Sandman Hoggar Fatbike Review

'Instagramed' pic of my Sandman Hoggar

Is a fatbike a snowbike, and if so, what is a snow bike doing on a sunny, tropical island like Singapore?

What's a Fatbike?
A fatbike is a bike with a frame and fork designed to use tires around 4" or wider.  It requires wider rims, hubs, and bottom bracket. 

The Fatbike is an Adventure Bike
My interest in fatbikes peaked when a friend of mine, Joe Cruz, toured the length of South America on a fatbike, the extra floatation and traction from his 4" tires allowed him to ride on trails that a walker would find challenging.  That opened up my eyes to the types of trails I could ride with a fatbike, and to the endless possibilites of where I could take it.

Joe Cruz riding his fatbike in South America.  Photo © Tom Walwyn.

The Fatbike is a Trail Bike
Then it occurred to me that a fatbike might actually ride quite well on the local trails we have here in Singapore.  Because of our population density, our trails are heavily used, and because of continued riding during the rainy season, the trails are badly eroded, creating steep, loose-rutted conditions and exposing slippery wet roots and rock.  As a bonus, a fatbike distributes the weight over a bigger surface, and skids less (depending on how you ride it) and so may possibly contribute less to further trail damage and erosion.

Enter the Sandman Hoggar
When my wife sent me a video of the Sandman in action (below), I knew I had found my fatbike.  Not all fatbikes are designed to be snowbikes.  Sandman designed their bikes from the ground up to be trail bikes.  My Sandman Hoggar is a titanium frame that is designed to use and comes complete with a front suspension fork designed for fatbikes.


Why Sandman. from Martín Campoy on Vimeo.

Aesthetically, my size small Sandman Hoggar has very pleasing lines, with an upward curving top tube that transitions seamlessly into the seat stay.  I'm about 1.7m (5' 7") with a bike inseam of about 31", and once or twice, the top tube has gotten in the way of a dismounting on extremely steep descents, but mostly, standover clearance is not affected. 

Sandman sponsored rider, Milton Ramos, admiring his Sandman Hoggar.  Photo courtesy Sandman Bikes.

Sandman worked out a 'racers package' for me where I bought the bike, without a lot of the beefier (and heavier) All-Mountain parts.  My complete Sandman Hoggar weighs 13.2kg (29.1lbs) with Husker Du tires, ultralite tubes, Crank Bros Candy pedals, XT brakes, Sandman racing rear hub, and ultralightweight KCNC and Mt. Zoom parts from Conticomponents and XCRacer.  It's a racy setup, and light for a fatbike, especially for one with front suspension.

It uses a conventional 1 1/8" head tube that is quite long, and I run zero spacers and my 80mm stem upside down to get my flat handlebar low enough.  The 90mm travel suspension fork is made in Germany by Answer.  It's an upside down fork that uses a 20mm through axle.  It's stiff as hell, but is a bit of a pain to set up.  It's still fairly new, and has a lot of stiction.  I'm running lower than recommended pressures in it.

Gabriele Incuria borrowed a Hoggar and won the hardtail class of the Italian Superenduro series. Photo courtesy Sandman Bikes.

How does it ride?
Local bike guru, Poh Yu Seung took it for a spin and had this to say:

"Carves at high speed, nimble at low speed.  Flowy and instinctive.  It really opened up my eyes to what a well engineered fatbike can do." 

It's a well thought out fatbike.  Suspension might not be that important if you are using a fatbike as a snow bike, but for a trailbike, it is greatly improves handling, and Sandman is currently the only fatbike manufacturer to design a fatbike using front suspension.  As such, the Hoggar shines on most technical terrain, where I'm likely to be riding more cautiously - that includes anything loose, wet, slippery or big drops.

One reason why the Hoggar feels so agile is Sandman's choice to use lightweight 47mm trials rims on its wheels.  Although narrower, these are much lighter than the typical 65mm fatbike rim.  The narrow rims have the effect of 'rounding out' the tire profile, somewhat reducing bad tire manners that can be found on 'squarer profile' fat tires at low pressures.  It turns out that I can use ultralightweight 2.7" DH tubes which further reduce weight.  Narrow rims reduce float, so these may not be the best choice on snow, but for dirt, these are great compromise.

I keep hearing that fatbikes are 'fun', but nobody could really tell me what that 'fun' meant.  Having ridden the Hoggar for awhile, I can say that 'fun' translates into more confidence, less fear.   There's more traction in the tires, which means better grip over obstacles, and much more powerful braking on steep and scary descents.  The increased mass of spinning fat wheels increases gyroscopic force, which means more stability.  More grip, more stability equals more confidence, less fear.

