After some cracking advice on this here forum I bought a used pugsley to dip my toes, since then Done the full Steve Austin and completely rebuilt it into the million dollar pug!! Well bit of an exaggeration but it’s looking cool and completely get what the fuss ‘from some’ is all about.  I too looked at it from afar with much doubt but after seeing a few knocking about on the Dorset gravel dash it just clicked.

Anyway, my point is I bloody love the thing, it’s a smile generator and when I was trundling along the beach just after sunrise on Saturday I realised how much of a new chapter it had opened up in my cycling life.

Ran out of beach so muddled my way through some boggy marsh, covered in cr@p but great fun.

A 46 year old cruising round on a fat bike might not be cool but neither is that same man bombing along like a Lycra clad Christmas pudding on his road bike every Sunday! ✊😁

Track bikes are pretty niche.  I don’t know anyone who has one and I’ve never seen one on a shop floor.

I’ve got one! Didn’t buy it in a shop tho.

bedmaker

…Track bikes are pretty niche.  I don’t know anyone who has one…

Ahem. And it’s been up Fyrish*. 🙂

.

.

*Mainly carried, but the descent was “interesting”

(And that reminds me I still owe you £50 for the dropper.)

Definitely a niche, but being able to ride in these places is awesome – I didn’t actually see or talk to anyone for 2 out of 5 days, it was glorious.

Expect to see them on a WC track near you soon…

Another fatty video, because everything is better from Sheffield

I have one, I’ll not be getting rid of it as brilliant at what it was designed to do, and more besides. I don’t think they’ll die out either, they’re here to stay.

Regards,

Swavis in the #frozennorth 😉

Spesh Fatgirl (aka Hellga) owner here.

But whenever I do or buy anything, it immediately goes out of fashion, so I suppose the OP will soon be proved right.

Definitely a niche, but being able to ride in these places is awesome – I didn’t actually see or talk to anyone for 2 out of 5 days, it was glorious.

Although skiing is arguably better there….

I think they are niche, very niche – but in that niche they are brilliant & untouchable. I’ve done a few rides with fat bike riders. Namely bike packing & snow/sand in Iceland, I have to say in those instances the fat bike was flying & I couldn’t get close to it….

Seeing as how Enve have just released a fat wheel set and fat fork, I’d say the answer to the original question is, no.

The M685 is available as rim only $999 or as complete wheelset built with Industry Nine hubs for $2800, while the ENVE Fat Fork will retail for $625.

@k1100t – I saw those on fat-bike.com – the rims are 200g lighter than mine (I’ve the same hubs) and about £800 more expensive (when they get to the UK)! Ouch!

I’ve got a few bikes from fads of yesteryear…  …26″ straight steerer 2×9 hardtail

Not sure that was a fad, that was just what was available at the time, had 1x been a thing I’m sure I would have kitted mine out that way.

I still have a fat bike itch to scratch. Maybe once I get round to selling my road bike.

As a slight side just had a quick look on eBay-

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F132069615982

WTF!

Definitely a niche, but being able to ride in these places is awesome – I didn’t actually see or talk to anyone for 2 out of 5 days, it was glorious.

Although skiing is arguably better there….

No skiers – just snowmobiles as it’s too far from civilisation / prepared tracks. The snowmobile tracks can be pretty rough / choppy in places too – tolerable on a bike horrible on skis.

Not sure if I replied to this already, but I think the answer to the OP might be, “does it really matter?”

I think my Puffin is brilliant and don’t care if it’s old hat now, but it’s not the only bike I ride. All my bikes are brilliant!

I was out in the Slurrey Hills last Saturday on my 1989 Marin MTB. It made me think. That is a dead bike according to what we are allowed to ride – 1″ threaded headset, 26″ wheels, canti brakes, square taper, etc, but I had an absolute blast on it. Despite the dampness the cantis with koolstop pads were strong, granted it was like hustling a pneumatic drill down the trails and the video footage I took looks like I’m riding through an earthquake, but it was just fun and didn’t break. It didn’t crash either and I was amazed I got some PBs on some sections. Stan’s inside the inner tube prevented any punctures too.

Point is, all bikes are great, well apart from those – nasty things, and it doesn’t really matter if they are off trend. I’ll keep the fat bike as one of those fun bikes that comes out a few times a year. Might put some 29+ wheels on to see how it goes.

Now where is my 1950’s roadster…

Well mine hasn’t run its course.  It’s still the most comfortable bike I have… so is my favourite off road touring bike. The last tour was from Barra to Inverness via all kinds of roads tracks and moorland.  I never wished I was on another bike and the miles of beach on the Uists as brilliant.

I dont find it slow or particularly draggy but you do need to get the tyre pressures right for the surface you are riding and that means you have to do quite a bit of pumping. The

Id like to try an ECR or similar to see if that’s even better.  I may just go down the Krampug route.

i was sceptical about the offset thing with the Pugsley before I got one… I now think it’s the best way of making a niche bike that is minimal niche parts wise….

Loads of fat bikers near me normally on e-bikes 😀

Yesterday, Snowdonia…

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2acpjE7]IMG_20181117_102747_224[/url] by Jeff Price, on Flickr

No skiers – just snowmobiles as it’s too far from civilisation / prepared tracks. The snowmobile tracks can be pretty rough / choppy in places too – tolerable on a bike horrible on skis.

