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Full Spectrum Cycling Podcast – Episode 333 (333.2) with Allroy from Canada
It doesn’t happen all at once. Usually it’s one bike, one caliper, one cold morning where you squeeze the lever and something is clearly not right. But on Episode 333 of Full Spectrum Cycling, both Sven and Allroy – independently, on different bikes, in different countries – arrived at exactly the same conclusion about hydraulic disc brakes and winter fat biking.
They’re done with them.
When Hydraulics Quit in the Cold
Allroy rides a Norco Bigfoot as his primary winter machine. Last season, one of the Shimano hydraulic calipers blew out. He had a spare cable-actuated brake sitting around, swapped it on, and rode out the rest of the winter without issue. No drama, no performance drop he could actually notice.
Sven had a similar story with Magura hydraulics on his fat bike. No crash, no obvious damage – the front brake just stopped having fluid one day. Replaced it with a TRP Spyke cable-actuated caliper and hasn’t looked back.
The culprit with hydraulics in cold weather is usually fluid behavior, seal expansion and contraction, and the fact that a small leak or air pocket that’s a nuisance in summer becomes a real problem at -20. Mineral oil brakes (Shimano, Magura, and TRP’s own hydraulic line) handle cold better than DOT fluid systems. Plus, DOT will strip your paint and be a general nightmare but even mineral oil setups aren’t immune to cold-weather issues.
Why TRP Spyke and Spyre Are the Answer
The difference between a TRP Spyke or Spyre and a mid-range mechanical caliper like a BB7 comes down to pad movement. On a BB7, only one pad moves the other is fixed, which means you end up micro-bending the rotor to make contact. It works, but it’s not ideal.
TRP’s mechanical calipers actuate both pads from center, which means you get consistent, even contact and a much cleaner adjustment. The Spyke is the mountain/fat bike version (long pull lever), and the Spyre is the road version (short pull). Both are made by the same people who make Tektro, just at the higher end of the line, and they’re priced reasonably for the quality.
The honest take from both Allroy and Sven: on a fat bike, you’re not descending at 60 mph. You’re not shuttle-lapping a bike park. The actual stopping power of a good mechanical disc brake is more than adequate for how fat bikes get ridden, and the reliability advantage in winter is not small.
Fat Bike Lab is at 110 Members – and It’s Active
The Fat Bike Lab community on Skool is at 110 members and, notably, it’s not a ghost town between November and April. A good chunk of the current engagement is coming from UK riders, who tend to have terrain suited to fat biking year-round and don’t wait for snow to justify riding wide tires.
Allroy gave a specific example of what makes the community worth being in: a thread where someone broke down the differences between Manitou fork variants, complete with technical detail that’s hard to find anywhere else. That kind of thread, from people who actually know the equipment, is what makes the community useful rather than just a place to post bike photos.
The discussion about adding a “Pantry” section, essentially a classifieds or gear swap area, came up as a logical next step. The idea is to give members a dedicated space to post used gear for sale or trade, separated from general discussion, without turning the whole community into a marketplace.
If you’re a fat biker and you’re not already in Fat Bike Lab, it’s worth checking out.
https://www.skool.com/fat-bike-lab-4983
Wyatt Bicycles Closes After 15 Years
This is a real bummer! Coming from Wisconsin too we are saddened to learn that Wyatt Bicycles, based in Bangor, Wisconsin, closed after 15 years of building American-made aluminum fat bikes. These weren’t budget bikes! They were well-engineered, reasonably priced for US-made product, and built with some smart design thinking around how the chainstay and seat stay yoke were jigged for easy, consistent welding.
The story of Wyatt is also the story of what happened to the fat bike industry more broadly. The big brands, Specialized, Trek, and others, came in, made money off the trend, and then dropped fat bikes from their lineups when growth slowed. The small builders who had been doing it seriously before the trend, and kept doing it after, were left trying to survive in a market that had been inflated and then deflated by companies with no long-term commitment to the category.
Allroy’s town went from four bike shops to zero. The closest option is now a 20-30 minute drive to a big-box franchise. The same pattern is playing out in Milwaukee, where COVID accelerated shop closures that were already underway.
None of this means fat biking is dying, the Fat Bike Lab community is proof of that, but the retail and manufacturing infrastructure that supported it is thinner than it was five years ago.
North American Brands Worth Supporting
The conversation moved naturally into brands that are still doing things right. A few that came up:
We Are One Composites – Canadian carbon rim manufacturer, making wheels that save real weight without the overseas price-to-quality lottery. Seeley Dave went North American for a summer wheelset build and landed on We Are One after running the numbers on a full US build with Onyx hubs, Bird Spokes, and Velocity rims.
9.8 Components – Also Canadian, makes dropper posts and the inverted-style flat pedals that Tony is a dedicated fan of. The dropper posts are fully user-serviceable if you want to do the maintenance yourself, or you can send them back. That repairability matters for a component that takes a beating.
Onyx Racing Products – are made in Minnesota by Christianson Systems, a family-run machining operation that originally built farm equipment. The hub line started with BMX racing and has since grown into arguably the most comprehensive hub catalog in cycling covering BMX, mountain, road, gravel, fat bike, park, and track, with hundreds of configuration options across axle standards, driver bodies, colors, and their Classic and Vesper weight tiers. The engineering centerpiece is a patented sprag clutch mechanism which delivers completely silent coasting, zero drag, and engagement so fast it’s effectively instantaneous. Every hub ships with ceramic hybrid bearings as standard. For fat biking specifically, the combination of instant power transfer and dead-silent rolling makes them a standout choice, and the fact that they’re built in the U.S. and backed by a company that has been doing precision machining long before cyclists discovered them doesn’t hurt either.
The Beer, the 3D Printer, and Everything Else
JK brought an Abita Brewing “Jockamo” Juicy IPA from New Orleans
ABV 6%, 30 IBU and Jazz Fest-approved. Allroy went with Rouge River “Hop Eye” Hazy IPA at 6.8%, purchased from his local government agency store now that corner stores in Ontario carry beer. Both received passing marks.
Sven’s 3D printing setup was on display during the show, and Allroy’s son has been printing glow-in-the-dark Godzilla figures and working through a backlog of functional and decorative projects. If you’re new to 3D printing, the first thing you print is a Benchy. It is law.
Allroy also got out for a three-day bikepacking trip with Rory – described as genuine Goldilocks conditions, meaning no rain, no mechanicals, and no regrets. He’s hoping to get back out in August.
And Sven’s birthday is July 4th, which coincides this year with the United States’ 250th anniversary. He has complicated feelings about competing with the entire country for his own birthday!
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