As many of you know, I hail from Utah. I live halfway between Moab and the ski resorts of Salt Lake City. In theory, The Proudfoot, Proud Fat is the ultimate fat bike for my kind of riding. A full suspension bike with 130 mm of travel in the front and 100 mm out back. A Wren fork paired with a Cane Creek DB IL rear shock, carbon rims from Dirt Components, bulletproof hubs from Onyx Racing are held together by a bespoke, hand made steel frame, from Proudfoot Cycles. All of these, are top of the line components. (I covered most of the components and specs in the first article here https://fat-bike.com/2017/07/proudfoot-proud-fat-preview-by-dustin-carlson/)
With a bike like this to test, no average home town trails would do. I had to find trails that would make it shine, I had to travel! First stop, the Wasatch Crest in Park City, Utah. (Watch the video https://youtu.be/VOR17s3l7-Y)
The Crest is a trail that is usually shuttled to maximize the good times. It tops out close to 10,000 feet and it is very rough. I had a handful of riding buddies with me, all of them wanted to test this beast of a bike. The main take-away from parking lot test rides, “Dude, this is going to be fun!”
The first thing I noticed, once on the trail, was the solid feel of the bike. At speed this bike tracks very well. The wheel/tire combo are perfect for summer riding. The Thumper rims paired with Maxxis rubber handle everything. The Wren and Cane Creek shocks smoothed out all the hard hits. The bike, overall, felt fantastic. However, as anyone who has ridden the Crest knows, there is a lot of climbing.
Going uphill is where you start to feel the weight and slackness of this bike. On the trail this bike weighs in at 37 pounds and the fork is raked out to 67 degrees. This turns any sustained climb into a worthy foe! There is one particular climb that most people dread. I’ve cleared it once or twice before on fat bikes, but I couldn’t on this bike. In the bike’s defence, I’m partially to blame. I’m not the strongest climber. One change I would have made to the bike is swap the 30 tooth front ring to a 28. The drivetrain of the bike is XT 1×11 with an 11-46 cog. A 30 tooth ring will work for most riders, but I think a 28 would have worked better for me. Of course, this is a very easy change to make if you own the bike. On the plus side, both shocks lock out, so there wasn’t much pedal bob.
After all the climbing was behind me, I really started to feel at home on the bike. As I said before, the bike feels solid, and holds a line really well. At first I attributed this to the wheels and tires. With 4.8 inch tires front and rear, all the little rocks and brake bumps disappear. After a couple more miles I started to understand the the bike as a whole is to credit for the solid feel. Even the weight of the bike adds to its great handling. On lighter, carbon, regular mountain bikes, I get bounced around a lot. Often times getting knocked off the line and having to slow down. I think the steel frame plays a huge part in absorbing vibration and keeping it out of the rider’s hands and, in turn, keeping you on the trail.
Toward the end of the ride, 22 miles in, a couple parts started to come loose on the bike. The pivot point on this bike is actually a Cane Creek headset. The pinch bolts had started to slip. This was a minor inconvenience and I was back on the trail in no time. Honestly, parts of my body feel like they are ready to fall off after rides like this!
For a first ride, it could not have gone any better. Up next, entering the Proud Fat in an enduro!
(covered in the Wide World of Bikes Podcast – Episode 4 https://fat-bike.com/2017/08/wide-world-of-bikes-show-4/)
One thing many fat-bike.com readers might agree with is, it’s hard to gauge speed on a fat bike. I’ve come to the end of many rides and stopped my Strava, only to find new PRs on a couple segments. Everytime I think I wasn’t even pushing it back there. So I decided to ride the Proud Fat in a race. I wanted to test a theory that maybe fat bikes aren’t the fastest off the line but because they are so smooth, they are fast on average.The race was two days and three segments in the Abajo Mountains of Monticello, Utah. During the check-in, everyone wanted to test ride the bike. Main take-away, “Dude, this is going to be fun!”
It turns out that fat bikes can be fast! All three segments of the race were steep and twisty trails through various types of terrain. What the trails had in abundance were loose scree fields and off camber hard pack corners. I certainly wasn’t the fastest guy, there were 20 riders that took the race very seriously. But, I believe the track conditions played perfectly to a fat bike. I was able to hold speed and lines that I know the other riders were blowing through. I know they were blowing the corners because you could see the skid marks into the trees!
It was a lot of fun riding the Proud Fat in the race. At first, everyone was sceptical about me and the bike, but after the first segment where I took 9th, everyone wanted to know where the fat bike ranked! I finished with 8th place and I couldn’t be happier. Others were faster, but no one had more fun. And, I think everyone was more beat up, those trails were rough! Again, The Proudfoot proved itself a very capable bike.
Since the race I have taken the bike on a couple world famous trails in Moab. Moonlight Meadows, Shuman’s Gulch, and The Whole Enchilada. (https://youtu.be/6KMWSTkjYWo) On every ride I would warn my friends that I’m going to be on a fat bike, and every time they promise to go easy on me. At the end of the day, they would shake their head because I pushed them all day long.
So, the Proud Fat is a great bike, but how great? I rode this bike in the ideal season, summer, and on its ideal trails, fast and steep downhill. Because of this I’m going to give it a graduated score. 4.5 out of 5.
It absolutely earned this score. Why I have added a caveat is, I don’t know how this bike would do in cross country snow, nor would I want to take it on a long distance bike packing trip. What I’m trying to say is, this bike excels at going downhill and deserves a 4.5/5. This thing on lift serviced ski hills or shuttle runs is the definition of FUN, but I don’t think this could be your only bike. In my opinion, it would play a better role as your DH/Funduro fat bike.
I firmly believe in the n+1 theory of “How many bikes you should have?” So, I wouldn’t mind having any of Proudfoot’s bikes in my garage!
For more information about Proudfoot visit – proudfootcycles.com
