[Closed] Would you buy a (new) fatbike for ~£1k?

zippykona - Member

How does 60 tpi v 120 tpi affect a tyre?
My 2 120 tyres are comfier than my 60tpi tyre. However my 60 tpi doesn't self steer.
I appreciate I'm comparing 3 different tyres from 3 different manufacturers.
Surely you want to have "strong"sidewalls to keep the tyre pointing the same way as the wheel?
Looking at adding to my tyre mountain. The minion 60 tpi weighs the same as a 120 and is £25 cheaper. I would assume a 4.8 tyre will already be comfy so I might as well go for rigid sidewalls.
Am I missing something?

TBH it's not so simple, different tyres perform so differently, it's hard to see much in common between say a 120tpi Bud, Minion and Jumbo Jim. Construction is so much more than plies.

Buuut... As I understand it, all other things being equal, 120tpi is more pliable, and that generally adds up to less rolling resistance. WIth fatbikes you have so much tyre deformation going on that if the tyre isn't deforming fast enough, you're essentially pushing along a bow-wave of rubber. It's the reason they're surprisingly easy to pedal while going slowly, but then the drag ramps up as you "catch up" with the tyre. Hysteresis, is the posh name, tyre lag essentially.

Your self steer isn't a ply thing, that's tread and pressure- mostly tread I think and then once you have a selfsteery tyre pressure affects how much you get, seems to be how that works.

Any more news on the potential Dune plus? Really tempted to just get a dune or a wazoo whilst the price is down.

Emmenthal wheelset was £144 in all flavours earlier at PX, ~2900g for the pair, which makes them ~500g lighter than the default Wazoo set i think. Not just about weight though, those El Guapo hubs might be better long term.

Anyone else tempted by the Selcof carbon post for £35?

Is the post on the wazoo 27.2 or 31.6mm?

n0b0dy0ftheg0at - Member

Emmenthal wheelset was £144 in all flavours earlier at PX, ~2900g for the pair, which makes them ~500g lighter than the default Wazoo set i think.

<Duneists vs Wazooers>

Upgrading to the same rims we get as standard 😉

Nice light hubs and spokes though if those numbers are right, the rims are 930g apiece so the rest of the wheelset is doing well.

Is the post on the wazoo 27.2 or 31.6mm?

I vaguely recalled (crashtestmonkey?) comprehensive post about weights and sized saying 31.6mm, but on Sunday afternoon, I went down to the garage and I'm fairly sure that my post had 31.6mm stamped near its base.

But if you are thinking of pulling the trigger, do check for yourself and don't blindly trust my word. 😉

I think that Selcof carbon post has less layback than the default Wazoo, something like 20mm vs ~35-40mm. I'm tempted, but I'm wary of my ~88-90Kg weight when all kitted to ride (some carbon posts I've seen suggest 75Kg rider limit), it's hard to know how suitable it is for anything more than tarmac or very light off-road, plus will I notice its benefit (maybe with my skinny wheels/tyres, I suspect not with JJs)?

Upgrading to the same rims we get as standard

Nice light hubs and spokes though if those numbers are right, the rims are 930g apiece so the rest of the wheelset is doing well.

So the Dune wheel rims are the same as these One One Emmentals, but not the same as the Wazoo rims?

The Emmental/El Guapo wheels, even though the Shimano versions are £50+ cheaper than I've ever seen, are now a non-starter for me (or as least I think they are). If my Carbon Fatty Fork arrives, it has Rear Disc Spacing, while I think these wheels are Front Disc Spacing... But then the FatNotFat wheelset blurb did not mention spacing and I had to get the adaptor to make the RDS front wheel fit the FDS default Wazoo fork! Plus I should have an RDS front Fatty wheel arriving for £34, allowing me to run fat or notfat with the carbon fork.

Fatbike standards- even better than normal standards.

Yeah, the Emmenthals are a pretty standard OE rim, same as on the Dune and a ton of others, they're also sold as POG on ebay and I've heard it's the same extrusion as the Halo Tundra- though, I don't know if that's true. Not bad kit at all tbh, heavy but solid enough, slight pain in the arse to do tubeless but I got it working grand with foam.

