Fancied giving this fat bike thing a shot. Will be mostly used for bimbling about on the beach, sometimes with the dog and the occasional light overnighter (maybe).

Cheap enough second hand Genesis Caribou arrived a couple of days ago and so far it’s been fun. I’m probably a bit late to the party now the fad is nearly over but if it gets me out the front door on a bike more often then it’s all good. 🙂

Congratulations on your new toy!

New bike’s are always the best bikes.👍🏻

The thing is I don’t think it’s a fad, I think there was just a large number of varying standards at ‘the beginning’.

My on one fattie has allowed me to ride where I couldn’t of ridden on my other bik3s, has turned what would have been a miserable ride into an absolute hoot and expand my options for riding.

It has been one of my best if least considered purchases.

Enjoy exploring.

I reckon it will ‘mostly’ be used more than you thought it would.

I was also late to the party and bought one just before xmas. I’d rather fallen out of love with cycling recently as other things had crowded it out and I couldn’t be arsed to do the same old trails yet didn’t have the enthusiasm to find new ones.

Well thats changed. Been out about 20 times so far in every kind of weather and now looking to do some silly bikepacking stuff. Yes, I know any new bike is great as above but I reckon that pound for £ you can’t get more fun than a fatty – so much better than I thought it would be and weirdly I’ve even rediscovered my love of going fast because its so predictable and has so much grip (I have a back condition that would be pretty bad if I crashed and so i need to be 100% certain I won’t)

Yeah I think it will get used, hopefully quite a lot.

The driving factor for getting it was that they look like a laugh and because I don’t often ride from the front door, we always load the bikes up and drive somewhere as there’s nothing that exciting on my door step. Hopefully this is going to change, get me out more and get me a bit fitter.

My other half had a go yesterday and came back smiling, so I think we might be on the lookout for another one (luckily mine’s too big for her).

I’m almost certainly looking at a semi fat bike next year, and I reckon a full fat Fat bike would be a hoot – can see me riding it just “because” and not for any proper reason.

I may go off and set up an eBay search right now….

A proper tyre gauge is a must.
I could not imagine living on the coast and not having a fatty.

Nice one. Enjoy. I was out on mine today too.

A proper tyre gauge is a must.

I’ve got a Topeak digital one. Set to 7psi and off I went.

I’ll have a play but that seems good so far.

After 2 and a half years on a cheapo calibre dune ,I think fatbikes are amazing all rounders .It’s become my favourite bike yet, and I live half a mile from a trail centre and about 110 miles to the nearest beach. Have fun mate, they’re great.

Love my Mukluk. Gets used all year and folk are still amazed at the size of the tyres (jumbo Jim 4.8’s)
Once fat you never go back….enjoy.
Oh, for bits look at Slam69 bikes.
This place often has good deals on tyres and bits
https://www.bike-discount.de/en/fatbike-components

There is also a fairly new UK fat bike forum, so worth signing up for.

In terms of psi, a good starting point is 1 psi for every 10kg of kitted up riddr then adjust from there. Maybe like 0.5psi more / less with rear / front etc.

There is also a fairly new UK fat bike forum, so worth signing up for.

Indeed there is 😉 http://www.fat-bike.co.uk/index.php

Nice, just fired off a registration email

Seems there’s plenty of love for the fat bikes on here 🙂

Will check out the forum and websites – cheers

In terms of psi, a good starting point is 1 psi for every 10kg of kitted up riddr then adjust from there. Maybe like 0.5psi more / less with rear / front etc.

I’m not far off with my 7psi then. I’m about 75kg ready to ride.

folk are still amazed at the size of the tyres (jumbo Jim 4.8’s)

I’ve “only” got 3.8″ Surly Nates. I don’t know what would fit in the frame but fancy trying something fatter, just because 🙂

Fattys are just going to carry on growing at a steady rate if my various riding groups are anything to go by. They are truly infectious, once someone has tried one they generally buy one and while I wouldn’t want to thrash one all summer I also wouldn’t want to be without one over winter. And they make great XC bikes when the Enduro bike is overkill.

Enjoy 🙂

I wouldn’t be the kind of opportunistic sort that’d place a stealth ad for my own woefully underused, custom built OnOne Fatty in such a topical thread.

Especially not a medium, XT/wide range Sunrace, lovely Hope + DT Swiss wheeled one, with a dropper post and fully matching, orange Hope shiny bits throughout.

Oh no.

But if I WAS… Would anyone consider it a worthy purchase? They certainly shouldn’t email me, at the address in my profile. Because that would be against the spirit of disabling my ad blocker and putting up a proper Classified ad.

And noone should be doing that.

