of April goes first. Happy Easter!
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