At first glance, the Norco Bigfoot 1 would seem to fit snugly in the niche-within-a-niche adventure fatbike category, with its 5-inch Terrene Johnny 5 tires on 26-inch wheels just screaming to be loaded up and ridden on a beach, or through deep, fresh snow, or on some similarly boring and difficult sounding “mission.”
But there’s a little more at play here. Most fatbikes have what would be called outdated geometry if it were applied to a normal trail bike, though there are a few exceptions, including the Kona Wozo I tested last year, and Pole’s Taiga, which I’m hoping to get my hands on soon, and probably a few more that I’m sure we’ll hear about in the comments because I’ve now personally insulted someone.
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My time on the Bigfoot was spent hunting what makes fatbiking fun for me: those moments right on the edge of control, whether losing traction through a corner (some call it drifting, I’m not sure if what I do qualifies) or sliding down a semi-groomed descent. After all, beyond just being able to ride in the winter, that’s really what makes fatbiking so riotous: The edge is easy to find, even at slow speeds, and the consequences for stepping over it are usually low.
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