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Good Morning all,
I have been on a couple of off road bike packing trips on my trail/endure rig. Its worked well but wonder how much more suited the fat bikes are?
What are they like to ride? Would you recommend suspension or not?
Do they roll ok? They just look to lardy!!
Wondering if there is space in the garage for another niche bike.....
It's my "one bike to rule them all", I've blutos and some swept bars and a set of 29+ wheels on the way. So it can cope with cc, DH, enduro, trail and uplifts now. I swap the bits around to suit the sort or riding....
(Currently winter mode)
What are they like to ride?
Like er... A really grippy bike, yes the wheels are big and chunky, tyre pressures are really sensitive as to how they ride as is tyre choice. But there's not many bikes that will put such a big smile on your face every time you ride it....
Do they roll ok?
They do tend to drag a little more than regular MTBs due to the amount of tyre contact patch, but as a result you get a ton of grip.
Would you recommend suspension or not?
Depends on the sort of rideing, for bike packing prob not, but trail and bike park stuff yep.
They just look to lardy!!
Part of the appeal.. lots of "ooo mum/dad check out those tyres"....
Wondering if there is space in the garage for another niche bike…..
There's always space for n+1, however, mine was originally intended as a n+1 winter bike and I sold all of my other bike and kept this one within 6months as it's just a smile making bike. You've been warned.
I wish I had never asked. That looks like such a nice bike!! Lots 2nd hand too, guess some folk buy them and don't use them.
There's lots popping up now because people have them as n+1's and need some cash more than the bikes...
Pre covid, a high spec fat bike wouldn't sell for more than £1200, now even the low end are going for upto 80% of their rrp.
I love mine - cant see me selling it. Salsa Mukluk with aluminium frame, bought cheap off Merlin.
Last winter I ran it in trail mode with a dropper, short stem, flats (probably could have done with a Bluto but didn't have the cash). This winter its all about bikepacking with thudbuster, anything cages, slightly longer stem,spds
I can't think of a bike that has given me more fun for a while in such a variety of conditions with almost zero maintenance. I like my gravel bike but somehow knocking out the miles on that isn't such an event - plus nobody points at you
Get the right tyres at the right pressure and you are literally laughing
Get the right tyres at the right pressure and you are literally laughing
This....
Same as Winston, until recently I had a Salsa Mukluk. Loved it, used as my only bike, took it around the Lakes, Trail Centres. Could keep up with Full Suss bikes all day. Amazing thing, and always drew comments from folk. Mine had Mastodon's and 4.8 Jumbo Jim's. I really miss that bike but divorce meant it had to go. I would have another in a heartbeat. Smokestone would be my choice from Slam 69 or one of the Sonder For Fortis.
A simple Pugsley here. Its brilliant. Love it. Favourite bike. It's not as slow as people say it will be. On tarmac you need to pump.the tyres up hard. On anything soft it just rolls.
The irony is that fat bikes often make better 'mountain bikes' i.e. natural trails whereas what most people actually ride are 'trail centre bikes' for manmade trails. They will remain a niche, but for those that want to ride into the wilds, including cold and snowy places they're great, as well as being pretty good for everything else (except tarmac)
Salsa beargrease with blutos here. I love it. My only MTB atm. Just so much fun to ride. Yes its slow and draggy on road but its a hoot off it
I've done everything from a 5hr Wharncliffe winter tech sesh (rigid) to a 50 miles fully loaded (Bluto's) bike packing test ride on mine and along the way its morphed from a Dune into a Dude part by part and it always makes me smile.
I wouldn't have it as my only bike but I wouldn't part with it either. I would like some Mastadons for it as I suspect it would be an even bigger hooligan with a proper fork. As has been said, tyre choice and tyre pressure are key.
My bikepacking bike is a nice light Chinese carbon fatty frame/fork running 29plus and Jones(ish) bars. Thule rack on the back and a dropper post. 32t 11-50. It's a beast! Perfect for the job.
Prior to that it was 26x4" trail mode with 120mm Bluto and Stooge motos and that was a blast in the Alps and everywhere!
Can anyone let me know what they the steering is like on tarmac on a fat bike? The reason I ask is I have a Travers Rusti 29+ I find the front end very odd on tarmac. If I let go of the bars it just wants to snap the steering round immediately. If I lean into a left hand turn I have to consciously push the left had grip away from me so it doesn't just tuck under. Not a sensation I have had on any other bike. I suspect its a rake/trail issue but I don't know how to remedy it.
What are they like to ride?
Like a motorbike, noise and all. Feel slow but strava says they're not.
Would you recommend suspension or not?
I have one without and one with Blutos. The one without is as fast or faster for the stuff I usually do (Brechfa) but the one with Blutos is faster on the rougher stuff (Coed-y-Brenin).
Do they roll ok?
Oh yes. I can outroll XC bikes on the road. Which is odd.
They just look to lardy!!
Fattist.
