Show off your mud flaps!

It's mucky out there. Show off your fenders. The more MacGyver the better.

My lynskey is the ultimate winter bike.

1. Rust proof titanium

2. The mud hugger rear gives really great coverage

3. I was able to take my maxxis packaging to elongate the front and keep mud off my face.

RRP longer fender up front and Mud Hugger 29er fender in the rear. PDW DT splash guard keeps bottles clean. It's nice to have decent fenders that you can shred the bike without having to adjust them or worry they were going to fall off.

Cotic steel frame. I've never had a steel frame rust appreciably due to wet weather use. So far she's been drama free no matter how hard I push her in wet slippery conditions. Definitely a bike more capable than I have skill/courage to find its limits.

The only thing I'd do different or change for "ultimate" winter bike mode is go SS. I do want to try that before I get too old to make it a realistic option. ;-)

Goddam I need to put my rear fender on my mountain bike.  3 fenders/bike this time of year please and thanks.

I asked myself before my last ride: "Is it time to put that fender on yet?"

If you're asking that question, the answer is never no.  Pics of the Wildcat all uglied up with fenders to come, for now here's one of my rain bike: WARNING: ROAD CONTENT

The only thing I'd do different or change for "ultimate" winter bike mode is go SS. I do want to try that before I get too old to make it a realistic option. ;-)

*AndrewMajor enters the chat. 

Love the look of that cotic. I have the same blue on my Escapade

Posted by: Poz

*AndrewMajor enters the chat.

Yes I read with interest all his SS related posts/articles. To be fair I do ride my urban assault rigid MTB SS and a SS bikepacking trip on that bike is quite possible in 2021. I just haven't had the courage to set up a real trail shredder SS and try and make it happen on steep techy trails. I'll be turning 52 next year so I need to make that effort sooner than later!

Posted by: Vikb

Posted by: Poz

*AndrewMajor enters the chat.

Yes I read with interest all his SS related posts/articles. To be fair I do ride my urban assault rigid MTB SS and a SS bikepacking trip on that bike is quite possible in 2021. I just haven't had the courage to set up a real trail shredder SS and try and make it happen on steep techy trails. I'll be turning 52 next year so I need to make that effort sooner than later!

First off, let me say that you will be able to ride a ss longer than 99.9% of us on here vic. 

second,I think an off road ss makes way more sense than bikebacking. I would have thought the opposite until I started riding my gravel ss. The range you want when including gravel/pavement in your riding is pretty large. On dirt you can get away with an easier gear. To be honest, I ride faster with a ss off road. On my gravel bike I run 36x16 which runs 28kmh at 90rpm. I regularly spin out on flat pavement. At the same time, there are some hills that are near impossible to climb in north van. Also, on gravel/dirt you don't get enough traction to drive such a big gear.

Definitely give ss a go, but it is the most fun imo on an mtb.

second,I think an off road ss makes way more sense than bikebacking. I would have thought the opposite until I started riding my gravel ss. The range you want when including gravel/pavement in your riding is pretty large. On dirt you can get away with an easier gear. To be honest, I ride faster with a ss off road. On my gravel bike I run 36x16 which runs 28kmh at 90rpm. I regularly spin out on flat pavement. At the same time, there are some hills that are near impossible to climb in north van. Also, on gravel/dirt you don't get enough traction to drive such a big gear.

Definitely give ss a go, but it is the most fun imo on an mtb.

I would tend to agree -- depending on the terrain you want to bikepack, a singlespeed might involve a lot of spinouts or walking. I did a ~600km bikepacking ride this summer on mostly gravel roads, some singletrack and plenty of pavement. The flats were excruciating on a 34x16 gear with 26x2.2" tyres and a headwind. Other than that, I was very happy with the gear choice, but that's down to adjusting to riding singlespeed. So gearing is definitely something that needs figuring out, either by riding the same bike in comparable terrain, or by carrying an extra cog + tools if that's possible. I was surprised how little the additional load affected my gear preferences though -- I ride the same bike with identical gearing as my commuter and XC bike locally and it's just as fun. As a contrast, my suspended mountainbikes get more dedicated gearing (32x19 and 34x18 on the hardtail and full suspension, both 29ers in the 160mm travel range), which is pretty much only good for "winch-and-plummet" style riding. I wouldn't go bikepacking on either unless I had access to a route which is mostly fireroads and proper trails. Finally, my 50x17 track bike is limited to daylong rides, as at about 100km and 1k meters of elevation I tend to be exhausted enough *without* additional gear to lug around.

