After the issues with my Bossnut, I’m still waiting for a replacement that isn’t faulty.

Being a bit poor I’ve been looking out of the window at the weekends and deciding against riding because I don’t want the Cannock grit wearing out bearings/forks/shocks so ive not been out on MTB MTB since the clocks went back.

A mate of mine has an upgraded fatty he’s selling as he’s bought a Farley and I’m tempted to sack off the idea of suspension and replace it with big tyres to save money.

The only thing that concerns me is when I go to Scotland in May, it was Dalbeattie that made me want to go back to full sus after riding it twice on a 29er HT would a rigid fatbike be worse? I don’t race and I’m not the fastest anyway. But the reduction in maintenance costs/things to wrong is appealing.

Am I mental?

No. I think it’d work well but I’d be tempted to fit Bluto forks in the future.
Can ride anything on them, you just have to go with the ridiculousness.
🙂

My Salsa mukluk with bluto goes better(comfort and speed) downhill then XC fully’s with 130mm travel both ends. Against enduro bikes it depens on the terrain which one is more ecomfortable and faster. Can’t keep up with the downhill boys who gap all the rough stuff though.

The cost of Blutos puts me off, and I don’t like the geometry swings of a not super slack hardtail. He’s willing to lend it me for a few weeks and see how I get on, will have to have a play locally and see how it goes, but the Scottish stuff is an unknown. Anyone ridden the Staines on a rigid fatty?

My thoughts after owning a half fat stooge

thoughts and pondering

There’s no one bike that’ll be great for everything, you just need to decide what’s the best compromise for the riding you do. If you only spend 10% of you time riding the Staines trail centres then just put up with them being a bit of a chore on the bike you picked for 90% of the riding you do outside your door. Unless of course you love the Staines so much you buy a bike for that and put up with it being hard work the rest of the time.

FWIW, I’d have a hardtail 29er if I was limited to one bike, and then perhaps hire something a bit more hardcore for the Scottish stuff.

Gap jumps are the only place I avoid my rigid fatbike – quite happily taking it down blacks and off-piste as big tyres and grip you have better control over rocks and roots. Depends on whether you measure your enjoyment by how may KOMS you have or simply getting out there and riding?

I have two fat bikes, so my opinion will be a bit biased.

One is a very lightweight Sonder Vir Fortis carbon bike with Lauf forks. The other is the complete opposite in terms of weight, being an electric fat bike with Bluto’s.

I really like both of them, as mentioned above , no bike is perfect for all types of riding, but some form of suspension is a must for me.

The Vir Fortis is quite nimble, but charging downhill will result in the Lauf fork getting very busy, and occasionally deciding to tip you off if you are just going too fast, it doesn’t have any rebound control.

The Bluto is a better option for more control.

The thing I found surprising was the comfort level from what is just a hardtail bike.
4″ tyres with low pressures run tubeless give a really nice ride once you are used to it.

To me, it’s a good compromise of reasonable comfort with very little maintenance.

My long term would be pinion gearbox and Lauf fork for about 70% of my riding these days.

A lot depends on where, how and what you ride.
These days I’m not concerned with charging around, so a slightly more sedate approach is fine.

why not go full no-worry and single speed a fatty. I love the idea of a single speed but I do ride up a lot of hills. If you were only mtbing round cannock and just a few others you could *just* get away with it.

Cheers for the input all, I do like the idea of singlespeed too, but I think that might be a bit too far, and chains and cassettes are easy enough to look after/replace.

I’ve got no KOMs so that’s no issue, but I do like going fast and getting faster. I’ll have to have a go and see what I think.

Sounds like you change your mind easily or have bought into “must have the perfect bike for every type of riding”.

Change that, or accept you’ll never have one bike to make you happy on every ride

I think you’re on to something Al. I think what I want is a carbon bronson for grifter money.

I’m still just experimenting on how to get there, I’ve been riding a long time on and off, but I’ve not really had anything approaching a decent bike until recently.

I’ll try the fatty out and see what I think, but I know I’ll want a proper full suss soon enough. I enjoyed the cheapness and ease of maintenance of the hard tail, but my old bones suffered at speed, that’s why I’m considering fat bikes.

so ive not been out on MTB MTB since the clocks went back.

You havn’t been out for over two months !!! I wouldn’t worry about what bike just ride ANY bike.

I tend to ride just my fat MTB for most MTB duties since buying it, but won’t be getting rid of my FS (and will get another when I find the cash) because a full suss suits some places better, plus you won’t get a fatty on an uplift.

Only done Glentress and Innerleithen on a rigid fatty. Glentress was ok but definitely more arm pump on the couple of trails after spooky. All doable though.

Inners was what persuaded me to get a Bluto though. Felt completely smashed after that but that’s trying to keep up with mate on full suss.

But surely must be better than being bikeless.

At least with the crown race from on one (a tenner) you can always put a Bluto in it if you want.

I definitely wouldn’t personally but Dalbeattie on the fatbike’d be wicked.

It won’t really save you money though- suspension etc really isn’t expensive to keep going, and pivots on a well designed bike don’t need done that often, but good fatbike tyres are expensive wear items. (and bad fatbike tyres are the fastest way to spoil the whole deal). Different if you have to pay someone to do it but if you’re budget conscious it’s well worth learning how to do it yourself, basic fork services and most frame servicing are really pretty simple.

A good allrounder hardtail would save you half the suspension costs and all of the pivots without giving up so much capability and sticking you with more expensive parts though.

… I do like going fast and getting faster.