Sandman sponsored rider, Milton Ramos, leading a stage at the Titan Desert Classic. Photo courtesy Sandman Bikes.

Downsides
Fatbikes don't do well on anything long, smooth and flat or uphill - like a road.  Those fat tires have a lot of rolling resistance.  This can be minimized by using higher tire pressures.  If there's any such thing as a 'fast' fatbike, the Hoggar is it.  However, in general, fatbikes are just going to be slower to accelerate and require more effort to maintain speed on the flats than a conventional mountain bike.

If the Hoggar has a weakness, it's perhaps on steep technical climbs.  Sandman won't release the Hoggar's geometry numbers, but the seat tube and head tube angles look fairly slack.  That's great for ripping it up, but combine the slack geometry, the tall head tube, the increased weight of the fatbike and rolling resistance from the tires, and I find that I'm working very hard on steep technical climbs.  

Versatility
The Sandman has another trick up it's sleeve.  You can buy a 29er wheelset for it.  Say what?  Yes, since 4" fat tires on a 26" rim have basically the same diameter as a 29" rim/tire combination, you can equip your Sandman Hoggar with a 29er wheelset.  The Sandman does require a 165mm rear and 135mm front hub.  This gives you the option to run a lighter weight rig for the times when fat tires are not needed. Sandman has a sponsored rider (Milton Ramos) and he's been racing quite successfully on a Sandman Hoggar running a combination of fat and 29er wheels.  Having both a fat wheelset and a 29er wheelset increases the versatility of this bike.  Essentially, by using two wheelsets, you have two bikes: a front suspension fatbike, and a 29er hardtail.

Milton Ramos racing the Sandman Hoggar using a 29er wheelset.  Photo courtesy Sandman Bikes.

If you can't afford a second wheelset, but want to put in some road miles with the Sandman, you could do it with a fat road tire like the 26" Schwalbe Big Apple 2.35.  Those tires fit fine on the Sandman's 47mm 26" rim, but will lower the whole bike a bit.  That's fine on the road, where there's less chance for the pedals and chainring to contact obstacles.

Who's the Sandman for?
I'll stick out my neck and say this is a near perfect trail bike for Singapore.   Our trails are also very short in length and we don't have big hills.  Our trails are also very loose, badly eroded, and often wet with slippery roots and logs, and no sticky mud.  

If you are the sort of person who dreads riding technical sections, give a Sandman a try.  However, if you are the sort of person who covets speed and loves being in the front of the pack; or who is struggling to keep up with the pack, this may not be the bike for you.  The Sandman is a great confidence booster, but comes with the cost of more rolling resistance requiring more power and energy to pedal.  

The Sandman is also a great choice for someone who wants one bike (but with two wheelsets) to do it all.  It can be a fatbike for the winter, or trail riding; and a 29er hartail for the summer or racing.

Conclusion
I love my Sandman Hoggar.  I love the way it looks, and how it rides on technical terrain.  I'm not fast and efficient on it, so if the ride is going to be long or fast, but not too technical, I ride my other bike.  If I had a second wheelset for it (ie, 29er wheelset), the Hoggar could be my only bike.

Sandman Bikes are available direct from Sandmanbikes.be.
They come in sizes S through XL, and some models are available in a custom XS.

Disclosure: Although I paid full price for my Sandman Hoggar, Sandman did subsidize my shipping cost.

Bullet Proof Your Coffee. It's AMAZEBALLS!!!

Taken with an iPhone 4s, edited on Snapseed.

How do you bulletproof your coffee?  Well, the exact recipe from the person who coined the term is here.  Basically, it's taking a double expresso, add an equal amount of water, add two tablespoons of unsalted butter, and/or a healthy portion of coconut oil, and then blending the concoction until you get a creamy head of foam, much like a latte.

Dave Asprey is the man behind the bulletproof diet, which is basically built on the 'Paleo' or 'Caveman' diet.  On a trip to Tibet, he tried Yak Butter Tea, which is what the Tibetans and Sherpas drink in the mornings for energy.  If you've never tried it, it's more like soup than tea, and is most certainly an acquired taste.  Instead of putting butter in tea, he used coffee, and the taste is much more palatable.

Fresh roasted coffee has natural oils, which gives good coffee its rich flavor and texture.  So the added butter (it has to be unsalted) just adds a creamy 'feel' to the coffee.  Adding coconut oil does change the flavor the coffee, and it may not be to everyone's taste.

