Weekend Bonus – Northpaw in the Northwoods

This fat-bike/hunting article about a trip to Wisconsin’s Northwoods over Thanksgiving Weekend is a guest post reprinted with permission from Dave Schlabowske, Communications Director for the Bike Federation of Wisconsin. Thanks, Dave!

I am back from hunting in Peeksville, where I used my Schlick Cycles Northpaw to ride out to my deer stand. We had snow ‘Up North’ so this was my first test of the fatbike in the snow. While we only had a few inches, so far the verdict on the Northpaw’s ride can be summed up in one word: SWEET!

The Northpaw handled great in the snow and the Gates Center Track carbon belt drive functioned perfectly, even after I left it sit out and let the falling snow build up on the belt and sprockets. Some riders have had problems with non-Center Track belt drives in the snow, so I was concerned. The Alfine 11 oil-bath internally geared up performed well, but the temperatures never dropped below the mid twenties.

This was also the first test of the Shimano Alfine dynohub powered Supernova E3 Triple headlight. The 800 lumen headlight lit up the woods as I rode out to my stand at 5 am that first morning. I will provide a more comprehensive review of the light at a later date, but you can see a beam pattern at Peter White Cycles’ excellent page here. As you scroll down to find the E3 Triple, you can look at many other dynamo powered lights he has tested. The bottom line is the E3 Triple is a very bright light.

The belt drive and the Northpaw still need further testing in sub-zero temperatures, deeper snow, slush and freezing rain. Thankfully I have been promised that even with global warming, Wisconsin will not fail to provide suitably harsh winter weather for a full test. Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed for snow.

Anyone else out there had their fatbikes out in the snow yet?