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IB15: Devinci cools off with new Minus RS alloy fat bike made just for winter

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Technically, the new Devinci Minus RS snow fat bike was finished this summer, but they didn’t bother telling anyone about it until now because it’s meant to be a winter bike, made to ride through really, really cold weather. It’s also meant to be affordable, because these types of things are typically a second or third bike, not your primary. But they still wanted good spec because they’re going to be riding it themselves. After all, Devinci’s headquarters is pretty far north, so their “snow” season typically runs November through April.

That’s why it’s full rigid, because in the snow you don’t really need suspension. And the brakes are mechanical because it gets -40ºC (also -40ºF, coincidentally) there, and they say mineral oil didn’t work and and DOT fluid hydraulic brakes simply didn’t perform that well in those temps.

Drift past the break to plow into the details…

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The Avid BB5 mechanical brakes also helped them keep the cost down so they could put the money into an XT rear derailleur and SLX shifter. They’re paired with a Samox alloy crankset with a 24t chainring. It comes as a 1×10 only, and only in one build. It’s meant as a winter snow bike, so they didn’t want the complications of a front derailleur, and the 1×10 drivetrain gave them the range they needed.

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The hubs are good, too, running Salsa sealed bearing hubset with 135mm front and 190mm rear spacing. And the tires are Vee Tire Co.’s tubeless ready Bulldozer 26×4.7 for plenty of flotation. The rims, however, are not tubeless ready.

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From the looks of it, you could probably squeeze a bit more rubber there, just watch for chain clearance when at the top of the cassette. The alloy fork has a tapered steerer, so you can upfit it with a Bluto or other suspension fork. Devinci’s rep said the geometry is not an exact match for a suspension fork, but that it’s close and adding one shouldn’t negatively affect handling.

Other winter-oriented spec is a 720mm handlebar. That’s a bit narrower than what trail riders might be used to these days, but they ride them on tight snowshoe trails, so they needed to be able to wiggle through without clipping the bars on the trees.

The overall goal of the bike was to simply add another season of riding. Retail is $1,599USD or 1,800CAD. It’ll ship to dealers starting in November, just in time for the snow.

For those of you a little further south, check out their first gravel road bike and the new Hendrix enduro mountain bike released over the past two months.

Devinci.com

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booyah
booyah
8 years ago

If they really wanted to be concerned about -40 weather, they should have gone with a sram drivetrain so they could use gripshift, works much better than trigger shifters when it gets that cold.

JBikes
JBikes
8 years ago

Does anyone actually ride when it’s -40? I like winter riding, but that is super cold. Like risking death or severe frostbite should something even minor go wrong, cold.
I’ll go to -10F, maybe -15F, but beyond that I’m not sure. -40 is “magnitudes” colder than -10F.

booyah
booyah
8 years ago

JBikes- Sometimes, beating the weather is part of the fun. I regularly ride at -40 (I live in interior AK) and things can get risky, but if you properly prepare for it, it isn’t that bad at all. That being said, the fact that I live somewhere where it regularly gets -40 makes it a lot easier to be prepared for -40. When it does reach that level of cold, I do ride and plan differently, I am always prepared to walk, and within walking distance, to somewhere warm (either my house or a friends), and have had to walk 5 miles or so at those temps.

There is no bad weather, just bad clothing.

Veganpotter
Veganpotter
8 years ago

I was out every day in record cold in Milwaukee two years ago. Multiple days had a high of -40. I saw bikers twice my age out on their fatties.

JBikes
JBikes
8 years ago

@Veganpotter, I think your referencing -40F windchill because Milwaukee has never come close to -40 without a windchill factor. That is very different from someone like booyah that may actually experience -40F dry bulb temp.

Either way, its cold.

Gab
Gab
5 years ago

When you live in canada its -40 celcius not F

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