With a long history of bikepacking, and being an early adopter of using fat bikes to get into the back country, it was only a matter of time before I decided that fat trikes would be my post surgery way back into riding off road. I did all the online research and had decided the ICE Full Fat would be my trike of choice. Several people are already using these trikes to get into the back country, most notably the "Trike Hobo" Steve Green. His website Trike Asylum is packed full of information on any trike you could imagine, and he has documented several adventures on his ICE Full Fat. I was lucky enough (very lucky it turns out!) to find one of the ICE Full Fats at my local recumbent shop, Angle Lake Cyclery, and I rushed down there to do a test ride at the first opportunity. And yes, I just have to post another picture of the store...
Standing in the entry of Angle Lake Cycle is an experience you won't soon forget! Back behind those boxes on the left is an ICE Full Fat Trike!
As I said in my last post, Dale is an amazingly nice guy, and despite his store's appearance he has some great products and he isn't bothered by needing to un-bury something to make it available. I asked for a test ride of the Full Fat, and he was more than happy to bring it out. With great excitement I rolled away on the beast, but...
I hated it...I HATED it!
There was terrible overlap from the front tires and the handlebar/grip area. Every time I turned the wheels the tires raked over my knuckles, and there was no position I could place the bars in where there wasn't either overlap, or severely limited turning radius. This was a full suspension trike and it's handling was muddy, sloppy, and just dumpy feeling. Once I got off the trike to examine it I found slop in the rear suspension pivots allowing the rear wheel to flop back and forth. It felt like ICE just threw some fat bike wheels on one of their other trikes and called it good, like the frame was not actually designed to be a fat trike. It was awful to ride, and there was no way I was going to spend that kind of money on what I felt was such a poor design. I left dejected and crestfallen.
But, as I said, I am nothing if not determined and I knew there had to be a fat trike out there that was better designed for my intended use. Several other brands fell into the cheap, knocked together, Chinese built category, no thanks. Then a video came up on my YouTube feed showing a guy traveling long distance across a (partially) frozen lake on a fat trike, and the trike looked amazing! Here is that video of Jan Zdansky attempting to cross Lake Baikal-
The trike looked to be exactly what I was looking for. Fully rigid, meaning no sloppy pivots or added weight and complication, no hand/tire overlap, the seat was tucked over the rear wheel to increase traction, full fat 26" rims with 5" tire compatibility, a non folding option, standard Tubus rack compatibility, and they were willing to sell me just the frameset so I could build it up myself. It looked to be perfect, so I contacted AZUB and set into motion ordering a frameset all the way from the Czech Republic. After a couple of false starts and stops with bank transfer problems, the money finally went through and the frame was on the way!
I had built up a custom Carver O'Beast ti fat bike last year shortly before my shoulder fell apart, so I already had almost all the components I needed to build up the trike once it arrived.
At the annual Winthrop Fat Bike Meetup
Snoqualmie Pass
I will use the XTR shifter and derailleur from the fat bike, the Race Face Next SL cranks, XT cassette, Avid BB7 brakes and levers, the rear wheel, and tires. Then all I need to do is build up the front wheels and start hooking everything up.
XT cassette, XTR derailleur, and BB7 brake with a Hope Fatsno rear hub, laced to a Sun/Ringle' Mulfut rim, and a Schwalbe Jumbo Jim tire, set up tubeless
Race Face Next SL crank and pedals
Avid levers and XTR shifter
The day finally arrived, and a large box was waiting for me at work. I took it home and unboxed it immediately! AZUB does a fantastic job of prepping the trike to be shipped, and everything arrived safe and sound.
The shipping box was well packed, double thickness, and arrived undamaged
The saddle has many rows of straps to fine tune the comfort and fit
Micro adjusters and 12 positions allow for an infinite amount of saddle angle adjustment
Red anodized quick release for the seat mount
The boom has a beautiful cable guide
Massive dropouts make for a stiff rear end, despite not having a thru axle
Kingpins are ready for disc brakes
135mm Fat Trike specific quick release front hubs with red accents
AZUB's exclusive sliding seat mount
Massive separable plates with replaceable alignment pins for breaking the frame down for travel
A side pod mount will allow me to use my Ortlieb handlebar bag to keep necessities close at hand
Here is a short video of the trike unboxing
I'm really excited to get this monster built up! Evaluating it after the unboxing shows nice welds, carefully thought out design, and a gorgeous gloss paint job. I am so impressed with the way this trike was engineered, nothing was missed in the well thought out and executed design. From the massive separable frame plates with replaceable alignment inserts, to the internal cable routing through the handlebars, to the 135mm fat specific QR front hubs, to the AZUB exclusive sliding seat mount. This trike is going to be an amazing back country exploration machine!
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