[Closed] Have fat bikes run their course?

Worst of all worlds fat bikes

29 plus a good compromise .

Last two weekends I've been out on mine (see the weekend riding threads). Checking VeloViewer I'll have done seven rides on it since the beginning of October - I've been injured for most of the month so that equates to probably half my rides.

Here's mine above Wharfedale on a bit of cheeky footpath 🙂

Still definitely niche though! Don't know if the Dune is still for sale at Go Outdoors but that's about the only place you are likely to see one in a showroom (only ever seen one other shop with one for sale) and apart from CTBM there can't be that many shops that stock fat bike components/spares such as tyres.

Not for me its not.  NOt been riding much but whenever I do the fatbike is the one I choose 'cos it makes me giggle

Yep, I think OP has scooped it.  Maybe they were dying quietly and no one wanted to admit it?

Fatbike season is almost upon us...

I think that a sure sign that it's pretty much all over is the lack of an efatbike!

Or all the stupid questions have already been asked, hence fewer threads, so its reduced to the annual "are fat bikes dead" thread.

Still my most used bike by some margin, although the commuter is catching up.

I think that a sure sign that it’s pretty much all over is the lack of an efatbike!

Cube, Mondraker, Haibike.

Suntour make a hub motor for them, and most of the aftermarket kits are available with 100mm BB's.

Mine gets as much use as all my others, though I’ve been sidelined since June...

I hear that all the cool kids are going to be buying singlespeeds soon...

Gearbox is where it’s at now, flashy dahling. The look of singlespeed without the agony, but more to talk about when others ask what it is...

Singlespeed fat bike, with funny bars, I've got all the niches covered!

Doubt I'm cool though.

more to talk about when others ask what it is…

😂

Still going strong, still fun, still a fantastic all-rounder at any time of year.

They're past the point of people making a lot of noise about them but that doesn't mean anything when it comes to people riding them or buying them. I think manufacturers overshot- there was a spell about 2 years ago where there was space in the market and everyone was crapping out a fatbike, and by the time they all got to market that space was vanishing.

But the internet hate machine moved onto ebikes and the hype machine onto allegedly plus tyres that are actually just normal tyres, the mainstream fatbikes stole most of hte thunder from the expensive guys selling pretty ordinary bikes and parts for huge prices, and anyone who wants one, just buys one, like any other bike.

I'm still fat whenever the ride is more xc style. Love my Dune.

Don’t know if the Dune is still for sale at Go Outdoors but that’s about the only place you are likely to see one in a showroom

There was one in Leisure Lakes in Bury the other day IIRC

In my corner of West Yorkshire they are still growing for winter fun once we put the FS away.

Between us we have a Dune, Dude, ICT, 3 x Mukluks, Cooker and a Farley. Quite simply, anybody who tries one buys one...

A carbon Beargrease and a Mondraker too.

N+1 typesare all having Tommy Tanks over gravel bikes at the moment. That will pass at some point too.

Marketing bods will have to think of some niche too far again

still my main bike. My surly ICT, with bluto's is superb. got a vir fortis carbon fatty for training/racing. a couple of plus bikes. the only thing i've got, kinda normal is my camino ti gravel bike.

epicyclo

Fatbike season is almost upon us…

There's a season for fatbikes? Does that mean I've broken a rule by riding mine year round?

Love my Fatty.

Don’t know if the Dune is still for sale at Go Outdoors but that’s about the only place you are likely to see one in a showroom

Or Bothy Bikes in Aviemore.

Or Nevis Cycles in Fort William.

As with all these things there have reached a plateau (see very good graph above).  A lot of people rush to try the new thing (single speed, fixed gear, fat bike).  Many find it was not really for them while others stick with it.  You then have a base of riders who just get on and ride their singlespeed, fixed gear, fat bike etc,. without the need to talk about it like it is something amazing.  Gravel bikes are still in the peak of inflated expectations.

Take up and interest has plateaued at a low level, so the slow death has already begun.

With hindsight my fatty’s best aspect was that it wasn’t a full sus.

It was a rigid bike with suspension.

I loved the directness of pedalling it. No bob ,no winding the bike up just pedal and go.

I have since bought a Scandal and it does everything I ask of my fatty but with less effort required.

Not ridden my fatty for months. It won’t get a look in this winter as narrow tyres are better in the mud.

All the nice bits have been taken off the fatty and put on other bikes. The Hope D.T wheels are getting sold and the On Ones going back on.

I would sell it but Mrs Zip reminds me that I loved it so much that if I get rid of it I will just buy another at some point.

So it’s gone to the bottom of the bike pile to become a once a year beach bike.

edit. I will just add that the orange 5 I bought was worse to ride than the fatty.  That has definitely been sold.

@scotroutes - ah, the frozen north 🙂

I suppose the amount of use depends on where and what you ride. For heading out across peat moorland on rarely used bridleways they are ideal, for blasting round trail centres less so - not that that stops people doing it of course. I got mine because I'd entered a fat bike race in Lapland and didn't have a fat bike, definitely putting the cart before the horse with that one! It's not my most used bike by any means but it gets me out and into places that other bikes would struggle with.