Out of curiosity, while getting my fat wheels operational again (which included being a little OCD and wanting to put the SV13J tube on the rear and the SV13F on the front), I decided to weigh the default Wazoo wheelset, to compare against those Emmental rim with El Guapo hubs (only 1 set of the QR 135/170s left btw, that fit the Wazoo)...

Front ~1570g (Formula Oro 180mm adds ~140g, rotor bolts estimated 50g, skewer not weighed yet)

Rear ~1756g (Formula lightweight 160mm adds ~100g, bolts est. 50g, CS-HG31-8 11-34 est. 334g, skewer ~100g)

I'm a novice to this weighing bike stuff, so that thick green rim tape is in place and the rear hub has plenty of grease in it, plus I was rather slack not getting actual weights for the rotor bolts and cassette! 😉

So the PX wheelset is ~1431/1498g, so ~397g lighter.

Has anyone seen anywhere this side of the Atlantic selling Maxxis Minion FBF in 4.0 flavour?

Promise this isn't a stealth ad. Advice required. Going to sell my Dune (new bike coming, strict 1 in 1 out policy and I've decided I prefer chubby to full fat). It's been massively upgraded and my instinct it to replace the original parts to sell. They're only one ride old and as it's a 'cheap' bike, I reckon I'll do better selling it without a massive price hike for XT 10 Speed, Reverbs, etc...

I've got all the bits in the shed, might start to swap stuff back later, but any thoughts welcome.

Alex

There's a std Dune on eBay failing to sell at £450, a bit high when it's possible to get a new one for around that figure.

I think I'd try a price as std and upgraded and see what interest you get.

Minion 4.0 is arriving in January.

@jeff thanks. If it goes back to std, I'd let it go for way less than £450.. that's mad. Think I'll stick in the local bike shop with a FS sign and see if anyone wants to take a punt..

Interestingly, the Dune is now listed on GoOutdoors website with a 'more colours' banner, although there's no way to select anything other than yellow, yet....

I know I've read about this earlier in this HUGE thread, but can't find where - so I apologise for getting you to cover old ground...

I've started to get side to side play on the rear wheel of my Dune. For those of you who have stripped the hubs already, did you experience anything like this? If so how did you solve it?

Cheers

Check the hanger bolts in the first instance as mine felt like there was play but it was just the hanger.

I'm thinking about getting back into fatbiking and these two models fit the bill. Which one would you suggest is the best to slowly but fairly inexpensively upgrade over time ? Or am I better off getting a second hand fatty? Thanks.

Depends on what bits you have in mind to upgrade, unfortunately you have missed the best prices at PX in their current sale for most fat components. I paid...
£89 carbon fork
£5 fork bung
£34 front fat wheel for above RDS fork
£40 Knuckleball "chewy" bars
£20(?) El Guapo Corto stem
£150 FatNotfat 29er wheelset (so regret not buying these @ £120 around Easter)

If you can afford to splash out £1k in one hit, I think buying the new SRAM NX1 Fatty Trail with a Bluto fork is an excellent buy.

If you look around on Wiggle, Hargroves, Merlin etc. there are some other fatbikes that have had decent discounts recently, such as Felt and Charge brands.

I was hoping to spend about the dune cost and slowly upgrade from there. I have 99% parts right now apart from wheels and I thought the dune wheels were ok? It seems the choice between the wazoo and dune is quite tight.

Maybe I'm biased but I'd say if you're planning upgrades, the Dune is the best budget buy out there by a long way. It's got a really good core, dressed in some absolute rubbish parts- but it's all modern standards, 150 and 197mm bolt-throughs, a quality frame all round that'll take 4.8 tyres and a bluto without really changing anything and do anything you ask for it. And the wheels are decent if a bit weighty, the tyres are quality (not to say great, I've not used the kendas but they're worth money if you don't like em).

I'm probably into mine for about £1250, maybe as much as £1500, and tbh I don't see anything else that I'd rather have for that price.

