Fat bikes on beach

[Deleted member 22539]

There's no salt in sand except residual crystals where it gets washed by the sea on the beach. Normal sand has no salt at all. It's mainly quartz (silicon dioxide).

It's no problem to ride a fat-bike on sand, but you don't want to take it anywhere near the sea or the beach. Saltwater will get into every crevice, where it's highly corrosive. It's hygroscopic, so even after it dries out, it'll re-absorb any moisture in the air to carry on its corrosion.

Are you serious
Firstly this thread was started with the title "fat bikes on beach"
So stupid me to assume we are talking about sand at the beach which has salt in it end of ,
Which way do you think the sand got there ?
I can assure you it didnt fall from the sky , you will probably find it gets there from rock erosion fragments of shelled creatures amongst other things over millions of years , this is all caused by the actions of the sea and tides ,
And as another point where in the uk do you get sand in general apart from the beach

If for some strange reason your particular beach doesnt have salt in its sand (that's sarcasm) the sand its self is really abrasive and absolutely knackers bikes especially the gear train

So would I recommend to anyone to take a fat bike on the beach the answer is no unless of course you have no mechanical sympathy for your equipment or your that minted you dont care and if thats the case go for it as you can afford to fix it .

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Most sand for building is dug out of the ground. When they built the Dartford tunnel and bridge, they got the sand from West Thurrock, creating a whole array of lakes, ponds and a nice pit for us, where we used to ride our off-road motorbikes. The retail park Lakeland is built around one of the lakes.

Basically, sand comes from quarries, not the beach!
- and it doesn't have salt in it.

Here's something to help you. Note that it says Hills quarry products, not Hills beach products.

https://www.hills-quarry.co.uk/aggregates/sand/

To answer your question about how the sand arrived on the beach, it gets created up in the mountains by weathering and other forms of erosion of rocks. It then gets washed down by rivers into the sea.

 

[Deleted member 22539]

Most sand for building is dug out of the ground. When they built the Dartford tunnel and bridge, they got the sand from West Thurrock, creating a whole array of lakes, ponds and a nice pit for us, where we used to ride our off-road motorbikes. The retail park Lakeland is built around one of the lakes.

Basically, sand comes from quarries, not the beach!
- and it doesn't have salt in it.

Here's something to help you. Note that it says Hills quarry products, not Hills beach products.

https://www.hills-quarry.co.uk/aggregates/sand/

To answer your question about how the sand arrived on the beach, it gets created up in the mountains by weathering and other forms of erosion of rocks. It then gets washed down by rivers into the sea.

READ THE THREAD HEADING !!!!!

When i said where do you get sand in general i didnt mean for building purposes !!
I meant as a General public place or area which you would possibly ride on i should have made that clearer but given the thread heading i didn't think i needed to but plainly i did.

I dont need a lesson on building materials i have first hand knowledge of the building trade and quarrys for that matter and while im on the building side of things you dont use beach sand to build as theres to much salt in it and it bleeds out of the mortar , but hey you know that already dont you .

As for quarrys you will be also telling everybody next theres more quarrys than beaches around the uk full of sand for public access .

Obviously the sand you ride on has no abrasive property's at all so its fine for drivetrain on bikes and anything for that matter.

And just in case you missed the thread point again the word BEACH from the heading seems to have slipped by you , maybe to suit you better the OP should have headed the thread "Fat bikes at the quarry" you would have been in you element then .


Im out of this thread now ive posted my opinions on the wear and tear of sand especially salty beach sand so i wont be replying again
So knock your self out with the replys i wont be playing .


PS.
I hope that the OP as recieved the answers they needed , the relevant ones of course .

 

[oyster]

Basically, sand comes from quarries, not the beach!
- and it doesn't have salt in it.

It rather depends on where you are!

The main area of offshore sand and gravel landings is the South East Region. One third of the South East region’ primary aggregate requirements come from marine sources. The 10 million tonnes landed in the South East represents 75% of total UK marine aggregate landings (13.4 million tonnes), and 40% of total UK marine aggregate production (24.8 million tonnes, including exports and beach/contract fill). Of the 68 wharves in England and Wales, 35 are in the Thames and at South East ports as a third of all UK construction takes place in the south east.


