[Closed] PSA Cheap fat bike frames from Ritchey. Any good?

Looks fugly as sin plus it will soon be summer meaning they are pointless.

boringist looking piece of metal I’ve ever seen

Got to say, that does look like a great frame to build up a fat bike.

No idea if the forks/ frame dropout sizes are "on trend" in the still emerging fat bike world though?

Heh Tdog and what is that pointless in summer thing based on eh?

Ever tried one or just being a grump?

Ride mine all year and just as fast as anyone else so perhaps whine less try more?

Back to the OP I love the military type look but not the whole dropped top tube thing, check out Charlie the Bikemonger as he sometimes has the odd deal and also look around online as peopel like Tdog make them come up cheap regularly.

James

Fatbiker and yes #itsmyonlybike and I do everything on it all year too - as if ...

Hub width and tyre width are the older standard. (Not standard then)

same as my 2015 Trek I picked up just before Christmas for a good price.

I would have serious considered this frame if I was still looking, bit of a convert on the fat bike thing now.

Hub standards on fatbikes have settled at 150x15 and 197x12, whereas this frame is 135 and 170 QR - it was already out of date when it was launched - just limits your upgrade path and also means you'll probably need to get some wheels built unless you buy used / have some around. Also mean you can't fit the widest rubber, but only really necessary if you're heading to snowy climes.  Reviews at the time were favourable - it would be a good bike for general bimbling and bike packing.

Ignoring usual comments from the MTB 'fun police' - I'm too busy enjoying myself

It's a great deal on a great frame. But, as with all fat bikes, expect the build not to be as cheap as the frame. Like others have said the wheels will be tricky to source so you'd be better of getting custom ones made - your looking at a min of 400 for those. Chainsets for fat bikes are also a bit of a mare to find on the cheap - look at the FB fat bike selling page. Tyres are also not cheap. Full bike build on mid range gears will see you at best about a grand I recon.

Chainsets&ucpo for fat bikes are also a bit of a mare to find on the cheap

Planet X doing Sram NX fat with a ring for £40 at the moment...

"standards" wise it is a bit dated that said .........

The only real limiting factor is the HT & fork length - 1 1/8'' and with a non suspension corrected fork.

There are still plenty of 135/170mm spaced hubs about and with it requiring a 135 spaced FDS hub you can convert these to 150mm but that would only usually be required for a suspension fork.

I picked one of these up to temporarily replace my Puffin whilst its being tarted back up.

After its served its time as a fat bike it'll likely be rebuilt with 29 plus wheels as there is plenty of clearance front and back for full 3'' tyres on 50mm rims or go 650b plus fat with 3.7'' tyres.

All in it should be fairly versatile.

That would be a good option, 29+! 😃

I’m trying to tell myself that I’m not in the market for one and, actually, I’m not, if only because it can’t be set up single speed.

The frame and forks do look a real bargain though and maybe I’m alone in liking the colour. Looks like “Singular Hummingbird green” to me, aka. RAL 6003, which is good in my book.

In fact, I’m missing riding a bike that colour - I’ll have to swap back to one of my steel Hummingbirds, as a change from the Ti one.

Looks good. Wandering if I could port the parts over from my Wazoo fatty. The Voodoos a bit of a tank I imagine the Commando would be lighter.

As far as a fatty being for winter only I think I've ridden my Wazoo a load more over I last 18 months than then my Stumpjumper (which was at least  4 times more expensive) Fattys are just a lot of fun.

Not cheap enough but they do look nice. Not being able to take wider tyres would be a killer for me (not to say wider is better; but I like it more). But as above, they basically picked the wrong horse with their choice of standards and now they're inviting you to make the same mistake

"Looks fugly as sin plus it will soon be summer meaning they are pointless"

Aye, righto

Anybody get one of these cheap framesets and changed there mind? Wanting to build a cheap fat bike up.

+1 to most of what @dovebiker said and if I was buying a fat bike frame today I'd go for 197mm but ...

Just because a frame is 170mm rear dropout doesn't mean it's limited to 4" tyres like the Ritchey frame. My Puffin is 170mm and can take 4.7" tyres. There's not that many tyres of that size, 4.6" is reasonably common and there's a good selection at 4.8". My wife's Surly Wednesday is 170mm rear as well and can take up to 4.6", it's got 4.3" Ednas at the moment. Both bikes have 150mm forks so really a curious halfway house between the two "standards", my Puffin actually has a Travers carbon fork I'm not sure if the original fork is 150mm.

A quick search for wheels gives some decent (Halo, Salsa) options for 170mm rear but not many for 135mm front - first few hits only give one Salsa wheel in that size all others are 150mm.

Fat bikes are great for cheeky riding: folk forget that you aren't meant to be there and just gawp at the tyres and usually want to have a chat about them 😉 👍

My god that's ugly

Good lord that’s a steal at £179. Wish I managed to pick one up!

I bought a Salsa Mukluk from Merlin instead of the frame only option.

I think that was a good move....