Can anyone let me know what they the steering is like on tarmac on a fat bike?
Like a motorbike. You have to muscle them.
I've got a Dune. It rides fine on the road. You can feel the gyroscopic effect from the huge tyres but I can ride no handed without issue.
It's a very capable bike, unfortunately I don't have time to ride much at the moment so will probably look at moving it on soon. Guaranteed to have snow once I sell it...
On-one fatty here. Its really good fun. Rolls just fine and will blitz through berms like its a rodelbahn kart: there is SO MUCH GRIP.
The on-one wheels are crap though & I keep meaning to invest in better, but baulk at the price (it'll easily cost me £600). They need suspension. Only fork lifts and bobcats do not. If you're cruising along a fire road they bounce up and down like a JCB with each pedal stroke.
Got a Fatty, steering is a bit odd on the road but feels natural off road. It's hoots of fun and often you end up going too fast and then run into trouble as it's rigid. Leans like a bad thing into corners.
As a dissenting voice - I hated mine - Singular Puffin - it just felt too lethargic on anything except open country. It was long, it was heavy, it lost momentum like something trying to outrun a black hole when going uphill and needed quite some muscle to move it around when going downhill, The Q factor also drove me nuts.
I replaced it with a 29+ bike which (for me) was better in every single respect. It was shorter and more chuckable (it's a Stache, so was designed for this), significantly lighter, much faster up, down and around stuff, has a normal q-factor and takes standards parts (save for the tyres and rims).
My experience was that all round, 29+ could do 80-90% of what my fat bike could, but for 20% of the extra effort required by the fat bike. It even works well in snow, but not so good on sand.
Canyon Dude owner here. So a lightweight carbon frame with lightweight wheels and Jumbo Jim tyres (about 1100g each). With Bluto forks. Think it weighs about 13.5kg, maybe a bit more.
I can't comment on other fat bikes and I'm guessing they differ a lot but mine is a right laugh. What's it like to ride? A grin machine. Also across the flat and downhill it's very quick, once rolling it flies. Takes a bit more effort to get up climbs but keep spinning away and you'll get over pretty much anything. Although the J.J. tyres are crap in wet mud.
Does it look to lardy? Everyone who ever rides it says the opposite. To be honest, I bought it on a bit of a whim but it's turned out to be the most fun bike I've ever owned. And I'm having a set of 29+ wheels made up that can take 2.5-3" tyres so in that respect, it's a normal hardtail with 120mm front suspension.
Would I run a rigid fork? No because the bluto forks lockout whenever I want them to and I'd rather have the bounce when I want it. They're not that heavy anyway.
dovebiker, that's a really good point. Up here in the north of Scotland for the next
months is either man made, or its peaty and / or snowy!
I went from a bluto (80mm travel) to a carbon rigid fork, and I really don’t miss it. In fact, the bluto was so flexy, I prefer rigid with fat tyres.
Admittedly I’m riding it closer to the XC side of MTB than full gnar, but still.
Ironically, now that I'm living in the north of Scotland my fat bike is currently in storage as I only have room for one bike in current house. If we get any serious snow this winter, I'll have to swap them around.
You'd hate it, don't bother 😉
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Trek Farley - it was rigid, but after a few months I fitted some Blutos and much prefer it. Rigid forks + big, bouncy tyres (4.5" Barbegazi) + hitting bumps on a fast down-hill = a very wild ride.
Takes some effort to get up to speed, but once rolling, it sails through / over everything with less effort than a "normal" trail bike.
Make a noise like a landrover on the road, and the steering can be weird on tarmac if the tyres are very soft.
Would probably be the last bike I'd let go of.
Love my VirFortis - great for those wild but mild rides...
Can anyone let me know what they the steering is like on tarmac on a fat bike? The reason I ask is I have a Travers Rusti 29+ I find the front end very odd on tarmac. If I let go of the bars it just wants to snap the steering round immediately. If I lean into a left hand turn I have to consciously push the left had grip away from me so it doesn’t just tuck under. Not a sensation I have had on any other bike. I suspect its a rake/trail issue but I don’t know how to remedy it.
this is self steer. Its to do with tyre construction, tread pattern and pressures. Try upping the pressure. I get it at under 8 psi quite badly, go up to 9 and it disappears
Can anyone let me know what they the steering is like on tarmac on a fat bike?
My Voodoo Wazoo fatbike was used for tarmac for more than 90% of the time from Feb 2016 until the driveside crank sheared on me in June this year. As much as the replacement Voodoo Marasa is a far more sensible and cheaper commuter, I really miss using the Wazoo and must try and hunt down a replacement crank that doesn't cost a kidney.
In its stock form, it weighed ~16.5Kg. However, with a number of "upgrades" (including a pair of FatNotFat 29er wheels which still weighed ~2.3Kg rather than the fat wheels being ~4Kg), I got the weight down to ~10.5Kg and it was a surprisingly nippy hybrid.
