I wouldn’t have gone out today if I didn’t have my Fatty it inspires me to ride. Rode the filthiest tracks I could find and only dabbed once.
No aches or pains which is surprising in a nearly rigid bike. Whether I will ride it once the tracks are dry I don’t know but for now it is the total business.
I dithered before I bought one but can confirm all my fears have been proved unfounded. Buy one .

Well I love semi fat….and by fat I mean large and fat.

I have a stupid expensive bouncy bike. A light 29er….a 69 er ss, a cx bike…. But this is the bike I grab pretty much all the time.

Swinley is my local blast… So not really super gnaaaarrrrrrrrr but just works so well. So much fun and fast. Hold top 50 out of 10k standings on strava (yeah I am that good)… But wgas… It’s just really really fun. So much more fun than the skills compensator bouncy bike.

It’s jack of all trades, master of none…. Which I like. Throw in the shed at the end of the ride simplicity. Fast on the flat…. Easily keeps up with anyone I ride with…. Bouncy goodness.

I used to mock 29ers….

I’m pretty much with Northwind on this.
If I had to choose I’d keep my 160/ 140 trail bike, over the fat bike anytime.
I have my fat bike, quite deliberately as more of a go explore bike than a trail bike substitute .
I don’t want to be a roadie, I drive a lot for work and see a great deal of rubbish car and truck drivers and some very good , yet extremely vulnerable road bike riders.
Fat bike ( rigid Caribou btw) gets used for riding local lanes and bridleways , where it’s actually pretty quick, that I might not otherwise and maybe finding things I might go back and ride the trailbike on at another time.
Personally, and yes, I have put ‘better’ tyres on and played with pressures, I find my fat bike is bloody awful compared to my trailbike on fast techy downhill stuff. Although it floats over damp peat bog a treat.
Fatbike tyres on proper mud, have about as much grip as a plastic sledge on the Cresta Run.
Slow and painful down long rocky descents
Great fun, honestly , although I’m not certain I can explain why, unless it’s a throwback to my first rigid MTB in 1986.
But in the hands of a mere mortal, no where near as fast, forgiving, or accurate as a trailbike, for more techy stuff.

For big mountain rides, I now regard my Ice Cream Truck as the bike of choice. The comedy levels of traction have gotten me up, over and down stuff that even my Turner Sultan would and has struggled with. Sure, it is harder work but the trade off is more than worth it. Properly low gears make a massive difference. 1 x is a waste of time on a fat bike as you run out of legs long before you run out of traction. I was out today up the Campsie Fells and it was a hoot riding over terrain and finding grip where my narrower wheeled bikes would really struggle.

A ride up Mealle a Buchaille with a descent in, at times, thigh deep snow was a proper giggle but would have been a trauma on a normal mountain bike as I would have just sunk in whereas I was able to float over most of the white stuff with an enormous grin on my face. 😀

I still love my Turner especially as it is now plus size but for me, fat is where it is at!

1 x is a waste of time on a fat bike as you run out of legs long before you run out of traction.

Anyone know if you can fit a front mech to a Genesis Caribou, tempted to get one & a spare pair of thin wheels for non fat duties but put off if only 1 x is possible

29+…

Got mine primarily to ride the local coastline, marshes,beaches and dunes but soon found it great on the single track. I have been using it to take the dog along the riverbank as it is slower than the crosser and at a pace that suits him. I never thought it but the other bikes haven’t got a look in since last August.

1 x is a waste of time on a fat bike as you run out of legs long before you run out of traction. I was out today up the Campsie Fells and it was a hoot riding over terrain and finding grip where my narrower wheeled bikes would really struggle.

Speak for yourself, i can spin up my fatty in the dirt :-p

Having said that I’ve just bought a 30t chainring in the on one sale.

Sanny – Member

1 x is a waste of time on a fat bike as you run out of legs long before you run out of traction.

Maybe for you…

Rocketdog, you should try Maxxis Mammoth tyres if you haven’t already.

Nope, as ace as it is, it’s ace in a different way to my other bikes, which are also ace.

Have a skinny steel framed SS running 29+ / b+, that’s my go-to bike most of the time, but for next weeks trip to Bike Park Wales it’s the FS with them old fashioned 2.3 tyres that’s making the long journey south.
Each has a place.

Rode the slop on my 1.8 mud tyres today.
Half of each pedal turn must be wasted on trying to find traction.
It is the muddiest it’s been all winter at the moment so the contrast is even more pronounced.

crispyrice – Member
Rocketdog, you should try Maxxis Mammoth tyres if you haven’t already.

Had one on the rear in the summer & kenda jugganauts, nice in the dry

cakefacesmallblock – Member
Great fun, honestly , although I’m not certain I can explain why, unless it’s a throwback to my first rigid MTB in 1986.

