Shibboleth – Member
A handful of times, I prefer slightly more demanding terrain though(1). And I can’t for the life of me think why anyone would want to ride across mudflats, let alone spend a small fortune (2) on a bike just so they can, even though it’ll be completely sh*t for any other sort of riding! (3)

1. Good for you, you must be AWESOME.
2. mine cost me <£800
3. NO it won’t.

Oh dear, your commenting authoratatively on something you haven’t got a clue about, aren’t you? Hand the keyboard back to mummy now, the grown ups are talking.

You aren’t interested in the riding that these bikes do. WTF would anyone on this thread want to hear your pathetic opinion?

Mind you these threads are great for getting tools like you to show yourself up.

.

I just like riding my bike mostly.

I think you’ll find most people on here do. It’s just that some people don’t limit themselves to one particular type of bike.
Some of us like to try out new things and form our own opinion on them rather than just taking the “that’s different to my bike must be shit” attitude.
If you don’t try new stuff out you’ll never know what it’s like. 8)

Some of us like to try out new things and form our own opinion on them rather than just taking the “that’s different to my bike must be shit” attitude.

Would you still enjoy mountain biking if you could only ever ride a £500 Specialized?

Al, you’re a very angry little man, aren’t you. You should ride your bike more, it’s a great stress reliever…

I’m not angry at all, just pointing out the obvious.

Off for a road/off road spin on some new trails later as it happens.

Would you still enjoy mountain biking if you could only ever ride a £500 Specialized?

If that’s all that was available yes.

Just like i used to like riding my “tracker” when that’s all that was available. Though i’d soon get pissed off with how quickly some of the components broke/wore out on a bike of that level.

I’m just glad that there’s a huge range of bikes out there now.

but these things really do act like giant BMX’s

this is the second time i’ve read a statement of this sort on here in the last couple of days so i’m gonna challenge you on it.
Seriously? How on earth do Fatbikes act anything like BMX bikes? (and I’m not looking for a re-post of an amazing rider riding a skate park on one and backflipping the fun box).

I have to agree with GW on that point.
My fatbike is about as far removed from a BMX as you could get ride wise.

but these things really do act like giant BMX’s
this is the second time i’ve read a statement of this sort on here in the last couple of days so i’m gonna challenge you on it.
Seriously? How on earth do Fatbikes act anything like BMX bikes? (and I’m not looking for a re-post of an amazing rider riding a skate park on one and backflipping the fun box).

I honestly don’t know. I’m not talking about using one on ramps, that’s as daft as using a road bike on them, but as a tool for popping off stuff, just getting a little air for the sake of it, they are as close a comparison as I can think of. Maybe because my youth was spent jumping a BMX over stuff, it might just be a case of similar amounts of fun on a bike.

Dunno really – it’s weird. Try one if you get a chance though, you might see what I mean. The Moonlander did it for me, but so does the Pugsley, I haven’t had a ‘proper’ ride on enough others to say they’re all like that though.

I don’t get the idea of loading them up with racks and funny bags and all that tat though.

Having thought about what it might be, I reckon the gyroscopic effect of the wheels, compared to the length of the bike might be quite similar between a Pugsley and a BMX. Could be a load of old bollocks of course, I didn’t think that long about it 🙂

They do look fun. Certainly not fun to ride them on beaches or mud flats…..that looks as interesting as a turbo trainer session though ..

Would fancy giving one a go on the steep natural forest trails around here.
Prob kill me riding to top though. I guess when i get fitter then..

Sideways Tim – Member

Having thought about what it might be, I reckon the gyroscopic effect of the wheels, compared to the length of the bike might be quite similar between a Pugsley and a BMX. Could be a load of old bollocks of course, I didn’t think that long about it

I think you hit the nail on the head Tim… A load of old bollocks. 😉

I dunno. I can jump a BMX quite happily, but a mountain bike less so. 29er even worse, but a Pugsley ‘feels’ like a BMX. I quite want to go and ride the thing now, which is a shame as I’m supposed to be building wheels.

My 2p;

It’s all bikes.

They may not all be for everyone but that’s not the point.

I wonder if anyone outside STW has a fat bike. Not my cup of tea but each to his own, angles look a bit weird though.

I wonder if anyone outside STW has a fat bike. Not my cup of tea but each to his own, angles look a bit weird though.

Lots of them on mtbr I think – America seems to be where these new niches come from generally.

On behalf of the fatbike riders of the UK I would like to offer an apology for the insult the fatbike represents to the delicate aesthetic senses of the fashionistas.

We promise to ride mainly in places you can’t reach with with your non-niche steeds, and when we share paths to flatten out the soft edges for you.

FIFY 🙂

grum – Member
…America seems to be where these new niches advances in cycle technology come from generally.

I ride a variety of bikes. There are new trails at Ashton Court. I ridden it on my On One, IF, and Overbury, on a good day I can easily keep up with a fruity ride on my Pugsley. My mate has a Sunn Bmix and says that’s the quickest he has done it on. He has also borrowed my Pugsley (with an open mind) come back laughing like a loon.
Each to his own.
Riding anything is better than not riding………

Could be a load of old bollocks of course,

*Definitely! 😆

* unless you rode a 20″ BMX back when you were 5 years old with the saddle way up and the tyres at 2psi

I have ridden a few mate’s Fatbikes, have tried jumping them, sprinting them and carving/leaning them over in turns and I still ride BMX 3 or 4 days a week. as Stu said ” fatbike is about as far removed from a BMX as you could get ride wise”
I ride a 26″ Wheel 14″ DJ bike as my all round hardtail and set it up as close to a BMX set-up as I can get it without ruining the versatility of an MTB and even that is nothing like a BMX to ride.

it’ll be completely sh*t for any other sort of riding

have you ridden one?

my misconceptions were changed when i had a go.

