What is the point? Genuine question btw, not a troll.
I can see how’d they be good in snow or over sand, but it doesn’t snow that much and I guess not that many people live by the sea. What are the other advantages? They look like they’d be really hard work to pedal, are they? Are they good on boggy moorland stuff? Can you climb steeper stuff due to extra grip? Do the tyres act a bit like suspension, or do you have to run them rock hard so they don’t drag too much. Or are they just a bit niche (not that I think theres anything wrong with niche, bikes are good).
Again to reiterate, this isn’t a troll, I’m genuinely interested.

Great on soft ground, fun on trails. Roll better than you think. Suspension is not the same as a fat tyre. Nates or Bud and Lou have lots of grip. Not niche where I live, if we want to ride all year almost essential, (I’m in Anchorage Alaska by the way).

There is no point other than to make normal people cringe. They’re here solely to make the bell ends stand out so we can avoid them.

Correction. Thats two points then..

They’re fun.

Ride one for a day …then report back ……;)

#fatbiketrackworld
#enlightenme
#socomeonwhatstheylikelike

There is no point other than to make normal people cringe. They’re here solely to make the bell ends stand out so we can avoid them.

Correction. Thats two points then..

Amusingly, these were exactly the same arguments made for singlespeeds back in the day.

It’s all riding, it’s all good.

If you live were I live, they are deffo not Niche, they are the best tool in the toolbox.

If I lived somewhere shit, I wouldn’t see the point either 😉

a mate of mine who has a normal 26″ carbon cube mtb, had a go on one of my fatbikes today, he couldnt belive how easy to pedal it was, over deep gravel it just went across it no probs

there are enough of them about now – find one, have a go, it will answer all your questions, most positively

Yes they are fun to ride
yes they are harder to pedal uphill than a thin bike
Yes dirk-pumpa is a bell end
you can ride a fat bike anywhere you can ride a thin bike but
you may not be able to ride a thin bike on all the terrain a fatbike can go .
and they make you smile

Well, it can’t all be about attention-grabbing as they are often ridden where other bikes are very few and far between.

As for their speed relative to other bikes it is, as always, about the engine. If an unfit 50+ yr old like myself can pass other riders on their 5″ steeds both up and down hill, then I don’t think you can call the tyres an inhibiting factor.

As others have suggested, go get a ride on one and make up yyour own mind. As with other bikes, different models have their own handling traits but much is dictated by the tyre choice.

I had a go on a fat bike briefly, only on grass, and couldn’t get it to slide.
A bike defined by its tyres is silly but I’d still get one

Should have tried Black Floyds.

Aren’t all bikes defined by their tyres – at least in part? Even the first “MTBs” only ended up as 26ers because that’s was the best tyre option available at the time.

I must be a complete <insert derogative> then, because mine has got a belt-drive, hub-gears, ghetto tubeless and lives in a land-locked country in the tropics.

The url for this thread is most telling: the “-4” means there have been 3 previous threads with virtually the same title:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fat-bikes
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fat-bikes-2
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fat-bikes-3

…and let’s not even go with the longer fat bike thread titles – it’s like being stuck in a revolving door or lurking on Pistonheads’ General Gassing.

I’m with motorman’s closing sentiment and would like to add “leave nothing but tyre-tracks and footprints”:

A mate of mine let me have a blast on his a couple of months ago and it was a total hoot

Loads of fun & loads of traction

Resisted for a couple of months and then got sucked into the Singular Puffin crowd funding initiative

Got something great to look forward to in February now 🙂

I think it compliments my collection quite well

– 6″ travel ‘big bike’
– 140mm hardtail for most day to day riding
– fully rigid singlspeed for the winter
– Fatbike to hoon around on whenever i can…..plus some big bivvy trips 🙂

Has anyone ridden a fat bike in chiltern clag? In theory they sound like the ideal winter bike for round here, but clay based mud tends to clog and stick to anything other than pure mud tyres down here, and I can’t help but think the already heavy wheels would rapidly double in weight?

Has anyone ridden a fat bike in chiltern clag? In theory they sound like the ideal winter bike for round here, but clay based mud tends to clog and stick to anything other than pure mud tyres down here, and I can’t help but think the already heavy wheels would rapidly double in weight?

Good point Sheck – it’ll probably stick to the tyres like batshit

i’ll report back in February!!