I think you may be close with that. I reckon if I took the favourite ‘feelings’ from the mtb I had in ’86, then a bit of the one from ’90 and a small piece from my ’93 one then added decent braking, better spread of gears and massive amounts of grip then that would be why my fatbike makes me smile so much.

Still in testing mode on mine. Just went full fat last week from a 29+ rear / Fat front set up. It’s obviously more heavy (just over 33lbs) but with a KS Lev dropper, rohloff & brooks saddle I’m not too bothered by that. As everyone states, the traction is just huge and thus far I think the additional grip counters the extra weight. I’ve not been lost for grip yet and it’s getting chucked into every bit of mud we have…and we have loads here in sunny Glasgow!

I’m still playing with pressures but at 6psi front and back with Surly Buds 26×4.8 it feels good…maybe still a bit bouncy so more fettling to do.

At this point it feels a tab slower than with the 29+ rear in terms of just rolling along…but surly buds probably aren’t the quickest rolling tyres around. I’m confident I could shed at least 10%+ with a carbon post, lighter saddle & lighter faster rolling tyres so getting it under the magic 30lbs wouldn’t be too hard.

I did a 42K spin today over the newly laid John Muir way trails and it felt really nice.

As for the OP’s query, I very much doubt I’ll be going back to anything skinnier than 29+

[url=https://flic.kr/p/EgVWdF]Untitled[/url] by Rosscopeco, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/EgVXBx]Untitled[/url] by Rosscopeco, on Flickr

@ rosscopeco
Interesting what you say about pressures. I’ve really enjoyed the whole process of experimenting with that (far more than setting up the FS I had).

Finally settled on my ideal set up and today proved it. SO worth persisting with.

Since I built this a couple of weekends ago after having the other fatbike commandeered by Mrs Rickmeister, the Mojo SL and Tranny havent had much of a look in ..

New build

Not quite so new build

I rode mine pretty much exclusively for six weeks at the start of winter. Took the FS back to Afan over Xmas and took me a while to readjust. Not ridden it for a month and went back to it today. Put a big smile on my face but in the Malverns, I’d rather have something else. In the Forest whizzing through the singletrack, not so sure

[url=https://flic.kr/p/DsEUN1]Malverns Skive Ride :)[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

Big rocks and lumps in the Malverns today and sets of steps definitely not my favourite things. But – and I guess this is the thing – I wouldn’t ride a rigid bike anywhere but the fatty never fails to put a smile on my face.

North wind

Is that a climbing challenge being laid down? I’ll take you up on that for a modest wager. 😉

Sanny

Ps Rosscopecco

I was out there too today. Out from Glasgow, up onto the John Muir Way then across to Duncolm and down to Old Kilpatrick. Where did you go on the Way?

Am I right in saying that it’s the ultimate in ability compensation then?

I can tell you’re now tempted.

Sanny – Member

Is that a climbing challenge being laid down? I’ll take you up on that for a modest wager.

Nope, quite the opposite 😆 I find 1×10 pretty much ideal, but maybe if I was doing exactly the same riding as you I wouldn’t. Point being, just because it doesn’t suit you, doesn’t mean it’s useless.

Well.

In the interest of Science, I’ve just just taken the wife’s Swift round the same loop I did on the Puffin on Sunday. 12.3 miles, 1,400ft climbing.

Both medium Singulars (but shorter stem on the Swift). Both SS. Swift is 32:18, Puffin is 32:19. (learning point – wife will be getting an easier gear!) Don’t know exactly how these compare, and I’m not going to go out now and measure the wheels. Swift definitely felt harder on the climbs/faster on the flat.

Both rides, I was pushing for fast segment times, I certainly wasn’t backing off tonight, if anything the other way: I was sure it would be quicker, and bumping a couple of riding buddies down some leaderboards would have been good!

Didn’t happen, though. The only PRs I posted were connecting sections where I’d stopped for photos on Sunday, and segments I’d ridden for the first time on Sunday. And a couple of sections that are push-ups on a SS that, for some reason, I felt like running tonight (the Swift’s definitely lighter!)

There wasn’t much in it though, lots of top 2s and 3s.

Other points of interest: Sunday was day, tonight was night. Fewer walkers, more wildlife, one climb got slightly interrupted by a Stripey Scuffler scuffling out in front of me. I realised I’d forgotten my helmet a mile up the first hill, don’t know if that bothered me on the downs. Probably not.

I sold my sworks stumpy…about 3 weeks after getting my fattie last year……riding a skinny ,,seemed like a toy after going fat

Waswas – since we ride the same area, my experience is the polar opposite of yours. I find a Bud on the front will grip in just about any situation, I can throw myself at a deep muddy section and expect to pretty much keep going in a straight line, wet roots, ignore them!

It’s not a choice for me as my fat front bike is my only bike 😀