Not true, there are several ways of torturing yourself in snow covered train. For backcountry skiing you just need fat bike version of skis, such as http://www.peltonenski.fi/outdoor_touring/ e.g. 250 – 270cm long fat skis which allow skiing on virgin snow. Admittedly they are not too much fun on snowmobile tracks.

Root-n-5th – no, it doesn’t really matter. It was an observation that there are a lot less fat bike threads on here now.

Glad that there are still plenty of fat bike riders and loving the pics. I think they look great myself.

Most of the comments are from existing owners though, plus I’m seeing very few if any ‘which fat back should I get threads’  can’t recall seeing any new bike reviews for yonks either…

@ jonnyboi

I know what you mean. Some of that might be due to less choice. A few years ago you had 3 or 4 fat bikes around the £5-600 mark and the same sort of choice around £1000. Most are either now plus bikes, dropped from the range or not available in the UK anymore.

I am expecting the more niche brands to pause for breath then return with 27.5 fat as the next wave.

Just my personal take on it all. I am though, as mentioned before, happy bimbling about on my Pug.

Judging by fashionable Surrey, there’s less of them about. Not sure if they’re just riding elsewhere or just less ridden but they are less of a thing locally. Even Plus bikes aren’t so much of a thing. Wide tyres on normal bikes are still though and 29ers are generating much interest. Ebikes though I see a lot of and a number of friends trying them out even buying them (none are in physical need of one due to age or fitness/fatness).

Fatbike standards went through a bit of a rapid change but have mostly settled down now. Most owners seem content with what they have and see little need to change models.

I reckon there are fewer folk splurging on them as fashion followers. TBH when you can get a decent Fatbike for less than £600 from Go Outdoors I’m not surprised that there are fewer “what fatbike” threads.

That’s it. I’m starting a what fat bike thread 😁

Rumour is, there’s even a new Fatbike UK forum. …

Tell me more?!

deadkenny

Judging by fashionable Surrey, there’s less of them about…

Just give it a few more weeks. White Xmas etc etc brings them out.

Judging by fashionable Surrey, there’s less of them about…

until 2nd December and GFBD

Most of the comments are from existing owners though, plus I’m seeing very few if any ‘which fat back should I get threads’  can’t recall seeing any new bike reviews for yonks either…

well

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-fat-bike/

There are still new (or upgraded) fat bikes appearing but it’s fair to say that most are aimed at the North American market with just a few making their way to these shores. Feels more like consolidation than market expansion. fat-bike.com has a steady trickle of bike reviews.

 Rumour is, there’s even a new Fatbike UK forum. …

Do we still have to send a video of our trouser leg tucked into a sock whilst doing a funny handshake and then wait to hear if we’ve been accepted?

Do we still have to send a video of our trouser leg tucked into a sock whilst doing a funny handshake and then wait to hear if we’ve been accepted?

No! 😉

@dovebiker:

Definitely a niche, but being able to ride in these places is awesome – I didn’t actually see or talk to anyone for 2 out of 5 days, it was glorious

Yes. Great niche.

And possible that the tyre manufacturers learnt that much from fatbikes that we have now fantastic 2,6 inch rubber for our all mountain bikes?  Guess the fatbikes pushed this a bit?

All tyre manufacturers learnt from fatbikes was that middle aged men are willing to pay £180 for a pair of bicycle tyres Andreas.

There’s no such thing as a fantastic plus tyre and a 2.6″ tyre performs no better than a 2.5″ in situations where control against the clock is paramount. 2.6 tyres are just another angle from which to fleece the naive.

And possible that the tyre manufacturers learnt that much from fatbikes that we have now fantastic 2,6 inch rubber for our all mountain bikes?  Guess the fatbikes pushed this a bit?

The irony of this thread is that we’re all fatbikers now. MTB, road or gravel, all bikes are now benefitting from wider tyres. 23mm Road tyres are making way for 28s and gravel is as wide as the frame will take.

No.

No. We’re most certainly not

and none of my bikes are “benefitting” from a wider tyre. Especially at this time of year.

All tyre manufacturers learnt from fatbikes was that middle aged men are willing to pay £180 for a pair of bicycle tyres Andreas.

There’s no such thing as a fantastic plus tyre and a 2.6″ tyre performs no better than a 2.5″ in situations where control against the clock is paramount. 2.6 tyres are just another angle from which to fleece the naive.

Utter bullshit like most of your posts. Good consistency though.

There may not be much fatbike discussion here, but there’s plenty on the FB forums. UK Fatbike Club seems to get 1 or 2 new members most days. And they are all buying new fatbikes from somewhere.

However if there’s any trend, they seem to be coming from non-mtb backgrounds – either bikepacking/ gravel and looking for an alternative, or new to off road. Dunno why that may be but seems died-in-the-wool mountain bikers who haven’t previously dipped a toe are too ‘old dog new tricks’ to try anything different.  Each to their own though 😁

Europe still seem a growth market. More of the low-alp resorts are opening up fatbike trails in the winter and there’s a lot of rental fatbikes around. I’m off to Chamonix with fatbikes.eu for the 3rd year running in Jan to play in dome proper snow. Been to the Jura too with them and they are opening up a lot of the snowshoe trails officially to fatbikes which are great fun to ride.