@phil5556 – Assuming that they are the 27tpi Nates you can save a lot of weight by swapping them out. I knocked a kilogram off the weight of my wife’s Surly Wednesday by putting a set of Surly Ednas on it.

Hi Phil, Michal here…glad you enjoying the bike.
I don’t know why Surly put 3.8 on Nate as I measured them and they come up just over 4” on fatlab rims. Also they are 120tpi. I know that you can fit 4.8” on the front but for rear 4-4.3” is about max.

Hi all after my second crash of the year on ice I have started to think about buying a fat bike for the winter and have spent hours reading about the calibre dune which seems the best money wise option.

I rode a Voodoo wazoo fat bike for a quick blast around a car park and could not help but think it was over weight and very hard to ride.

Question is am I missing something and should I give it a try?

Donkey Dave, keep an eye on the UK Fat bike buying/selling page on Facebook. Loads of second hand fattys on there. Some proper bargains.

Cheers, might have to join facebook finally lol, thanks for the tip.

whitestone
Assuming that they are the 27tpi Nates you can save a lot of weight by swapping them out. I knocked a kilogram off the weight of my wife’s Surly Wednesday by putting a set of Surly Ednas on it.

They’re the 120tpi ones set up tubeless, and barely worn so they’re staying for now. And I was pleasantly surprised, it’s not as heavy as I expected 🙂 I’ll look at the Ednas when I wear them out.

kuman
Hi Phil, Michal here…glad you enjoying the bike.
I don’t know why Surly put 3.8 on Nate as I measured them and they come up just over 4” on fatlab rims. Also they are 120tpi. I know that you can fit 4.8” on the front but for rear 4-4.3” is about max.

Hi Michal, just finished work and 4 days off now so hopefully should get out on it a couple of times. I did think the back looks a bit tight for anything wider, the chain looks like it would be tight too. There’s nothing wrong with the Nates and won’t be changing anything until they’re worn but I will look into just slightly wider when the time comes 🙂

could not help but think it was over weight and very hard to ride.

The Caribou definitely doesn’t feel overweight and is easy to ride. It’s the only fat bike I’ve ridden though….

keep an eye on the UK Fat bike buying/selling page on Facebook.

That’s where mine was advertised 🙂

Loads of us have them around Wigan area, all love them and it seems more buy them month on month, we had a blast on them up Gisburn yesterday (sunday) brilliant bikes IF they are setup right

@phil5556 – no problems with the 120tpi version, it’s the 27tpi version that’s a bit basic and heavy. As you say use them until they wear out which might be a long while 😃 The Edna has a similar tread to the Nate BTW.

Weightwise my Puffin is nearly 3kg heavier than my Solaris, both steel frames and both set up similarly, but it’s still only 14.5kg which is much lighter than you think it would be.

@donkeydave – tarmac isn’t where fat bikes shine TBH plus tyre pressures make a huge difference to how they ride. I was out for the last three days in snow and had some pretty low pressures in mine, 5psi or maybe a bit lower, which was perfect for off-road but riding on tarmac when linking things up was dicey as they’d grab on to any imperfection in the surface and try and pull you around. If I’d had pressures suitable for the road then I’d have got nowhere in the snow.

@Whitestone, How did you get on with the Ednas in the rear of the Wednesday? Did you have to move the wheel back in the frame? Cheers PJ.

I brought my Trek Farley at the end of 2015 which is 27.5″ and just loved the look of it even though the tyres are only 3″.8 but on those size wheels look big it just makes people smile ever time I take it out have loads of chats with walkers they just want to talk about it never get that on any other bike I have owned and last Sunday on the Cotswolds hills above Cheltenham and Gloucester riding it on virgin snow was just amazing on tracks I am use to and in fields it was like being a kid in a candy store just the right amount of snow did not want to go home happy days hardly ever see them in Gloucestershire or Wilts mind there is not much snow or sand but they are great in mud that’s what I brought mind for.

Took my lightish slackish Chinese carbon with 120 fork, dropper and 4″ tubeless JJs to the Alps last summer. Kids everywhere loved it, it fitted on all the chairlifts, and was a hoot monster trucking down the downhills.

Then rode the SDW one day just because. So versatile.

Im trying it out in 29+ guise this year simply cos too many niches to try snd not enough time!

My other half had a go yesterday and came back smiling, so I think we might be on the lookout for another one (luckily mine’s too big for her).

But this one shouldn’t be….

How did you get on with the Ednas in the rear of the Wednesday? Did you have to move the wheel back in the frame?

She likes them (in as much as they are round etc.) I moved the wheel back about halfway through the travel, it’s not slipped yet but we haven’t had the wheel out of the bike since so don’t know if the weird dropout on the Wednesday will affect that.

New bike day number 2. She’s pretty happy with it 🙂

😎Looks great pal.

Great stuff 😎