The Wazoo makes more sense out of the box but IMO doesn't have anything like the same potential.

Thanks Northwind sounds good. Now just to find either new or second hand.

Re the question about Dune rear wheel movement, first check the gear hanger bolts are still in place/ done up and I believe Northwind ate his bearings a couple of months before my Dunes rear bearings were consumed. Can't remember the race nos. but readily available, cheap and easy.

Oh sorry, missed this one.

maksogun - Member

I've started to get side to side play on the rear wheel of my Dune. For those of you who have stripped the hubs already, did you experience anything like this? If so how did you solve it?

I'd check the mech hanger too, mine came loose (it came with too-short bolts which I think has been fixed on newer models). But yep, the bearings in my rear hub were proper shit. Not a big deal, it's a really simple hub to work on and the bearings are cheap. IIRC I used a Hope bearing set as the cheapest way to get quality bearings but I can't remember exactly which.

Starting to wonder if we should have a separate bargain components thread, but as this is fatbike related...

At Chain Reaction There are 4.7" Vee Bulldozers for ~£30 each, also Vee8 4.0" for ~£18 each.

Bulldozers any good?
I'm thinking as a rear on my OO fatty if it will fit.

Merlin have various promos on this weekend...

10% off lights
5% off orders over £50
8% off orders over £100
10% off orders over £250

Makes a pair of 4.0 Jumbo Jim snakeskins a few pennies under £100, go via Topcashback and get at least 2.1% off your order.

anyone got any copy images of that green Dune that was linked a few pages back? Looks like page has been taken down.

Update: Have decided to reduce the stable and its the Dune thats staying. I love my other hardtail with all its fancy bits on it, and I will miss it, but the Dune simply gives me a simpler happier package for less dough.
Haven't taken the plunge and gone tubeless yet. Have seen many comments on here about how easy it is - im not yet convinced!
Either way, I want to ditch the tubes.

Hello everyone. Babble here with my first post ever.

Wow, what a fantastic thread. Really useful for me and overall just a nice positive helpful chat! I've just spent the last two days working my way through it and by page 18 I had ordered my Calibre Dune on line. I seem to be the only person here who has paid full price (£599), but I am thinking about cancelling my order and waiting and/or signing up to this Topcashback thing n0b0dy0ftheg0at keeps going on about. Then again I need the bike before the end of October as I am heading off to the Alps (where the bike will live from then on!) and I want to take it with me.

I had started off looking for a second HT MTB with a budget of around £500 as a spare for my friends when they come to visit. (I was looking second hand) Then i thought, why not get something a little different from what you have so you have some variety in your stable...so then i looked at full suspension bikes, but they are pretty pricey, then i came across the fat bikes. I thought it seemed like a gimmick, but this thread has convinced me that it is more than that, they really do seem to be genuinely good fun and something a bit different. Where I will be living in the future, in the foothills of the Alps, there is plenty of lovely open space, national parks, single track, possibilities of wild camping, snow in winter, etc. can't wait to get out there and ride.

good work - thanks to you all. (for the advice on upgrades, tyres, etc. etc....)

so..i cancelled my order and then reordered through topcashback. saved £37 quid, which should go towards getting a new tyre or two at a later date. (if the jugganought turns out to be a watt-sappingly draggy as the test here suggests: http://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/ )

Did anyone find a source of Dune rear mech hangers?

yes! posted on page 21:
[i]
"nickgti - Member

Attention Caliber Dune owners!

I've found a rear mech hanger that fits, the Scott Big John appears to be the same frame.
I've bought and tested one from here:

https://www.westbrookcycles.co.uk/scott-big-jon-replacement-derailleur-hanger-p298404

You just need to swap across the black end cap. "[/i]

Thanks babble - fresh eyes and all that! Ordered.

Enjoy your Dune, a fantastic fun bike which has over shadowed my 29er, its just so capable - climbing up anything, fun and confidence inspiring downhill, and I don't find it draggy except, perhaps, on tarmac - easy answer there! I did the off road Lindon 2 Brighton yesterday and wished I'd taken it!