I found my fatbike great at glentress.  really was great fun.  what its not so good for is the longer xc rides I do - after 30 plus miles on it the effort of pushing those fat sticky tyres wore me out.

Nope, i live in Norfolk so "gnarly" mountain biking is a bit limited, but main two bikes are a gravel bike as it allows me to link all the local bridleways with road sections really well and come up with some inventive routes of 50-60 miles or my fat bike, we have miles of beautiful sandy beaches here and the seals on the coast, and fat bike is perfect for riding on the sand.

Often hold East Anglia rides and get 10-15 people turn up.

It has gone from being something new and weird, to just another style of bike. People used to stop you all the time and ask questions, but not so much anymore as they seem to be used to them.

Take up and interest has plateaued at a low level, so the slow death has already begun.

Think you may not be understanding what plateau means 🙂

I still have mine and no plans of it's imminent demise - haters gonna hate, just that they've focused their ire more on gravel bikes, or any other format that doesn't meet their notion of what a 'mountain bike' should be, particularly as IMO the fat bike is probably the most capable bike for all-day rides in natural terrain.

what its not so good for is the longer xc rides I do – after 30 plus miles on it the effort of pushing those fat sticky tyres wore me out.

particularly as IMO the fat bike is probably the most capable bike for all-day rides in natural terrain.

Can on fanbois, get your party line sorted!

Think you may not be understanding what plateau means

Fat bike owner then?  Thought you might be happy that it is becoming more niche.  Surely that's the main appeal for many owners?

It's a pretty simple term, but by all means enlighten me?  Quite happy to explain what I meant in simpler terms if you misunderstood it 🙂

Tell you what, you go ahead and tell me what you think I meant, and then I'll correct you.  Can't say fairer than that.

PS.  I don't have any particular 'like' or 'hate' for fat bikes, just calling it like I see it.

the hype and bandwagon may have been and gone - the quick money has been made by duping the curious and the gullible  - but doesnt mean they aint still good fun.

Fat bike owner and happy - winter is nearly here .... mines was out for a pre winter warm up spin last weekend - surprisngly due to the fact its a hub geared hardtail with ceramic/stainless bearings where possible it still runs like it did when i hung it up in the spring.

legend - I suspect the difference is in how many miles.  After 30+ miles I found it tiring - much more so than my hardtail.

fat bikes: yes - the hype is over.

But: nice niche. Where I live the fat bike is used in winter / snow conditions - but there are not too many bikers out in the winter.

I love to bike in winter time. For the manufacturers it's a very small market so.

In summer time other types of bikes are faster and more fun? Close to NO fat bikes in summer time around any more.

I think the reason I love mine is that it feels so different to my Rocket. We all spend 2/3rds of the year going flat out on very capable trail bikes, its nice to chill out on the fatty, it genuinely makes me smile, surely that's a win 🙂

As I say, my conversion rate is 100% for those that try mine and every one of them rides a big fast enduroweapon too.

Anyway, I'm off for an adventure on my gravel bike 😉

I think Kerley has it. Although I see more around now than in recent years, there's far fewer manufacturers still making them.

Plenty of activity on the UKFatbike Club Facebook page, and global fatbike day round the corner so we all get to meet up, do the 'bike compare posture' thing, ride a bit and drink beer together.

Round my way it's a idealr bike for the bogs and beaches so there's quite a few around. Probably less visible if all youve got is gravel tracks or rocky mountains. Horses for courses, innit?

27.5+ has more-or-less killed mine off

Rolls along almost as well and has 90% of the grip without the spacehopper ride. If the fat bike was 29x3" and had a fork it would be pretty close but at the moment it's in the shed with a patina of summer dust

I think the fatbike being the next big thing manufacturer rush has finished.

I still know people that love theirs though.

And, on the other hand, people who own them and smugly take them out in the tiniest dusting of snow, where a road bike could cope, feeling special until they're passed by a road bike or normal mountain bike. (edit - passed either way, not necessarily overtaken)

I'd like to have one but it wouldn't get enough use with my current riding diet.

I think the reason I love mine is that it feels so different to my Rocket.

Same here, except I don't have a Rocket.  I've got a few bikes from fads of yesteryear: gravel, fat, rigid ss, 26" straight steerer 2x9 hardtail, I like riding them all not because they do a job the best, but because they do it differently.  I ride one for a bit, think it's flippin' brilliant, and just ride that one for a bit, then get an itch to give another one a run out.

Occasionally there's a ride where "the best", is required, then it's the fatty:  snow, sand, rubbly rock, frozen chunder.  And, in a month or so, it's going to have a yepp mini kiddie seat on the front and I'll be talking the little one out for his first bike rides.

I met two guys riding them at an uplift day. Tyres pumped rock hard. THey LOVED them, but siad they were "terrible on roots"

I just had to walk away