I had a brief spin on one at Broughton last weekend, 8 PSI in the tyres it felt OK. Not sure I’d buy one but hey its the only bike not in the stable 🙂

This was the bike 🙂

If you can fit nates on or if you have a moonlander fit bud and Lou on (tyres) all mud is rideable. I ride local forests all year round and no mud is an issue with above tyres on

STW in what’s-the-point-of-the-new-bike-i-haven’t-ridden-or-tried thread shocker.

fatbikes rule

bikes rule

Not all of them do. Some are really crap.

ross980

In answer to your questions

What are the other advantages? Fun and see others below

They look like they’d be really hard work to pedal, are they? no, if they don’t make you fitter they will kill you

Are they good on boggy moorland stuff? Yes, unless it’s very, very boggy

Can you climb steeper stuff due to extra grip? Yes if you run low pressures

Do the tyres act a bit like suspension, Yes, but with loads of rebound

or do you have to run them rock hard so they don’t drag too much. – No not at all any more than 10 PSI is too high, unless your road riding, but if you are road riding Fat Bikes aren’t for you.

Get a test ride on one, I’ve got 2 (and a half fat)

Right – seriously tempted, now.

Where in S Wales can I try one out – anyone know…?

D’oh!

Get on to the UK Fatbike forum. Get all your questions answered and maybe hook up with a friendly fatbiker?

Cool – thanks, scotroutes

Surprised nobody’s pointed out how they make the trail come alive!

Seriously though they’re a lot of fun, versatile go anywhere bikes.

do you have to run them rock hard so they don’t drag too much

Iv never ridden a fat bike but Iv read numerous articles over the years stating that wider tyres and lower pressures actually roll faster than thinner harder tyres. Backed up with theory and testing too.

Clearly so much extra weight at the edge of the wheel will be detrimental to peddling efficiency and almost certainly outweigh any reduced drag benefit…

…but I wouldn’t have thought drag itself is the problem.

Id certainly have one 🙂

@sheck Don’t know about Chiltern clag but they’re fine in Ridgeway clag which I guess is simmilar – very much clay.

thanks Drofluf

dirk_pumpa – Member
There is no point other than to make normal people cringe. They’re here solely to make the bell ends stand out so we can avoid them.

Correction. Thats two points then..

What a bell end this guy is! 😆

sheck they are not the best thing for sticky clay. You are correct in what you say.
We have some of said sticky stuff here in East Lothian – despite being the sandy loam soil based driest place in Scotland (and home to approx 46 fatbikes!)
It will clag and drag them down, but they were never designed with clay in mind!.

John Climber sums them up pretty well,

Beach riding around here is only about 10 percent of a days riding on flat wet sand despite what most of the STW haterz seem to think it is all like when they see a pic of riders on flat sand.
Always easier to snap a pic while riding on flat stuff thn techie rocks and sweeping singletrack.
Most of our riding is on sandy single track with some real soft stuff which is near impossible to stay upright on a regular MTB.

And that does not mean it is slow going either, we honk on along these trails. Those who came along to Forth Fat will say what coastal cycling is like with the amazing trails above the coast line and loose rocks and pebbles and exposed rock shelfs at low tides, techy riding and a whole new door opens to what and where is possible to ride a bicycle. And that is some of the fun of these bikes.

Great on peat moorland too. Low impact having a shallower footprint than a human, something i think is very important which no fatbike manufacturer seems interested in. When you look at the damage caused in the Pentland hills here near Edinburgh over the years.
Cheviot hills is ace for them, despite the weight of around 35 lbs you can ride 40 – 50 miles in a day easy, does not compute but these things dont stall as easy on stuff and just keep motoring on over stuff.

Trail centres and fast trails? 29+ is the way to go, watch the manufacturers jump on this once they have done the 4″ tyre thing… 😉

“Trail Geometry fat bikes” is something that cracks me up :lol:.
All fatbikes are ok on trails in the UK!,
And no geometry will avoid the advantages in grip of wider lower pressure tyres to uncontrolled rebound of wider lower pressure tyres.

I think the UK based fatbike manufacturers have missed a big trick ignoring coastal cycling for UK fatbikes.
Err you not noticed we live on an island of thousands of miles of coastline?

Genesis are heading the right way with their Caribou, recognising all types of terrain from sand, snowm to other UK conditions.
Bike packing off the beaten track – something you can do all over the UK inland or on the coast and here on the Islands. I like their non bull approach too.

Riding any option of fatbike 3″ 29+ and the fatter 4″ and 5″ tyres make you grin like an idiot when you ride them, even when no one is around for miles,
That i cannot answer except that they are so much fun as all owners of them also say.
If you don`t find them fun then you may as well go play golf… 🙂

dirk_pumpa – Member
There is no point other than to make normal people cringe. They’re here solely to make the bell ends stand out so we can avoid them.
Correction. Thats two points then..

When people post things like this I’m always curious. Are they just trolling, or are they still at school or are they just Richard Hammond type personalities who are trying to suck up and impress to Jeremy Clarkson type personalities. These posts reek of an attitude of a combination of “Its different so I don’t like it” and “Its not the style of riding I’m into therefore its shit”.

Maybe this is my equivalent post, because I don’t like being an arsehole, so I don’t understand why someone would post stuff like this and act like like an arsehole. Which probably means I’m acting like an arsehole right now. I suppose if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Dick heads.