First fat bike

Hi all,

Christmas is here and I’m thinking about getting fat!

I am after a fat bike for trial riding both on and off piste and possible ventures into the peaks.

I like the look of the Surly Wednesday and Ice cream truck but they are low spec’d compared to others and are a bit heavier.

I’ve also been eyeing up the Cube Nutrail and Nutrail Pro and the On one fatty trail. The on one looks good value but I’m not overly keen on the brand but I could be being a bit snobbish.

The Canyon Dude CF9 looks great value but I’m worried about the warranty.

I am trying to get a demo to see what I think.

Any advice?

How would the the Ice Cream Truck handle round Llandegla or Cannock? Would it be fun or would it be a huge lump that would be unwieldy?

Are the stupid big tyres a real alternative to a suspension fork?

Thanks

I love taking my Fatty Trail to trail centres. It’s is slower on the climbs; awesome grip on the downs (and the rocky / roots climbs). Not the same as a full sus but it’s great fun; I have no regrets about buying mine but personally I don’t think it can be your only bike – especially if you regularly ride with mates not on fat bikes.

If I was you I’d swallow the brand snobbery and if you’re going to get one, you’ve got 4 hours.
Similar to you, fatty will be my only bike, sold the FS and the HT, done everything I want to do on a full sus and normal HT, gone stale.
Today and just until midnight they are doing 20% off everything, which meant you can get the fatty trail for just over a grand, utter bargain, ordered mine today, can’t wait.

With the right tyres they are more than capable of being your only bike, depending on what you ride that is.

as long as you are not too into strava

get a surly

wednesday would be ace

Ive got a ICT, and it overkill for most, but I don’t care, its not about speed to me, and the 4.8’s on 100mm rims are pretty much as big as they come

you can upgrade parts as you go

I think if i was buying something as an all rounder I would look at the fat bike on alp kits website

sell all your other bikes, you won’t ride them anymore

Head over to Alpkit.

Have a look at their Vir Fortis Carbon fat bike.

Very good spec, very light, I ride mine regularly at Afan Argoed, typical trail centre .

Wednesday is great. I love them. The spec is in the rims, hubs and frameset.

I would definitely have an (extended) test ride if you don’t know what they handle like.

I recently bought a Nutrail and very hapy with mine. I would say the Dude is an awesome looking bike. I would have bought it if I hadn’t got a massive Black Friday discount on the Nutrail. I would say you want one with a Bluto fork. Makes enough of a difference on the harder terrain to be worthwhile. You still get some hardtail-type shock through the rear although it’s much, much less. To counter the ideas about climbing, I am significantly quicker on steeper stuff than my Blur LTC and that is no slouch of a bike. I find on the downs I can’t quite throw it like I can the Blur but as it’s a 150mm all mountain bike that’s actually reassuring.

steve_b77 – Member
With the right tyres they are more than capable of being your only bike, depending on what you ride that is.

This. Only gonna be mincing around the Cannock trails from now on, which means I will be needing to be out on the cheekies all year round too to stop the boredom – the Fatty Trail, at that price especially, was the clear winner.
Designed for trails, 67.5 slack head angle, 120mm Bluto’s. Could have been made for Cannock and as long as I keep the fitness up, places like Degla too.

Agree on the Canyon and the Nutrail – like you, without today’s massive saving from On One, I was probably leaning towards the Dude with the rigid carbon fork.
A mate of mine whose been riding fat bikes for a while, HT and rigid – told me to go for a Bluto equipped bike – still needed on the rougher stuff and much better to control – worth the weight penalty, he said.

I have an ICT, it’s amazing. Like Charlie said, the value in the Surly’s is in the wheels, tyres and frame. Brakes and gears are consumables and can be replaced fairly cheap and easy. Fatbike wheels are not cheap.
Get the Wednesday, if I didn’t already have an ICT, I’d buy one.

Big fat tyres don’t replace suspension, they are more of an alternative to suspension. With HUGE amounts of grip.

The on one website is still showing full price!

I love the look of the Salsa Beargrease NX1, but you can’t get em over here yet and I didn’t want to wait any longer.

Tofu – when you get to checkout – you have to type into the voucher code bit..PLANETXMAS16…it’s on the Planet X site side, for some reason and not On One.

Fatties are perfect for trail centres just don’t take them on natural rocky stuff!

whoops forgot the 😉

Fatties are perfect for trail centres just don’t take them on natural rocky stuff!

Oh! That’s not good! Why?

If you are using it for trail centre stuff and not for a beach/snow etc than a 27.5+ or 29+ bike is a better tool for the job in my experience. 3″ tyre is plenty unless you are on soft sand etc

Got a dude, rigid, it’s great, light and fast .I’ve had a few Canyons and the after sales service has been very good, a couple of warranty issues have been sorted out swiftly. I always look around before a new bike purchase but find it hard to look beyond a canyon in terms of bang for buck.