Definitely go for Blutos (etc.) then – The rigid forks will limit your speed on rough stuff as you have to back off to avoid being rattled to pieces, even with 4.7″ tyres (IME). You can also get some very scary ‘out-of-control-space-hopper’ experiences on very fast descents (e.g. if you hit a small bump) – the bike seems to bounce from one wheel to the other, sort of like a bucking bronco. A Bluto solves both of those problems – you can ride up or down anything.

If I were reduced to one bike only, it would be a fat bike with front suspension.

Being a bit poor I’ve been looking out of the window at the weekends and deciding against riding because I don’t want the Cannock grit wearing out bearings/forks/shocks so ive not been out on MTB MTB since the clocks went back.

Eh, every ride will wear something out, just pack MTBing up and buy yourself some slippers… Cut out the middle man.

Are you ‘Racing’ regularly??? or ride for Fun?

I’ve been riding an upgraded Dune for the last couple of months, it is perfect for local, woodsy winter riding but I won’t be selling my FS just yet.
But I will be selling my HT, it is now redundant.

And although I think about a Bluto I don’t think I need one, plus I’m learning to stay loose..

I would like some BR2250’s though.

Been out on my Farley last 2 off-road rides but riding it on the road to get to the hills is not great and come the drier ground you cant beat a full-suss.Great bike for the mud and handles so well for a rigid bike.

Lawmanmx – Member
Are you ‘Racing’ regularly??? or ride for Fun?

No racing for me, don’t have the time or money. If I did rave though I’d be more likely doing an xc race locally save in the knowledge I was going to be in the lower half.

Tyres are the concern, I’d probably stick to floaters though, I’m not paying £125 for a tyre.

plenty of TAKE OFF tyres advertised

i bought a pair of JJ’s and pair of new Larrys

got a pair of husker du’s

and some V mission tyres too

and they last ages

Yes

no

prawny – Member
…The only thing that concerns me is when I go to Scotland in May, it was Dalbeattie that made me want to go back to full sus after riding it twice on a 29er HT would a rigid fatbike be worse?…

If you have a fatbike, there’s far better places in Scotland to ride than Dalbeattie….

I ride a fatty (Cube Nutrail, great bike) for XC up to black routes and full-sus for proper rough and tuff.

I have a full rigid fat bike as my only mtb – not found anything I can’t ride yet…..

Pretty sure I could ride my Dune down most stuff but my FS would sometimes be better.

2 years into OO Fatty ownership and still my go-to bike. Budget option on floaters throughout. Used for virtually everything offroad including a bit of bikepacking.

Full suss comes out occasionally. Went to Cwmcarn and did a “meh” loop on the Full Suss then put it back in the van for the rest of the day and took out the Fatty which was ace.

Went to bike park Wales last week and took the Full Suss, it was ace and the fatty would have destroyed me at the speeds we were going.

BPW trips are once in a blue moon though, so back to the Fatty now.

OP: not mental but fairly sure of your riding for the forseeable

Is your riding is going to be fairly mellow (be honest). Do you need to carry 150 mm of suspension around a 25 mile loop for a few minutes descending now and then or are you prepared to reign it in and enjoy the uphill/flat bits?

Obviously you can ride a fatbike on anything, that’s kind of their point really. Whether you’d want to is something that only you can decide. Some people enjoy them so much that they prefer to use then for almost all rides. Others find that they only make sense for the sort of riding that they don’t enjoy anyway, so never use them.

It’s worth bearing in mind that tyres make a huge difference. That’s true for all bikes of course, but seems to be doubly true when the tyres are twice the size. My ICT with Jumbo Jims climbs faster than it has any right to but you need to pick your line on the way down. Stick a set of Bud and Lou tyres on though and it’s a pig on the climbs but a proper monster truck coming down.

+1 for roverpig.

Tyres do make a big difference.

Had the Jumbo Jims on the front until recently, they are a bit lethal this time of year.

They will just wash out , quite unpredictable.

Couldn’t manage to fit the Surly tyres tubeless on mt DT Swiss BR2250 rims, but the uber expensive 45NRTH Flowbeist is a very good front tyre.

Use my fatbike for 90% of riding but still hve an old 26″ full suspension bike for the rough stuff as the fatbike gets a bit frightening on fast rocky trails

I’d never take the fatty to the Peaks or Exmoor – but love it on everything else!

This thread has had me thinking. If I had to get rid of my fat and other bikes and just have one bike, what would I have?

The answer is a dropbar 29er set up for road use, but with a set of 650B wheels to take plus size tyres for mtb work. Maybe something like the Shand Drover…

So no fatbike as an only bike.

But if a roadbike was a separate issue, then a fatbike could be my only mtb (plus a set of 29er+ wheels 🙂 )

Just taken delivery of a loaner fatty trail spares special with some rigid forks off a trek Farley. Think it’ll be a bit steeper than originally designed but it should give me an idea.

Planning on taking it for a spin out on Saturday morning. Or maybe Friday if the snow materialises.

I bought a cheap Fatty Trail to see what all the fuss was about. I was initially quite sceptical but it slowly worked its way under my skin. I now seem to ride it virtually all the time and if I could only have one MTB (shudder) it would probably be a fatty.

The 456 hasn’t seen action since the fatty trail arrived. Make of this what you will! 😀

I think this one is a bit big for me, (I’m 5’10/11 and it’s a large) so I won’t be buying this one, I couldn’t put a dropper on it for one thing.

Had a quick look at them last night and the NX1 for a grand looks alright.

Without looking up on the website, I do recall the Fatty Trail frames having pretty long effective top tubes, at 5’10” (with ~31″ legs”) I would choose a medium at most.

What stem length and angle is on that borrowed fatty Trail? Any chance a shorter stem, or a high angled one would work? A handy calculator…
http://yojimg.net/bike/web_tools/stem.php