In comparison, my stock Marasa weighs ~13Kg and feels a lot more sluggish, I must get around to weighing the wheels. It does help though that the Marasa is 3x9 compared to the 2x8 on the Wazoo.
When using the 26x4 Jumbo Jims on the road, it really helps to run them at higher pressure on the road, with tubes I was using 25PSI+ if not on the 29er wheelset. But I could still feel the extra rolling resistance, just without the weird self steering at lower pressures.
Literally just dusted mine off after a year's holiday (I broke my wist and couldn't deal with the rigid fork). Still love it, still great to ride, still makes your local trails feel new and easy trails a challenge and hard trails into a sort of riddle.
Have to admit, i do like that they've gone scarce again. It's not that I want to be niche exactly, I just like the reactions.
mine might be an exception to the fad, or rather, it might be the beginning of the end- it was the first really good cheap one. A lot of the joy went out of it for some people when you didn't have to have one welded together by a Canadian man with a beard then smuggle it back into the UK up your bum. Maxxis make fatbike tyres now and you can buy them on amazon? Ghastly.
I have a Genesis Caribou (Green one). Completely stock, weights 17.5kgs XL size. Absolutely love riding it. Rides really well, great fun. Downsides:- wish it was a bit lighter (will have to look at upgrading the wheels and go tubeless) Rear is only 170mm QR and has come loose from time to time.
I've just bought a Canyon Dude, they were on sale with a new model due out. Haven't ridden it yet but several friends have them and love them.
Looking forward to it being my main bike this winter.
Love my Dune. It's my funnest bike.
I had a Voodoo Wazoo first. The tyres on that produced really bad self steer.
I traded it in and got a Dune which is a way better bike in so many ways. The Jumbo Jims on that really don't self steer much at all.
It's rapid on the road if you pump the tyres up. Brilliant bikes.
Ignoring the n+1 rule, my fattie would be the One Bike; the Tallboys would go, the turbo training bike would go, the unicycle would go, etc etc. its just a riot of fun, its quick and deffo climbs so well - its just point and shoot cos you can ignore roots, rocks, small animals.
Such a shame its stuck in Fernie and nobody can fly to Canada.
Its only a Chinese copy covered in xt 1x12 kit, but it is superb!
Where are all these 2nd hand fat bikes of which you speak to be found?
Mildy fatty curious.
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Just heading out for a wee ride (see you in 5 days)
Just heading out for a wee ride (see you in 5 days)
Don’t look back, but you have a Koala stowing away for the trip!
That's his Davy Crockett hat
tillydog
You’d hate it, don’t bother
He's right, horrible things...
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They get you into all sorts of trouble.
it's a small dead Badger...
Another On-one Fatty here; agree, funnest bike out on the trails and mine often sees the summits of Munros on the east side of Scotland. It's got lighter wheels now, Halo Tundra rims on Hope Fatsno hubs. Nice, but not super light. Minion FBF/FBR. With a 4.8 front tyre, it helps to have 810mm bars as it takes a bit of extra leverage to overcome the gyroscope effect of a fast spinning wheel. Short travel Mastodon fork with the pro damping proved an excellent upgrade for the longer days in the hills and a big front disc is vital, as these things can travel a lot faster than you might expect... One obvious party trick is being able to climb very steep or slippery stuff that other bikes cannot look at. Less expected but great fun has been its ability to trickle down super steep, slippery muddy trails, often getting down stuff you'd really struggle with on foot. Happy days..
Something I forgot to mention yesterday regarding my fat bike was that as a bit of an experiment, last year I used mine in an XC race. I then did a lap on my 11kg carbon 29er hardtail. There was barely any difference in lap times on a 40 minute lap.
Also, as has been said, tyre pressures are everything to how they ride. If you're going to get one you must get a tyre pressure gauge. 8psi seems to be the sweet spot for me, Jumbo Jim tyres setup tubeless. Just don't use them in thick mud unless you like unpredictable handling!
Singular Puffin here (currently set up single speed to make a silly bike even sillier). Unlike the earlier poster I find it OK. Does drag on tarmac but then it also sounds like an approaching platoon of stormtroopers! Got a few PBs on mine, downhill obviously, and not too far off on quite a few other segments.
The worst conditions for them are a thin layer of mud on top of a harder substrate - they float on a frictionless layer rather than cutting through - you get very good at slow motion comedy dismounts!
I wouldn't have one as my only bike but they are sufficiently different to make sense for N+1.
I’m on a Specialized Fatboy, and whilst it’s not my go to bike, it does get used for bikepacking duties and when there’s snow on the hills. Like others, very sensitive to tyre pressure and self steer on tarmac. Definitely no plans to get rid either, great bike to have for the things I use it for.
Question re tyre pressure as it sounds like it's crucial to getting the best out of a fat bike. How do you measure the pressure? Track pump gauge, proper tyre pressure gauge or just feel and gut instinct?
Digital pressure gauge every time!
Which one? Topeak?