Maybe he really likes his new bike in the same way as he really liked his BMX back in the day, so the likeness could be psychological. That doesn’t make it any less real to him. He likes his new bike, so what? Good on him 🙂

Fat bikes look like fun.
I can’t wait for them to become mainstream, get marketed as amazing, and watch everyones oppinions of them change.

SCUZZ – I really like my roadbike, my mountainbikes, my BMXs and my DH bikes, back in the day I really liked some seriously ropey kids bikes but I wouldn’t post up on a forum that they ride anything like each other.

Would you still enjoy mountain biking if you could only ever ride a £500 Specialized?

I’d rather ride a Spesh Hardrock than most of the stupid £2k long travel mincetastic steel hardtails that seem to be so popular with STW forum members. Hardrock’s are actually good strong reliable frames and have better geometry for the type of riding I like and a solid warranty the only thing that lets them down is the poorly damped fork.

I’d rather ride a Spesh Hardrock than most of the stupid £2k long travel mincetastic steel hardtails that seem to be so popular with STW forum members.

I used to ride a Hardrock ’til it got nicked. Bought it for £140 s/h – great bike. I took it round all the Lakes/Scotland etc, really not much you couldn’t do on it. Fork was a bit crap though.

Would fancy giving one a go on the steep natural forest trails around here.
Prob kill me riding to top though. I guess when i get fitter then..

I’ve had a couple of rides on our sample bike. I basically stole it back of Shaggy, and it’s quite, quite remarkable what you can do on them.

So much traction. Properly gob loads of traction. Rolling up and over rocks and obstacles in a ridiculous “did that really do that?” sort of way.

I am interested to see what sort of climbing skills you can get out of it with some super low gearing. Ours is set up 1×10 right now.

I like it, it does look like it’s made by Tonka though

Fat bikes originated in the good old US of A,i think they came about to stop their ever increasing girth’s from sinking into the trails(better load spreading)and as where the Americans go we generaly follow(obesety epademic)i suspect that we will be seeing lots more of these fat or as the pc brigade will re-name them,weight chalanged bikes.Just my opinion.

or as the pc brigade will re-name them,weight chalanged bikes

I think the pedants brigade will be along shortly to correct you.

Perhaps my mind is fooling me into thinking that the fun I’m having pinging off things on a Pug is the same as the fun I had pinging of things on a BMX – who knows? Who cares? No one really.

This kind of bike, certainly to me anyway, makes far more sense than a 29er, which have always been a bit mleh whenever I’ve ridden them – kind of ok, but nothing special. Proper fat tyres make a huge difference to riding off road, proper eye openingly different, like the difference between riding your favourite trail on a CX bike, then doing the same trail on a MTB. It’s all good, just a little bit different.
You can climb bonkers stuff on them, rock gardens that needed walking up are quite pleasant to ride.

I like ‘um.

I’m agreeing Tim.

They don’t seem to be a bike that you want to RUSH a ride on. You have to kind of take it at the bike’s pace, but sometimes the bike’s pace is considerably faster and easier than a “normal” bike can go.

I found they only get out of shape when it’s odd high speed rocky stuff. Low speed rocky stuff they are amazing at.

Quite brilliant fun.

I agree, it’s difficult to get to much off road stuff from the middle of bristol where I live without loading up the car.
So if I’ve only got a few hours I can vary things by riding the same trails, ss, fat or retro, each have their merits and keeps things interesting.
My favourite ride ever was Ashton Court and Leigh Woods in new snow in the dark……….really amazing.
Brant i took the prototype for a good spin at SSUK, couldn’t believe how different it was from my Pugsley

All this talk of fatbikes has made me change my mind about going to the pub.

I’m going out for a spin round on this instead.

2011_1028gardenneedsweeding0009 by singlespeedstu, on Flickr

I have a FS trail centres bike. I have a singlespeed for the new forest [that’s all you need it’s so flat :(]. I have my road bike. I have a pub bike. AND if I could afford one, I’d have a pugsley too. Just to ride it for fun. Why not??????

Although I mostly just ride the FS…..

I think they look like fun. I think they look like cartoons. I think they look like motoX tyres. That’s probably why they look fun. Better? Different. Better sometimes, worse others.

(And I have an unused frame…)

It’s all good, just a little bit different.
You can climb bonkers stuff on them, rock gardens that needed walking up are quite pleasant to ride.

Low speed rocky stuff they are amazing at.

So… ummm… Basically, it’s kinda like some kind of “skill compensator”? No?

Yes, basically! just like tyre choice, do you ever compensate your skills with tyres Spazoleth?

Shibboleth, If your ever up in Edinburgh give me a buzz and i will take you for a trailride on one, let you ride it through sandy singletrack, across and down dunes and that (boring?) scenicly stunning wide open flat sands and some very techy rock sections (you said you like techy riding?), where i doubt most folk could ride a regular bike, then take you through some very rooty natural woodland trails with mud and bet you cant stop grinning after 🙂
4 years soon riding mine and i still love it, every ride is fun, which is what a hobbie/passion should be 🙂

Fantastic bimble round.
Just what these things were built for.

2011_1028sunsetfat0011 by singlespeedstu, on Flickr

Mine is on order. With the current state of the local trails, it’ll be getting put to a lot of good use. I’m already eyeing up other potential routes too. Having been used to lighter weight bikes, I just hope I can get it up(hill) properly 🙂

Ok, from today’s ride….

Yes, that is the trail! 😯

Plenty of need for a fatbike where I ride, thank you… 🙄