[Closed] Who still rides a fatbike 2021

About 3k in the UK fat bike club atm and you must know Judy & Roy if you ride in the Surrey hills?
https://flic.kr/p/2iQATo2

Yep - 🙋

& I'm not on the ukfatbike club FB page. If you don't promote safe cycling as part of the ethos of the page I leave.

Yep, mainly in the winter

Me too, it’s my bikepacking bike. Doesn’t get ridden too much but still great fun when I do.

10 of us out riding last Sunday.

Quite a common site around here.

I still see several fatbikes riding around Edinburgh city centre, complete with spotless tyres.
Struggling to see the point in those conditions tbh, but the riders all look happy enough.
Plenty on view when i drive through aviemore however.
I have a half fat surly karate monkey, 29x3. I can easily roll through stuff that my mate on 700x40s has to walk. That’s the whole point of them imo, suitability for the terrain you ride.
I doubt anyone would take one for a road tour in Europe.

It's only the Neds I see riding em now.

Not very often but I enjoy it when I do.
It is bloody lethal in the mud so it is mainly for hard pack and scary stuff.

Mine is all dressed up for bike packing which I will do one day...

Previously it was a hardcore winter hardtail but I've got to the age where I need a full suss for agro duties.

Yep, just bought a new (to me) smokestone henderson this year, ride in the FoD mostly...

Lots here in Norway! I mainly use mine in the winter as I have a plus bike for summer bikepacking.

Use my Surly Wednesday for commuting and for off road stuff for the last 5 1/2 years, don’t have a usable mtb anymore, mtb moved in a different direction to me and I’m not into the whole enduro thing, so it’s fatty for fun and the gravel bike for “cycling”

When riding it is the bike of choice

yep, still use my Mukluk. fat tyres for winter and a set of 29+ wheels for summer.

I use mine for gravel riding \o/

Yep. I have a Fat-e for year round and a non "e"-version for longer trips away or holidays.

In Canada, nearly everyone

Susan Tully still rides hers I believe.

I've just popped into Synergy Cycles in Auchterader.

One fatty inside, one e-fatty in the window. 🤘

I do, bought my first fatbike this year, a 2021 Surly ICT and I absolutely love it. Hadn't even rode a fatbike before buying mine, I'd been wanting one for years so decided to treat myself. Every ride on it puts a massive smile on my face!

Genuinely think that if I had to get rid of all my bikes and only ever have one bike, it would be the fatbike I'd keep.

Mine's having a rest after doing kind of heroic duty over the winter, only had it out once since March or so. I did finally take it on a beach, though, first time ever.

Me and my buddy have fattys, his an one one and me a singular puffin. Absolute hoot and turn the dull into hilarity.

and you must know Judy & Roy if you ride in the Surrey hills?

Would they be the 50+ couple that look like a pair of chilled out Hells Angels?

Certainly sounds like Roy & Judy.

I still see several fatbikes riding around Edinburgh city centre, complete with spotless tyres.
Struggling to see the point in those conditions tbh, but the riders all look happy enough.

Anti-tramline measure?

I do. This thread inspired me to re-assemble mine as it’s been in storage for 13 months. It would have been great this last winter in the Cairngorms when we had snow for the best part of 3 months. I like mine for the fact you can ride almost anywhere, not restricted to manmade trails like “mountain bikes”

Judy and Roy McNeil are your “chilled Hell’s Angels” aka Beerbabe and Beerbiker

Me…. Coastal, bikepacking and around Edinburgh sometimes.

Use mind in the mud only which is coming again in Gloucestershire so have got it ready hardly ever see them in Gloucestershire or Wilts.

Does anyone still ride theirs?
If not…why not ?…

I don't own one, but could suggest from a non-buyer perspective that new sales have dropped off as the bubble of full fat bikes got tied up with the boom-and-bust of "plus".