Why bulletproof your coffee?  Well, Asprey says it can promote brain function, memory, and energy levels.  Asprey's idea is that you have this cup of coffee for breakfast, and nothing else, which kind of trains the body to burn fat for fuel.  If you can do that, Asprey says you'll lose weight, and it leaves you feeling lean, focused and energized.  It's an interesting idea, and I'm attempting to move towards it... slowly.  Although I've bulletproofed my morning cup of coffee (and enjoy it that way), I still eat my bacon, eggs, and a banana with it!

Crossroads

Nuns and Shwedagon Temple, Yangon, Myanmar.  Olympus OMD EM5, 7-14mm.

Am I a photographer or videographer?  I'm struggling to make the best of both, but although I have the equipment to shoot both, sometimes the moment to shoot occurs just once and I have to decide: Do I go for the still shot, or video capture?

Rarely do I get the opportunity to shoot both, and the above shot is one of those rare moments.  The video capture of the shot above can be seen near the end of the video below, from 4:50 - 4:54.  The pigeon flying across the screen makes the clip work in an otherwise static scene.

I think the motion capture offers a lot more than the photograph above.  However, it's a lot harder to get someone to watch 5 minutes of video, versus a couple of seconds to view the photo above.  


Myanmar Bike Trip from Kenneth Koh on Vimeo.
In March 2013, I had the opportunity to travel with the Singapore Cycling Federation to join the Singapore National Mountain Biking team in Myanmar (Burma) as part of their preparation for the South East Asian Games later that year. This is a little video of that trip shot with the Olympus OMD EM5, Gopro HD2, and iPhone 4s.

Photos work better in the blog, plus I make some pocket money selling my photos.  But as a novice filmmaker, I don't get anything out of making videos, other than the fun and the challenge.  I don't want to give up one, but I'm not sure I can do both successfully.

If there's someone reading this who can offer up some pointers or techniques to shoot both video and stills, I would appreciate if you could  post your advice to comments.

Thanks!

Lick The Rainbow Popsicle

by Postitguy

A friend posted this on her Facebook wall.  I've read it again and again, and it's too good to not share.

It's by the Postitguy - someone who leaves these yellow sticky notes in public places all over Singapore, left to their fate, to be found and perhaps enjoyed.  Postitguy has a blog: thingsweforget, where this and other gems of wisdom can be found and enjoyed.

This is how I want to live my life!  Thank you Postitguy :)

Update: Postitguy has another blog: The Plan Today, which is where the above note can be found.

Bicycle Tourist Gangraped in India

I am shocked and horrified by this incident.  The couple, a 39-year-old Swiss woman and her 29-year-old male companion (or husband), who were bicycle touring through central India, were apparently hunted down by 8 men to their campsite in the woods, beaten, the man tied up and the woman raped and finally robbed.  Full story here.

My wife and I bike tour by ourselves in Asia, so this raises fresh questions about safety and security with cycle touring.  We've been rather relaxed about personal safety.  In the past, our concerns have been limited to keeping our bikes, money and belongings safe; but now, personal safety is our primary concern.

I've been thinking of ways to keep safe while bike touring:

• I think the number one item on the list should be to keep yourself up to date on current affairs and travel warnings issued by various national organizations.  For example, there's a warning issued by the Swiss on travel in India.  Treatment of women in India, and in particular sexual assault, has been in the spotlight since the brutal rape and murder in December of a 29-year-old student on board a bus in Delhi.  I'd take heed and avoid solo travel in India/Pakistan or otherwise travel in a larger group.

• The second on the list is to avoid known trouble spots or potential problem areas.  Find out by reading the travel forums online or check with the locals or other travelers.

• Portray a relaxed, confident attitude.  Never arrogant or aggressive.  Smile a lot, make eye contact, and always have your radar up.  If someone or a group is not smiling back or avoiding eye contact, that's a warning sign.  Similarly, if a group is staring at you, or appears to be watching you, that's a warning too.  Be kind, smile and talk to the locals.  This builds allies who may give you a warning, or perhaps talk a hostile local out of action, or perhaps shame someone with hostile intent away from acting out.

• Number four would be to not display wealth or expensive items, like a laptop, or a lot of cash, in restaurants or in public.  

• Number five would be to not leave town in the evening, especially after dinner.  It's too easy for someone with hostile intention to watch you, make a plan, gather reinforcements and follow you out into the darkness.

• Number six:  Camping in Asia is usually not done.  It's too crowded and too easy to be observed.  I keep thinking back to Ned Gillette, who was shot to death in his tent while camping in Pakistan.

That's all I have for now.  If anyone has any more ideas, I'd love to hear from you.  Just post them to the comments below.  Thanks.  Peace :)