South Wales is uniquely dependent on marine-dredged sand which accounts for 93 per cent of the market for all construction sand and 97 per cent of building sand supply. There are currently no landings in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
​

http://www.marinet.org.uk/campaign-article/aggregate-dredging-and-the-crown-estate-facts-and-figures

 

[Deleted member 4366]

READ THE THREAD HEADING !!!!!

When i said where do you get sand in general i didnt mean for building purposes !!
I meant as a General public place or area which you would possibly ride on i should have made that clearer but given the thread heading i didn't think i needed to but plainly i did.

I dont need a lesson on building materials i have first hand knowledge of the building trade and quarrys for that matter and while im on the building side of things you dont use beach sand to build as theres to much salt in it and it bleeds out of the mortar , but hey you know that already dont you .

As for quarrys you will be also telling everybody next theres more quarrys than beaches around the uk full of sand for public access .

Obviously the sand you ride on has no abrasive property's at all so its fine for drivetrain on bikes and anything for that matter.

And just in case you missed the thread point again the word BEACH from the heading seems to have slipped by you , maybe to suit you better the OP should have headed the thread "Fat bikes at the quarry" you would have been in you element then .


Im out of this thread now ive posted my opinions on the wear and tear of sand especially salty beach sand so i wont be replying again
So knock your self out with the replys i wont be playing .


PS.
I hope that the OP as recieved the answers they needed , the relevant ones of course .

OK, you seem to have got it now. I said all that in my earlier post, which you quoted in post #21. Did you not read what you quoted?

 

[Deleted member 22539]

OK, you seem to have got it now. I said all that in my earlier post, which you quoted in post #21. Did you not read what you quoted?

Ive changed my mind I am going to reply because you have no answer for your following comment
Which to be fair is the stupid comment that got me buzzed up in the first place,

"It's no problem to ride a fat-bike on sand"



So finally can you please explain (because you haven't yet) why your special quarry sand has no abrasive content which will wear out components on bikes and anything mechanical ??







And this is very informative oyster thank you
http://www.marinet.org.uk/campaign-article/aggregate-dredging-and-the-crown-estate-facts-and-figures

 

[Deleted member 4366]

So stupid me

If you want to deal in quotes out of context, that just about sums it up.

 

[Deleted member 22539]

It's no problem to ride a fat-bike on sand, but you don't want to take it anywhere near the sea or the beach.

Sorry but what’s out of context about what I’ve asked you
Did you not write the above quote?

I’m not disagreeing with the beach part it’s the “It’s no problem to ride a fat-bike on sand”
Again what’s out of context with my quote
So please answer the question I just asked .

 

[Danidl]

I hate it when people get into this petty point scoring.. we have the brexit thread for that.
As i see it the advantage if a fat bike is that it is POSSIBLE to ride over sand a task which defeats narrower wheeled bikes.
The disadvantage is that the drag and effort is larger than on other surfaces and the assistance of an electric motor would be welcomed.
And as stated earlier sand being abrasive can damage moving parts... either on the bike or the person.
In my opinion a central drive motor particularly where it is well enclosed would suffer less damage than a hub motor either front or rear where the hub must be exposed.

 

[Deleted member 22539]

As i see it the advantage if a fat bike is that it is POSSIBLE to ride over sand a task which defeats narrower wheeled bikes.

Bang on allthou they were built originally for the Snow ,
They are also very capable off road machines in general and suprising on many surfaces

 

[Deleted member 4366]

In my opinion a central drive motor particularly where it is well enclosed would suffer less damage than a hub motor either front or rear where the hub must be exposed.

Tell that to Doomanic. His bike only lasted 350 miles when it got dirty! It'll become a bit expensive when the warrant runs out.

How can sand getting on a hub do any harm? The motor is sealed inside, isn't it? When did anyone ever hear of sand in a hub-motor?

 

[soundwave]

Tell that to Doomanic. His bike only lasted 350 miles when it got dirty! It'll become a bit expensive when the warrant runs out.

How can sand getting on a hub do any harm? The motor is sealed inside, isn't it? When did anyone ever hear of sand in a hub-motor?

if you ride the fod in the wet and not clean the hole drive chain after every ride its not going to last long even with the bearing seal.

 

[Deleted member 22539]

if you ride the fod in the wet and not clean the hole drive chain after every ride its not going to last long even with the bearing seal.

