Beach proofing my fatbike

Surely hydraulics would be better than mechanical? My mechanical avids end up getting very gunked up just cycling to work.

The big beach on Harris in the South has a river through the middle which will be easily waist height. Would be a shame to miss that one out.

If it was me, I would borrow a bike from someone I didn't like much.

In my experience, cable operated disc brakes are more prone to salt damage than hydraulic models due to having few or no seals on moving parts. Perhaps carry a bottle of water with a perforated top or a can of brake cleaner to help mitigate corrosion after each day?

I watched a video about a guy doing a lot of coastal rising on his fat bike. He took off the front brake as the speeds were low and if you stop pedalling on sand, well you stop!

1 cheap disposable cable disc brake on the back perhaps?

If it was me, I would borrow a bike from someone I didn’t like much.

Lolz

I have some cable discs already and although I guess more sensitive to salt I don't care about them and also no seals to blow. / shiny alloy to corrode

Replace a aluminium spoke nipples with brass ones!

I would swap out the fork and try to avoid riding through salt water unless it’s your only option.
The brakes will be fine, rinse the whole bike as soon as you can.
I generally ride the beach or dunes so don’t really have problem with salt.

Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance, and don't replace anything on your current setup. Just clean entire bike down, dry it off if able and relube everything......

Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance, and don’t replace anything on your current setup. Just clean entire bike down, dry it off if able and relube everything……

I'm going to be wild camping and bikepacking.  Not easy.  Might be able to chuck it in a freshwater lochan

Back in the day when I used to ride a motorcycle all winter I used to paint it with a mix of grease and solvent in the autumn and wash it again in the spring!  I'm tempted to do the same.

Yeah I'd cirtainly be looking at doing that to all the bearing points - but you may end up creating a sandy goo....

How about drenching it in that Bike ceramic coating stuff?

Otherwise, pack everything with marine grease maybe.

I've ridden my old 9ZERO7 on the beach and also my current Cube Nutrail. Other than hosing it down well, I don't treat beach riding any different from road/forest/gravel riding.

As already said I'd keep the hydros on. I'm planning a Coll/Tiree trip so might fit the rigid forks I bought for the Cube. That's just based on not needing suspension for a week of road and beach riding and hence being able to save a bit of weight.

IMHO after a fair number of beach rides with an alloy frame.

Hydraulics will be ok
Rigid forks if possible. Beaches are flat and sand is stanchion grinding paste.
Dry lube or silicon spray. No oil or wet lube.
Stay out of the sea/mud/wet if at all possible. Wet wheels pick up and fling sand.
Brush off dry sand if at all possible and fresh water rinse.
Ally nipples will just dissolve if not washed/rinsed

Seems like the ideal place for a rohloff really.

Edit - it seems like the best place for a rohloff

Keep the hydraulics and swap the fork. Possibly single speed it if you’re worried about trashing the drivetrain

I've used ACF-50 in the past to protect my motorbike from winter salt. It works well and isn't sticky so shouldn't attract too much sand.

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Seems like the ideal place for a rohloff really.

Edit – it seems like the best place for a rohloff

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I have two rohloffs - both 135 spacing.  they are a bit wobbly in a fat bike frame  🙂

Shame. Mines a 135 and works fine in my fat bike frame.

But then I chose it for that reason .

190 spacing IIRC my fatty.  I tried putting it in but not even I could bodge it 🙂

Put it on the front, just add a few extra links and it'll be fine.

A good spray with a tin of Mr Sheen is pretty effective and cheap.

I ride on the beach a lot on my fat bike (mainly Wales but for bikepacking in Scotland too)and it seems fine if you don’t immerse it in the sea. This is obvious and you will know it already but thinking out loud… If you ride on the hard sand with no standing water on it then it hardly gets wet and Sandy. If you ride on dry sand then the sand may fly up and make your chain crunch a bit but it soon quietens down. It is hard wet sand with standing water that gets the bike all wet and salty. So I avoid that where possible (often it isn’t I know) and give the bike a sloosh with fresh water if i have to ride it and it gets covered. I have rigid forks and cable disks.

I've done a couple of multi day beach trips and on top of all the usual stuff for day beach rides (only use wax on the chain (never oil), marine grease around all the bearing seals, etc etc) definitely take along a nail brush. Because I couldn't rinse the bike with fresh water I ended up with a seriously Tango coloured chain the next morning. A nail brush quickly gets rid of even apocalyptic looking rust, and the chain was perfectly usable again after dry brushing off the rust and re-lubing with wax. I also had a rear brake piston seize on once. It just needed a rinse and working in and out a bit, but I didn't have the tools, so I just unbolted it for the rest of the trip. So make sure you have something to push back a piston. A swiss army knife or screwdriver would suffice.

Ta

there are some great advices and tips of beach-proofing (fat)bikes on Coastkid's blog:
http://coastkid.blogspot.com/search/label/Fatbike%20Preperation%20for%20beach%20riding

Ta for that.  I thought of coastkid but had lost contact with him

Years of East Lothian beach bashing and beach bike packs and I'm still going strong with trying to avoid the water and splashing tons of fresh water all over the bike as soon as possible. Mechanical brakes.