[Closed] Brant, could you make a fatbike please?

it quite a tall order asking / pestering someone for a new frame. you do realise its about 10 grand just for production costs on a minimum run of steal frames.

If it were a Ragley it'd sell in huge numbers as long as it's steel.

Hairychested, define huge numbers?? 🙂

I want one too!

I will join the list! I wonder what sort of numbers we are talking about?

According to Google, 16" is huge.
I believe it'd outsell Surly by 5:1.

Theres a lot more sand than snow here in the UK which is ridable all year round which probably covers the riding wishes of 95% of folk that want a fatbike here in the UK, i know 5 riders around here will be rolling on pugs for beachriding by summer...
They arnt trailbikes despite what some folk think due to there weight of bigger rims and tyres, you dont want to shoulder one up a mountain!.
But they will go places you struggle to go on a regular bike including over soft moorland peat and with mininum damage ...
If you have ridin one then you know the differance 🙂
Big question for another new frame on the market which would appeal to UK riders then is maybe should it be offset or inline wheels?...
135 hubs keeps the cost down and also doing a swap over from a complete xc bike makes it a cheaper viable option for folk...
Offset allows Hub gears, these are great for beachriding giving a grind free quieter chainline,
An offset fork allows a bailout wheel swap if the gearhub fails- though so far they dont seem to be doing...
If you made an offset frame with bolt on drop outs you could choose singlespeed/internal hub gear or mech gears.
Riding comfort is covered by the tyres so an alloy frame with these dropouts would be a good alternative to a Pugsley...
then if enough interest a run of Ti frames?

i know more folk that want a fatbike than a 29er... says something?

I'm 6'5"...i'd have a 29er fatbike...

A few people posting on this thread are in desperate need of a reality check.

Outside the cosy world of STW, next to no-one is interested in fatbikes (or 29ers for that matter). The demand is tiny.

An On One or a Ragley works because you can bolt on all your standard components, whether you already have them or you trawl the classifieds and shops for them. A fatbike doesn't really have that option. Cranks, forks, wheels and tyres are all available in tiny quantities and you're not going to see any benefits which accrue from larger scale production.

Finally, if [s]Chain Reaction[/s] Ragley were to introduce a fatbike, using their massive buying power and also being a distributor, do you think they would pass those savings on to you, the consumer, or would they charge slightly less than a Pugsley and pocket the change?

What if it was looked at not as a cash cow for how many units could be sold ( unlikely ) and more of a challenge of how to do a fat bike only better surely designers like a challenge too 😈

a challenge is good but a challenge that gets you paid is better than a challenge that never gets past drawings.

Brant came up with the Inbred when only alu old. Then he gave us the 456SS, then the Pig. Were they the run-of-the-mill bikes? No, but still sold well and made him a few quid (I sincerely hope). A fatbike would enhance his status as one of leading bike designers.
BTW Coastkid and epicycle know so much about those bikes it could become some sort of STW forum project.
Druidh, you're right re: other people. How many great ideas didn't fit at first?

I live in Bristol, no mountains, not alot of snow, the beaches are a good car drive away. However the woods are close........Pug, that'll do pig.

Hairychested - Member
Brant came up with the Inbred when only alu (s)old.

Your adoration of Brant is touching, but if I were him I'd be starting to get a bit worried.

Is your real name Stan?

forum project? that'll go well then.

if this forum knows so much why not do it ALL yourselves?

it'd be a challenge

@druidh, no, it isn't Stan 🙂 I just really like his bikes. Most of my mates who tried them like them too (but none of us is in any way a hardcore rider).
@thepodge, a forum project sounds better than a Brant+CK+epi project.

Theres a 10 km stretch of sandy beach and a couple of square miles of forest planted on the sand dunes a couple of 100yds from my house. I'd get plenty of use from a fat tyred bike.

considering they dropped the mmbop, a fairly mainstream frame because of poor sales I can't see a few "I would" comments on a niche frame swaying anything.

i have a prototype ti 29er coming into the country in the next couple of weeks,,
could be used as a 26 fatbike? as it has 90mm width where the tyre is .. is this enough?

417 chainstays 71 head angle and 72 seat angle
swapout dropouts for single speed hub gears

Outside the cosy world of STW, next to no-one is interested in fatbikes (or 29ers for that matter). The demand is tiny.

Yes, 29ers are restricted to such tiny niche manufacturers as Trek, Specialized and Giant... 🙄

[i]niche manufacturers as Trek, Specialized and Giant[/i]

never heard of them.

Apart from geometry there is no real other comparison you can draw between a fatbike and a 29er .. especially projected volume of sales 🙁

Outside the cosy world of STW, next to no-one is interested In fatbikes or 29ers for that matter

I think you need a reality check there colin, just because they don't sell in the shop you work in doesn't mean other people don't want to try them

there are a lot of bikes I'd like to try but not many I'd buy

@thepodge, hora, taka and ton alone will create enough market for new frames.
I live minutes from the beach, my office will be some 100 paces from another one. I tried riding my bike there, it sinks. You gonna tell me I'm the only one surrounded by sand?

So what this boils down to as there are many options available for fat bike frames is that you want Brant to design a bike...

as Brant doesn't build the bikes himself would a design suffice so just pay the man to design you a frame and go to a builder and have it made.