People tend to have too much faith in seals in general that’s in all uses not just bikes .

 

[mike killay]

Well there is only one way to answer this for good and all.
Anybody got an old bike that they would like to ride on the beach?
http://xtreme-action-images.com/sandrace/

 

[Deleted member 22539]

Well there is only one way to answer this for good and all.
Anybody got an old bike that they would like to ride on the beach?
http://xtreme-action-images.com/sandrace/

Not an old bike no
But I did the Weston beach race years ago on a quad bike and it was great fun but an expensive rebuild afterwards

https://rhlactivities.com/events/rhl-beach-race-2018/rider-entry

 

[Zlatan]

There,s a hotel in Feurteventura ( Garioness on Sotavento beach) which rather than use " washed" building sand they used sand from beach...Within 5 years the thing was collapsing...rebuilt about 15 years ago...with washed sand...reinforcements not rotting on second build.
Sand on a windswept and especially a hot beach will contain loads of salt..

And...an idiot friend of mine with more money than sense decided to regularly launch his boat with his brand new Range Rover ...he insisted car was rust proofed and sand / salt would do no harm...It lasted 3 years...was virtually scrap...full of rust ,, underside looked 20 years old.

 

[mike killay]

There,s a hotel in Feurteventura ( Garioness on Sotavento beach) which rather than use " washed" building sand they used sand from beach...Within 5 years the thing was collapsing...rebuilt about 15 years ago...with washed sand...reinforcements not rotting on second build.
Sand on a windswept and especially a hot beach will contain loads of salt..

And...an idiot friend of mine with more money than sense decided to regularly launch his boat with his brand new Range Rover ...he insisted car was rust proofed and sand / salt would do no harm...It lasted 3 years...was virtually scrap...full of rust ,, underside looked 20 years old.

I used to do that with my boat.
Luckily there was ford on the way back home and I used to rush through that a couple of times.

 

[flecc]

I used to do that with my boat.
Luckily there was ford on the way back home and I used to rush through that a couple of times.

The trouble I had when launching into the sea many years ago after a longish run to the coast was the trailer wheel bearings. Dunking the hot hubs into the cold sea rapidly cooled them and sucked in sea water past the seals. The resulting corrosion wrecked the wheel bearings twice, so I left it in a marina after that. Cold dunking then was no problem over years.
.

 

[mike killay]

The trouble I had when launching into the sea many years ago after a longish run to the coast was the trailer wheel bearings. Dunking the hot hubs into the cold sea rapidly cooled them and sucked in sea water past the seals. The resulting corrosion wrecked the wheel bearings twice, so I left it in a marina after that. Cold dunking then was no problem over years.
.

Flecc,
Properly adjusted wheel bearings do not get hot.
I always stop after 100 miles and check them.
Must have done this several hundred times or more.
The tyres get warm but the bearings stay cool.
Perhaps you had braked hubs, and those can get hot from the brakes, not just running along.
I always dunk both my boats trailers, and even though cool, the water still gets in.
I replace the bearings every three years.
Some say to pump the bearings full of grease before launching, but I have never had any success doing that, water still gets in

 

[Zlatan]

Flecc,
Properly adjusted wheel bearings do not get hot.
I always stop after 100 miles and check them.
Must have done this several hundred times or more.
The tyres get warm but the bearings stay cool.
Perhaps you had braked hubs, and those can get hot from the brakes, not just running along.
I always dunk both my boats trailers, and even though cool, the water still gets in.
I replace the bearings every three years.
Some say to pump the bearings full of grease before launching, but I have never had any success doing that, water still gets in

You can also fit a spring loaded gtease reservoir onto hubbs...bearings are nearly always warmer than water they are entering ( ambient air temp in summer in Uk 20 degrees or so...sea rarely above 12...) so bearings will cool and suck water in...but if filled with grease they wont...or if a reservoir of grease is between hub and water grease will go in.( I have them in my current boat trailer...refill once a year...not needed new bearings in 5 years...but that's fresh water...but its a two ton ski boat on single axle trailer...brakes are a different matter...need to sort those every year.
If folk think salt/ sea/ sand doesn't affect mechanics etc...go look at old tractors used for launching stuff at coast...