The salsa one will be coming in in the spring, which is a wee bit late for the snow. AFAIK it'll be around £2.5K. I've heard of someone import one and even with taxes it comes in at £1.5ish.
I've considered trying the half fat method on my 29er, fat front and 29er rear. I can't find any great info though on performance, best of both worlds or worst? What would be the use of floating over terrain if the rear can't cope?
I've been really impressed with my Surly Karate Monkey 29er - the mud clearance with (large) 2.0 tyres is awesome - so much so that on one particularly muddy ride around East Leake (you probably know the area!) when everybody else's wheels were jamming so as to make their bikes unrideable, mine wasn't anywhere near clogged. The Karate Monkey comes with FFF (Fatties Fit Fine) geometry allowing up to 2.6" tyres front and rear.
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