The Two Sides Of Vegas

Sparse crowd this year

If you are a regular reader here, around this time of year, anyway, you know what I think about Vegas. (Hint- not much!) That has to do with where I go when I am here, for the most part, which is right around the Sands Convention Center, obviously, since that is where Interbike has been held of late.

But there is more to Vegas than The Strip. The last few years here I have gotten over to the Northeast and Eastern sides of the city, far from The Strip. Things are more "normal" over there.

You get the feeling there are more good things over there than over here on The Strip. More "realness" to life. Less "circus freak" stuff. And maybe there isn't anything wrong with that for you, but the whole vibe of The Strip isn't about being real, I think we can all agree on that, and I for one think it wears thin. Fast. So, all of Vegas isn't a soul sucking pig on crack in a constantly noisy, never dark part of town.  No, just that one part of the city is.

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Vee Rubber Speedster 3.5"er

 Okay, nuff of that nonsense. On to some more fun here. This tire I saw was interesting. A tire claimed at 3.5 inches on the hot patch. Looked like it might come in narrower, but hey....it wasn't mounted. Anyway, it may be a great choice for those looking for summer rubber for their fat bikes. No details for ya here. I didn't talk to the guys since they were busy at time.

Many folks are looking for smaller sized stuff for their fat bikes, but I am not seeing it out there.....yet. This was the only thing I saw that may be coming out.

I did see what a Marge Lite rim does for a Kenda Slant Six tire, and honestly, it's pretty impressive. I can see why tire manufacturers aren't in a big hurry to satify this very niche "need" for closer to 3" wide tires for fat bikes.

The Marge Lite thing also dials up my idea for the Big Dummy once again. Man.....too many bikes, too little time!

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45NRTH Dillinger studded fat bike tire

I got a first hand look at the Dillinger, a new fat bike tire from 45NRTH. It seems to be a flattish crowned tire, so those miniature studs should get a great grip on ice and frozen snow. The widely spaced knobs should also prove to be good at clearing snow and mud. I liked the way it looks. I think it'll do well, as long as those studs don't come flipping out right away.

In fact, these may be the first tires with studs I'll like since the old IRC Blizzards I used to use. Those were okay, but every studded tire I've tried since was no good. Hopefully I can say differently with these.

Finally, there was one thing I saw and rode I might want to get for myself because it does two things really well. #1- This thing rolls over and smooths out stuff like crazy. #2- Because of #1, I think this product will be a great bikepacking rig, and stuff like normal single tracking will be FUN like crazy.

What is "it"? The Krampus, that is what it is. Big, fun, and bass boat green sparkly goodness.

There is some other stuff, but that will be spoken of later.