Again, why limit yourself? It’s not the bike but the rider, 99% of the time. My mate rides the Peaks and Lakes all the time on his On One Fatty (rigid fork!) now obviously, he’s exceptional and also fit as **** – but still.

If you are using it for trail centre stuff and not for a beach/snow etc than a 27.5+ or 29+ bike is a better tool for the job in my experience. 3″ tyre is plenty unless you are on soft sand etc

Agree, up to a point. Cannock gets a right mudfest over winter though and I want something that I can ride then too, without having more than one bike.

Dude rigids look great – they did have 300 quid off as well until today then all I could see was the new range – otherwise the green one they had – the 8 CF? – was a proper contender.

I rode my Fatty all summer and come the winter I returned to commuting on my full guarded suspension bike.
Didn’t like it one bit and built up a rigid full guard bike to commute on.
I love the no bobbing when climbing out of the saddle and the directness of power delivery.
There’s no rocks around my way so suspension is not really missed.

What Wiggles says

🙄
Untitled by Richard Munro[/url], on Flickr

I’m very tempted with the on one and with 20% off is a bargain. I am not 100% so I am going to be sensible and leave my card in the pocket…. I may regret this but £1500 is a lot of cash to get it wrong.

The Wednesday with my Hope Tech3 and XT 1×11 in the garage could be a cool option. Are the formula hubs any good?

Understandable – I’ve just gone for it and hoped for the best, mostly. Haven’t ridden one but have heard enough peeps say they are good (perfect for what I want to be doing).
Budget was one big thing though – with a budget of 1400 quid, the Fatty Trail was just too good to ignore.

No idea on the Formula hubs but I know the brakes are top notch – had em on two bikes now. I believe Charlie the Bikemonger has a couple of Wednesdays at a discount?

Good man,. let us know how you get on with it.

I’m still very tempted…

I was dithering between the Nutrail or Dude, then saw the Charge Cooker Maxi 2 and got that reduced from Evans. It’s ace, climbs over anything, fun at trail centres, superb on rocky natural stuff. Spec is good and with a dropper fitted it could be my only MTB (if it fitted on uplift trailers, so my FS still has a job).

please remember

A fatty is for life – not just for Christmas

My dude has been amazing. I would get another.

i just got a Wednesday so all is good in the world 🙂 and an O-One is a great bike to whet yer fatty feet on 8) Just do it!

Has anyone seen a Large Wednesday demo bike are their travels?

Decent wheels and tyres is what makes a good fatbike, particularly tubeless – this is the big let-down on the O-O as you could probably end up spending another £500 on decent wheel and tyres. If your budget is limited, then used might be better value than buying new?

Fair point – I’ll have to see. Thing is, I love the frame of the Fatty Trail, I like the sound of it being so slack and on 120mm Bluto’s too – so the rims will do for now. If I get on with the bike, then yes, wheels and hubs are always upgrade-able.
Tyres are sorted – upgraded to Jumbo Jims, which I have been assured are a BIG improvement on the On One own brands on offer.

Have to agree with dovebiker.

I bought the Sonder Vir Fortis as stock.

Since owning it the made some big upgrades , DT Swiss wheels tubeless tyres, flip between the Lauf Carbonara and Bluto fork.

Wheels and fork make such a difference , but are spendy items.

Good thing about the Lauf , is fit and forget.

Whatever you get, enjoy and ride.

How do the Surly wheels compare to the likes of DT?

I can’t say I would totally agree with the plus bike option for trail centre riding though.

I had one of the first Trek Stache 9 ‘s, and just didn’t gel with it I suppose.

The fat bike is better for me and more fun, but there’s not much mud to be seen at Afan.

Main attraction for me is the comfort of the fat bike, plus I have always wanted one, now I have two.

One is an ebike, the other is the conventional have to provide all the energy.

Just off out now to burn some turkey off.

tofu21

I haven’t owned the Surly wheels, but did fit a tubeless set up for my friend on his Pugsley.

World of difference in my opinion.

The Surly wheels / rims are a tad heavy, and a little workmanlike in their construction. Much like most of the Surly stuff, no bad thing in itself, but a shade heavy.

DT wheels are light and really well made.

Reducing weight and rotational mass here is a very good thing, as with any bike really. Good wheels, have stood up to everything I have thrown at them.

If you want light, reliable wheels, the DTs are the one. If you want your wheels to survive the apocalypse in one piece and aren’t bothered about a little extra heft, the Surly’s have you covered.
I’ve got surly clown shoes on the ICT, but I’m thinking about selling a bike to get some of the DTs as a “summer” set.
And that’s the thing, I’m going to have to sell another bike to buy some wheels.

Fat bikes are like crack.