Everyone got excited by the prospect of grip, but then decided the compromises were too great with plus (and I'd suggest by association, fat bikes). The main killer was I reckon the perception and shared internet wisdom that big tyres couldn't be ridden fast without collapsing in corners or puncturing. And whilst it probably wouldn't have been an issue for many, many riders in reality, most people like to think they are fast. End of boom, except for those who had tried and liked them or sand, snow etc.

Obviously I couldn't have plus or fat, because I genuinely am fast and the tyres would pop in the corners, oh yes 😁

I don’t but I often think that I probably should. I bought a Surly ICT in the boom and loved it. It’s heavy though, so I “upgraded” to the carbon Canyon Dude but never really felt the love and went back to a “normal” trail bike. For the sort of exploring and bimbling I do a fatbike is ideal though. I also enjoy climbs and have never found anything that climbs as well as a rigid fatbike. All that traction and the ability to stand up and really honk on the bars without turning the bike into a pogo stick.

Ride mine (Salsa Mukluk carbon) when local riding has lost its appeal a bit. Modern full sussers make it a bit easy so a rigid, with massive undamped tyres make it more of a challenge/laugh. Also have some regular sized 29er wheels for when I need to re learn line choice.

That and the occasional snowy commute.

I do. I really enjoy riding my Pugsley. Nothing quite like it. I use a 29er for some of the riding I used to use the Pugsley for, but for some rides it’s definitely the only bike to use.

I was looking for a winter bike to keep the crap off my trail bike. Ended up getting a Norco Bigfoot and glad I did. It’s sufficiently different to other bikes in the stable that I can’t see myself getting rid of it any time, and whilst it’s perfect for winter, it’s a riot in the summer too.

The only thing that makes it slow is having to stop all the time to talk with people who want to ask how wide the tyres are / how low I run them / are they expensive / isn’t it slow with all that rolling resistance.

I often ride my Trek Farley in the Surrey Hills - basically winter/wet conditions, so it was out this afternoon on a tour of Leith, Holmbury and Pitch.

A few years ago it seemed like half the bikes at the Peaslake bus stop were fatties, but now they’ve been replaced by hoards of gravel and E-bikes.

Never heard of Judy or Roy.

Similarly to roverpig, I reckon if I hadn't missed out on a stunning looking classifieds 9zero7 I'd have really taken to that bike, ended up with a pugsley, and it was just okay.

I have every sympathy with anyone who tried a Pugsley and then decided fatbiking wasn't for them.

That's why I had to import my 9ZERO7.

The Cube Nutrail I've replaced it with is more like a big, fat, trail bike though. I wasn't sold with the idea of suspension on a fatbike until I tried it.

Umm me obviously;)

OwenP
Full Member

Everyone got excited by the prospect of grip, but then decided the compromises were too great with plus (

The demise of "plus" was mostly because manufacturers realised they could just fit 2.6 tyres instead and still ride the same wave. Kind of like how boost and 650b were mostly about making something that was different enough to sell new bikes, but similar enough to be easy to implement and less scary.

Except that 2.6 isn't anything like Plus.

(Rather like full fat, I suspect that "proper" Plus is a bit of a niche most don't need or want).

I’ve just popped into Synergy Cycles in Auchterader.

One fatty inside, one e-fatty in the window. 🤘

Yeah but you can't draw any useful conclusion from the bikes on display in Synergy, the rest are either carbon French track bikes or 10k titanium gravel custom builds 😁

scotroutes
Full Member

Except that 2.6 isn’t anything like Plus.

I know it's not, but since when does how things really are affect the marketing man and the easily-excited buyer? 2.6 is just a normal tyre that fits in most well designed bikes but that's the dream isn't it, something you can sell as a novelty without actually having to break out the pencils.

Last time I rode mine was to the beach for a swim on New Years day...

However as I can't seem to find any parts to repair my gravel bike I suspect some summer fat will be on the menu as its now my only working bike!

Only really ride anything else if its broken, or boilerplate ice.

I still love riding my fatty, it’s the bike of choice when I’m out with the dogs and kids as my slower speed really suits them. Perfect for the local woods, beach and river bank, had it seven years now and never thought about getting rid.