NBD - Evo Big Ridge 7.0

Awhile back I wrote a web scraping app to monitor Kijiji for stuff that I'm interested in and I have in the past been lucky and found some really good stuff, my Fuji bike was one of those free bikes and even my winter commuter. So when I wanted to get a fat bike I added that keyword to the list of things for it to find and luckily it found one for a reasonable price, I've actually thought about buying this bike brand new online however I'll settle for something used for the price point I got it for.

I really don't know if fat biking is going to be something for me, the only real reason I wanted one is so that I no longer have to ride the bus when we get tons of snow. One of my friend rented a 2017 Cannondale Fat CAAD3 bike and it was a joy to ride, the EVO Big Ridge 7.0 however cost $850 brand new and weighs double the Cannondale. With the cheap components on this bike I'm not so sure if it will make it through 1-2 winter here in Canada as I plan to use it for commuting during heavy snow days, but only time will tell.

On my first ride with it, I found that the disc brakes could have been better, upgrading it to hydraulics will definitely improve the ride experience. However with the 8 speed setup you really won't be going very fast on this bike, climbing up hills might also be a challenge during winter. I did test it on a climb (-3.6% grade) and had to switch all the way to the biggest cog to make it up, but this probably says more about my climbing ability than the bike. I also contacted the manufacturer to see if its possible to switch to a tubeless setup and no it is not. You'd need to get a new set of wheels, I believe it has clearance enough for a 4.8 inch tire.