(Disclaimer: I run all my bikes as singlespeeds/fixed at the moment, so I'm heavily biased)

Here is a pic of my urban assault bike I ride all over town. It has mud guards so I can stay on topic! It happens to be my old bikepacking bike. I converted to SS for a laugh a few years ago thinking it would be a short mod and I'd go back to gears, but I like it a lot so it's never been geared since.

I read about stuff like this --->

https://bikepacking.com/news/alexandera-houchin-2019-tour-divide/

https://bikepacking.com/plog/aakozikwe-alexandera-houchin-colorado-trail/

And I think I should give SS bikepacking a try. Not as my 24/7/365 forever solution, but for specific trips.

My thinking goes something like this. Take a typical Chilcotins tour. There are three modes I'm biking in. #1 - Steep extended climbs that are a viscous pedal and usually end up a viscous Hike-a-Bike anyways. #2 - Steep extended descents. #3 - Rolling terrain with short steep sections and mostly longer mild climbs & descents. I don't really need to pedal #1 & #2 so if I was riding a SS bike and I geared it for #3 I'd still get to ride/pedal almost as much as a geared bike. For a logging road trip I could do the same breakdown and gear the bike for the rolling portions of the trip and accept HABing the steeper extended climbs that I could ride with a geared bike. I have pushed my bike loaded with camping gear for a full day more than once so I'm not afraid of a bit of walking.

Of course it's easier to type this than to actually do it. So I was thinking I'd just load up my SS bike above with a minimal camping setup for a 2-3 day trip in the South Island and see what happens. If I hate it I'll never do it again. If I enjoyed it I can work on the setup to optimize it. Since I already have the SS bike it doesn't even require any purchase or wrenching...beyond maybe a larger cog.

Anyways sorry for taking this thread OT so far! If you don't read the text at least the photo is OT. ;-)

Posted by: Vikb

I have pushed my bike loaded with camping gear for a full day more than once so I'm not afraid of a bit of walking.

So if you are ok walking your bike packing bike a whole day, then your rationale is definitely sound.

Now we just have to come to some sort of consensus on what an "urban assault" bike is....I always thought it was a bike you would take to the skate park etc. I just imagined 52 yo vic pulling up to the local skate park with fenders and a frame bag - priceless.

Posted by: RAHrider

So if you are ok walking your bike packing bike a whole day, then your rationale is definitely sound.

Now we just have to come to some sort of consensus on what an "urban assault" bike is....I always thought it was a bike you would take to the skate park etc. I just imagined 52 yo vic pulling up to the local skate park with fenders and a frame bag - priceless.

Just to be clear I wouldn't set out on a trip wanting to push my bike for the whole day or being stoked about it if there was another choice. OTOH - a little HAB each day is not a problem if my SS gearing means I have to walk the steepest climbs.

I've never connected urban assault with riding a bike at a skate park. That's the first time I've heard of that usage. I used to have a Surly Long Haul Trucker touring bike [w/ mud guards!] and a Surly Straggler setup SS [w/ mud guards!] they were in theory my urban/road bikes. But, I kept grabbing the SS Krampus shown above so I sold the LHT & Strag. The Krampus is great because I can jump curbs/steps, take dirt detours and pretty much ride anything that comes my way in the city at full fury and still crush a few roadie souls...like the time I found myself faux racing the Tour de Victoria. Hence me calling it an urban assault bike.

I do ride the Krampus to the skate park, but I am carrying my skate board. People think that with the 29+ tires, fenders and frame bag I am on an e-bike. That makes me sad, but not much I can do about it.

Posted by: Vikb

People think that with the 29+ tires, fenders and frame bag I am on an e-bike. That makes me sad, but not much I can do about it.

That's hilarious, especially given that I know you ride like 20k each way to the trails to go mtn biking.

On a side note, it seems you and I have very similar bike collections. Here is my retired surley turned "urban assualt" single speed. And in the inteniltion of this thread, please take in the beautiful fender install that I just finished customizing. I'm really enjoying riding this in the shit weather. I can go along the Gregor Robinson bike path to pacific spirit, terrorize some dog walkers for 45 mins and enjoy the ocean/mountain view again on my way home.

Urban assault reminds me of the early NSMB Friday nighturban era

[how] does the dropper get triggered?

Posted by: RAHrider

Here is my retired surley turned "urban assualt" single speed. 

Nice mods to turn that bike into your urban assault rig. It's always interesting to see what people do with frames like that to make them their own. :-)