Just got my first fatbike and wandered if anyone had any tips/tricks or gear they’d recommend i get ??

Already got a good LP gauge, high volume hand pump and the intention of setting up tubeless.

Anything else that i should consider/require thet i wouldn’t normally take on my bike.

Cheers

Niall

Mudguards – big tyres have the capacity to shift prodigious amounts of mud and water – if you’re planning longer rides throughout winter and don’t want to get filthy and wet, then a rear guard, downtube guard and front fender are necessary – it’ll also save you a fortune in bearing replacements. Worth packing out your bearings with marine grease too – I’ve had BBs washed-out in one wet ride. Stay on top of your maintenance too – chain cleaner and relube after every ride.

Aye, second that on the mudguards. Soon after I got mine I went for a ride in fresh, melty snow and it was like being hosed, absolutely grim. I have a wee bender fender thing for normal riding but for wet riding it’s fairly useless.

I would say… Get away from preconceptions, just go and try different things and see how it works for you. Try it on stuff that doesn’t seem like a good idea, try rides you wouldn’t usually and rides you would.

Apologies for the slight hijack, but recommendations for rear guards would be good. Now that I’ve fitted a dropper, my crudguard doesn’t go on the seatpost – I had wondered about clamping round the frame, but the clamp on mine isn’t big enough.

Small frame bag for the spare tube, basic tools and the CO2 cartridge.. takes a weight off your back.

Grow a beard.
Wear shorts all year round.
Take your bike to the nearest beach ASAP.
Get a frame bag.
Did anyone mention mudguards?
Get used to everyone looking at you and everyone on here suggesting that’s why you ride a fat bike.
Accept that non-fatists will never believe how well a fatty climbs.
Embrace the bimble
Remember, you can never focus too much on tyre pressure.
Move to Scotland.

Mudhugger rear – can be ‘adjusted’ with hot-air gun to fit a 5″ tyre. PDW/BBB fatbike downtube fender and Mucky Nutz face fender on the forks. Finally, modded a smaller downtube fender to fit behind seattube and mudhugger to keep cr@p off the BB bearings.

Agree on simply taking the bike for a ‘ride’, forget Strava and explore new routes, like riding your local trails in reverse and trying to get up really steep and techy stuff. Many of my local trails have been trashed by motorbikes cutting a rooty, foot-wide ditch through everything – horrible to ride on a regular MTB due to exposed roots, off-camber – great fun on fat tyres.

Must admit, I can’t bring myself to fit a rear mudguard. So I’d say, decent waterproofs 🙂

I’ve got one of the PDW shovel rear mudguard/fender (might have a different name actually) but check CTBM’s site as he sells them. On the front I have a couple of Mucky Nutz guards, one on the fork crown and one on the down tube.

I can’t bring myself to fit mudguards either.

I’ve only had a fat bike a few months, so I’d say:
Play with tyre pressures.
Ride fast on the road and get used to any self steer and “gyro” effects.
Get used to people shouting (generally, but not always) supportive messages “nice bike mate”, etc.

Learn that you can winch up ANYTHING with the right positure.
Play on some berms to find out just how much faster you can go.
+/-1 psi makes a huge difference
Take pity on your “normal” bike(s) and take them out once in a while.
Scour ebay for Unimogs and imagine one as your everyday driver – its pretty much the same feeling.

Make one of your first upgrades a retail set of tyres!

Some say the tyres we get with fatbikes are not of the same quality as a same set retail model bought in the shops, while some fatbikes like the Wazoo come with truly awful tyres full stop, where an upgrade to Jumbo Jim snakeskins completely changed my view of the bike.

Mudguards as pretty much everyone has mentioned.

Also I was told to try 1psi for every 10kg of rider weight as a good starting point for tyre pressures. That really helped me find what works for me.

Must admit i am a designated bimbler for sure !!!! So sounds like i will get on well with the bike.

Move to Scotland ….. Left there and not ready to go back. Im sure ill find plenty in the Alps where i live though.

Hmmmm Mud guards on a mountain bike …. not a fan though i can see the sense. Will have to see what i can find locally here.

Some good tips and will likely see the local LBS smiling after my next visit ha ha. The wife not so much !!!!!

Niall

Get used to people wherever you go saying “they’re big tyres mate” as if you hadn’t noticed…

Alps ? Get yourself to Andermatt on one of the night ride events on the ski pistes…

I thought about going tubeless as well, but ended up with some lightwegith tubes instead: Q-Tubes Q Super Light 26″ x 2.4-2.7″. Saved 150g on each wheel.

If you are riding sub-zero temperatures, get yourself a pair of Bar Mitts! Best investment ever!

@mortenprom, I use schwalbe free ride tubes in my 4″ tyres. The code for the light ones is sv13f. They’re near as dammit 200g, so lighter then most tubes that size, and can be had for a couple of quid online.

1 psi for every 10kg of rider weight? Way too hard! 5psi for me at 12.5 Stone plus tools/spares. If in doubt, let some out!

johnnystorm – Member
1 psi for every 10kg of rider weight

Purely as a starting point. Especially as loads of shops seem to think 10-15 psi is low pressure 😉

Ive been looking at the mitts. Post is fairly unreliable where we are so may have to wait till we have visitors from the UK.

I did read one blog that suggested carrying a note book and pen and tracking pressures till you found out what worked in each condition.

Andermatt may be a bit of a trek for me. We are in Courmayeur and moving to St Gerrvais next year on the French side.Might be good for a long weekend visit though.

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated

Niall

Have fun pretty much sums it up, mines ace if a tad heavy compared to my XC sled. I’m using it all winter as a training bike as once I get on the fast bike again it’ll be like getting on a road bike in comparison

The 1 psi per 10kg thing probably works as a good guide for riding dry, hardpacked trails, everything else goes much lower. For example, I weigh about 110kg and my average psi is probably around 5 front, 6 rear. I would only put 11 in to ride on towpaths or very, very smooth trails.
Obviously this is also very dependent on tyres, as I ride on 4.8s, so have a fair bit more volume to play with than 3.8s, so can go lower. If it snows, I will probably go down as low as 2 or 3 psi.

See what I mean? It becomes an obsession. 🙂

Thats handy fin. im a 115kg and on 4.6 so handy information

Niall