MONTEREY, Calif. -- Alaskan biker Greg Matyas' Fatback snow bike has huge fat tires and a unique banana-shaped top tube that slopes down in the middle.

The tires are designed for snow and so is the top tube: it slopes to stop you whacking your privates when you step off the pedals and sink into the snow.

"It's saved me many times," Matyas laughed.

Matyas got a lot of admiring looks and 'Cool!' comments as he rode his Fatback bike around the Sea Otter bike show.

Based in Anchorage, Alaska, Matyas custom builds Fatback bikes for customers, some of them who ride on soft sand as well as snow. The bikes start at about $3,000.

"You air down a little bit and it rides better than a full suspension bike," says Matyas, who rides his bike in Alaska year round.

"It's way more fun than staring at the TV," he says. "We have underground race series all year long. After the races, we hang hot around the fire like a bunch of homeless guys with $4,000 bikes. There's a magic to being out in 30 below."

Photos by Jim Merithew/Wired.com