If you've got some extra cash, upgrade the brakes to a decent set of hydraulics - mine had Smiths but I didn't like them, so I got a nearly new set of Deores along with a 1x10 shifter and clutch mech for £100, then went 1x at the same time as I also didn't like the crunchy front mech, and the rear freehub got jammed up with crud so the chain fell off all the time. With new cassette, BB and cranks quite expensive, but much better after.

Quick question for those with the original "medium" Dune. What's the height from the floor of the seat clamp? (in mm please) Just checking for a person of small stature 🙂

Who is the tallest person here with a large Dune?

Price for the Claibre just went down £100! £499 for now, plus that funny cashback discount thing from Topcashback. I phoned up and Go Outdoors are going to refund me the £100, so from origianlly paying £599, i have ended up paying £462. That pays for the new brakes and a (Decathalon) dropper post. Awesome!

Mine will be a large. I'm just on 6 foot - don't suppose I will be the tallest though, but I will let you know how it fits.

The only shame is that it no-longer comes with Jumbo Jims, but Jugganaught Pros, which are supposedly very draggy....

That changes things hugely and i''m having a coffee literally round the corner to a store...

yes, it really is a ridiculous price for what, but all accounts, is a pretty light, good frame, (very similar to the scott bike) which is fully upgradable in terms of 4.8 wheels, thru axels, tappered steerer etc.

i got these brakes from Germany: http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/deore-disc-brake-br-m615-set-88973?lang=en

£80, very well reviewed rock solid hydros. They have already arrived, now i just have to wait a few weeks for my bike to arrive....

Well damnit. Only page 9 and I think I might be sold...

Three reasons.

Positive peer reviews
Affordable price, I'll have enough spares to fix immediate issues (wide bars and hydraulic brakes).
Mike's engagement and service - seriously impressed by that.

Will have to wait a bit as building a new HT at the mo, but hopefully before Xmas.

signing up to this Topcashback thing n0b0dy0ftheg0at keeps going on about

Who is the tallest person here with a large Dune?

The only shame is that it no-longer comes with Jumbo Jims, but Jugganaught Pros, which are supposedly very draggy....

Enjoy your Deores - they are a perfect upgrade for the Dune.
I've probably blown best part of a grand all-in on mine but as a result it stops and goes so well now. It has been a great addition to my garage.

Nice price drop on the Dune, makes it cheaper than the Wazoo currently after Topcashback! 😆

/\ this guy 😆

haha - there's the topcashback sales rep dude again!

it's great - i got £37 more off my bike with topcashback, and all i had to do was give them my soul. (which they can then sell on to every insurance, sales, marketing, advertising company in the world, who can then following me around for the rest of my life demanding tiny bits of my life from me...)

Bargain!!

oh, and thanks for all the advice and welcome's etc everyone. i'll post up some photos when i get the bike and start using it in anger....

oh (no. 2) - is there any reason, if i replaced the back cassette with a 9-speed i have, with associated rear mech and shifter, that i couldn't just keep the front cranks and replace the big ring with a bash guard - i.e. a simple 1x9 set up?

umm.. I dont think so. You may find issues with tyre clearance when on biggest cog as your front ring would effectively be in the 'inner ring' position. Only one way to find out..

If you end up taking the new crankset plunge - I took Northwinds advice and went for the Raceface Aeffect. It's brilliant. Looks great, easy to set up, easy to change ring, solid, light(ish) weight.

Gratuitous repeat photo opportunity:
[URL= http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/ae168/keepitsteel/C08CEC6C-0645-4B62-8FC7-24BBE5BE24BF_zpsqzjqo0d5.jp g" target="_blank">http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/ae168/keepitsteel/C08CEC6C-0645-4B62-8FC7-24BBE5BE24BF_zpsqzjqo0d5.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

Well i bought one via Topcashback and picked it up this afternoon
Reflectors, bell etc off. Pedals, seatpost and saddle on from another bike
First ride tomorrow!

Enjoy!
I actually found the original saddle pretty comfy. But it's the law to change saddles on a new bike.