Rarely has any bike elicited more comments from randoms that my fat bike

You got an engine in that?
F***kin hell
It looks like it should be slow but it obviously isn’t!
Wohhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Looks like something out of Batman & Robin
**** me I must be really unfit
Got enough tyres on that dude
wohhh super f**kin fat
Very fat indeed
Let this bloke come past he’s got more grip than we have
Richard! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD! LOOK BEHIND YOU!
If we had tyres like that we’d be OK

etc

It’s the kids you see pulling on their parents sleeves going “look, look, LOOOOOOOKKK”, followed by the parents finally turning round and gawping that amuse me.

Hardly anyone has ever commented on mine beyond “look at those tyres!” 🙁

I got into the fat game for nichewhoreness and for the adulation of other cyclists – not to be ignored 👿

“Tthats gonna take a while to pump up mate” 🙁

Careful, monster truck coming through….

“Here mate, You’re no stranger to a fish supper are you?”

OH! I see. Fat BIKES is it?

AS you were…

Passed a bunch of 20 odd OAP walkers going the other way. The way they all started to murmur things like “look at those tyres” as I went past was quite amusing to me.

I gotta admit, I do enjoy watching people gawk at it.

If I park mine outside the shop people squeeze the tyres.

Someone drove through glentress car park with a bright orange Foes Mutz on the roof on saturday, you should have heard the noises people made. I restrained myself to a sort of garghagrhgh noise.

Mine is glow in the dark yellow so I can’t really complain that people notice it… I love how kids react though. And moany faced redsocks seem to like it too, it’s as though it doesn’t trip their bike-hating gland.

As I swanned up a rocky ascent some woman on a cross bike said it ‘must be hard work’.

Not as hard as you’ll find it going down, missus.

And moany faced redsocks seem to like it too, it’s as though it doesn’t trip their bike-hating gland.

+1

It’s like driving a classic MG, somehow people just don’t notice that it’s noisy, low to the floor, and you’re 20something. You’d never get away with it in a Saxo.

And moany faced redsocks seem to like it too

And no longer invisible to attactive young ladies on horseback 🙂

Generally it’s the ‘look at those tyres’ being muttered as I pass.

Although I’ve been stopped by a few riders and walkers and asked lots about it too. Usually starting with weight (the bikes not mine 😉 )

It can get a bit tiresome to be honest. Every time, same questions etc..I have taken to mixing up my answers and quickly diverting interest to their bike, just for my own sanity.

There was one time that sticks in my head a few years ago after freshly building up a custom painted bright orange One One Fatty. My first fat bike and the first venture out of the house to check everything over and this proper boy racer, customised lowered car etc..slams his brakes on skidding and flings the window down and shouted ” What the **** is that ?” in a really aggressive manner.

Not as hard as you’ll find it going down, missus.

I hope her opening line wasn’t meant to be a chat up, cos that reply would have been well out of order!

“Dad,is that man in the circus?”

Once you fit Pogies, no one notices the tyres.

My first fat bike and the first venture out of the house to check everything over and this proper boy racer, customised lowered car etc..slams his brakes on skidding and flings the window down and shouted ” What the **** is that ?” in a really aggressive manner.

The correct response would have been…

“I wanted to ride something less bouncy than your mum” 😯

I usually get

“look at the tyres on that!”

or, from other cyclists:

“they must drag…”

Once, on a climb I got:

“Ha ha, I bet those wheels feel heavy…”

When we got to the top together it was followed by:

“Well, I guess it climbs so well because it has a rigid fork…” 8)

I was in the middle of a conversation with a photographer setting up to take a landscape picture when I was out on a ride. He abruptly broke off and drifted into silence. He came back to life and said “Sorry, I just noticed the size of the tyres on your bike”.

Fat bikes: for attention-seekers everywhere 😉

” Sacre bleu” was my favourite 😉

I have heard comments from goggle wearing enduro Gnarists like “wtf it’s just a fad” or “it’s a skill compensator” The comments are not always positive or particularly nice. To be honest I don’t really understand the negative comments, after all my fatty is just a bike like theirs with bigger tyres….

Who thinks it’s a skill compensator? That’s just daft. People mostly seem bewildered when they see mine up the #enduro and dh trails. I can make it work for that, it just suits me but skills compensator? **** off, it’s miles harder than on the normal hardtail never mind the enduro bike.

People do say “What did you get that for” or “why are you riding that on this stuff” but nobody seems to have any problem with “thought it’d be a laugh”.

Best I’ve had was an old couple who stopped us to say what a good idea they were….must be much safer!

Northwind, maybe it’s just me then. But I have heard some of those comments and my wife heard the others. It doesn’t bother me, it’s just young followers of fashion being a little hypocritical. I ride to enjoy myself and chill out. I can’t be arsed to get in arguments over small Minded opinion. Although I did laugh at a couple of roll-up smoking doughnuts on 10 year old Orange Patriots try to be cocky and say in front of my wife “bet that’s slow up and downhill, looks well heavy”. The irony was not lost on me even if it was on them. I didn’t buy into the fat biking thing because it was “cool”
In fact I think it’s a big dorky. I bought one because the local fat bike riders have some awesome rides, I bought one because I just got it. A fatty will never be my only bike, some of the nice comments are cool and out weigh the negative ones. But I have heard directly some less tasteful comments

Comments on fat bikes, never a chance to get a word in edgeways with these evangelists droning on…

russyh – Member

Although I did laugh at a couple of roll-up smoking doughnuts on 10 year old Orange Patriots try to be cocky and say in front of my wife “bet that’s slow up and downhill, looks well heavy”

TBH a 10 year old Patriot can build what’s basically a modern trailbike so could easily be lighter and faster up than most fatbikes. And definitely should be faster down.

Fatbikes look slow and heavy because they are! Nothing to get upset over. It’s like if someone calls your momma fat, when she is actually really fat.

Q: “what’s the point of that”

A: “I dunno, it’s actually kinda blunt at both ends”

Not so much the comments that irritate me, they’re an opportunity to use a well rehearsed witty riposte, more the silent judgements, when people see you coming and scurry off down the trail to avoid being stuck behind you. I’ve taken to saying “Sorry, I thought you’d be faster” when I catch them on their #ENDURO sleds.

Try riding a Cannondale Fat Caad with a Lefty fork. Dear Lord, it’s the fork as much as the wheels that get comments now.

How does that work?
That looks wrong!
Where is the rest of your fork?
Those tyres! Exclaimed by a middle aged woman to her pals.
Why?
WTF!
Daddy, his bike is cooler than yours!
That sounds like a Lancaster bomber.
That must be slow!
Is it heavy?
What’s the point of that?

Kids are the best. They just stop and stare then smile. Brilliant.

I have even had drivers stop and ask me about it. 😀

Round the Surrey Hills every ride gets a comment or two – usually a good chance for a chat if it’s a tea stop.

Ginger – Member

Kids are the best. They just stop and stare then smile. Brilliant.

Aye. One of my first rides was the falkirk funduro, they had loads of kids events on so there were nippers on bikes everywhere, I felt like a rock star 😆