I live on the coast and I can see the attraction of a fat bike for riding on the beach and through the dunes. However, I can't quite justify the expense of buying one so I would be wary of buying a frame that would need some fairly pricey components to build it up. The Surly Pugsley as a complete build looks like quite a bargain when you consider some of the specialist components it has and if I had the money to spare that is where my cash would be going.

In the meantime I've fitted the biggest set of balloon tyres I could find to my Karate Monkey. It will doubtless be useless in the sand but its worth a go and I quite like the surreal ride quality.

like mine big dave ? 😉
[IMG] [/IMG]

still fancy doing this tho
[IMG] [/IMG]

@Big Dave, but if you were toying up with the new-bike idea and had a beach nearby, and the hubs on the shelf (bars, stems, brakes etc. too), would you consider one? As it can be used as a 29er of sorts, I can see a point there.
@paul78, if I knew 10% of what he does re: bike design I probably would try.

Hairychested , so just pay Brant to design you one then take design to a builder ... if there is alot of interest then get a few made and bring price down.. you could probably get a chinese builder to knock a bike out in ti from a Brant design at a decent rate especially if you go in as a group buy.

You gonna tell me I'm the only one surrounded by sand?

There must be a huge market for fat bikes in the Sahara, particularly with the current political unrest opening up the bike market there to European manufacturers. And then there's Bognor Regis...

Outside the cosy world of STW, next to no-one is interested in fatbikes (or 29ers for that matter). The demand is tiny.

Cranks, forks, wheels and tyres are all available in tiny quantities and you're not going to see any benefits which accrue from larger scale production.

TBH I'm not actually convinced that there is (or ever will be) anything other than a relatively small niche market unless the wheels and tyres can be produced much lighter and cheaper. If someone can achieve that, then it would open up a whole new area.

It's nothing new and if you read the bumph [url= http://www.balloonbikes.com/en/das_prinzip/ ]HERE[/url] then a fat bike makes just as much sense for general riding.

Firestarter, not quite. Mines a bit of a freak bike with drop bars and a mix of what ever components I could buy cheaply. I was going for a monstercross meets bargain basement sort of look and I'm ashamed to say I was quite successful! I've not even taken any photos yet because it really is a bit of a sight. Its lurking in the garage awaiting some final tweaks. The couple of rides I've had on it have made me smile though and I suspect it will get ridden quite a bit over the summer. It has certainly made me realise that even bigger tyres could be good fun.

Hairychested, I guess if some of the components (especially wheels and tyres) were more freely available and not quite so pricey then perhaps I would consider just getting a frame and building one up over time. I think to be honest though I'll have to put a fat bike down on my list of long term aims. I don't have the cash or space for one at the moment.

I know how many [s]Surly[/s] Salsa Mukluk's the factory had made, when we were there in November. It was way more than I thought.

ah big dave sounds like my cross check monster lol

If Brant were to knock something together 🙂 it would need to sell in sufficient numbers to make it worth his while, and then would cease to be niche enough for "the massive" and then "we'd" stop buying them!

If you are really looking to get a better deal on fat frames, fat bikes, fat gear, you could set up a group buy with one of the current market leaders and secure a nice trade-style discount.

I'd be interested, but only cos they look ridiculous. And I live pretty much as far away from the sea as it's possible to get on UK mainland, so not much beach use (or snow for that matter).

@Big Dave, nor do I but by the time Brant has them out I hope it'll change.
@brant, Salsa?
@Mary Hinge, look at Inbreds. No longer are we liking On-One as a company here at STW (wink wink) but we still love the 'breds.

I know how many Surly Mukluk's the factory had made

I bet they hadn't even made one. 😉

Some people on this thread seem to be missing the point that fatbikes are fantastic fun to ride on any surface.

I bet they hadn't even made one.

Damn that QBP housebrand confusion.

Some people on this thread seem to be missing the point that fatbikes are fantastic fun to ride on any surface.

Johnclimber said his mukluk was hard to ride on the muddy uphill bits at HTN. Was that his tyres? Or is that a common problem?

[s]He's UNFIT :-D[/s]
epi said a while ago they were not great in mud, but sand and/or snow.

Let me rephrase that a little.

They're fantastic fun to ride on any surface exept thick mud*.

Though sloppy mud seems fine.

*But what apart from an MX/Enduro bike is fun in thick mud. 8)

+1 @ SS stu
I agree fat bikes are more than sand / snow bikes. I've never been near any sand and missed the snow, my Pugsley still sees my carbon full susser redundent in the garage though.
Went around a local trail centre last week on my Pug and hammered a friend on his inbred who I ride with reguarly. I cleaned a climb I've previously not managed on a 23lb scott spark or s works enduro. I think they're quick down hill, on rocky stuff and very good in the mud and wet roots. They do suffer a little on fire roads and long climbs but thats a lot to do with weight and popularity could bring that down at a more reasonable cost.
Over a whole ride during the british winter my pug is't far off my mates on bikes double the price and half the weight. What it loses in some areas it gains in others, if I spent what my friends did and parts were more common and affordable I think there'd be nothing in it and the fatbike would still go places and do things that they could'nt

Brant. "If you build it they will come" Don't pigeon hole the fat bike.

The urban mtbers may not realise it, but there are places in this country where a fatbike is very useful. These photos were taken today.

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Firslty logic doesn't really come into MTB selection, people buy what they love. I can imagine them being great on the Bedfordshire summer sand. I love the idea but I don't think my knees would like the cranks that far apart.

Secondly its interesting to find out that Bristol has loads of snow

Bristol, snow update. Nope................