Fat bike advice please.

[MooWoolf]

Hey folks, I'm playing with the idea of a fat bike. I'm thinking about going with a cheapo one to start off with (coyote fatman) yes I know it's cheap but I don't want to sink good money in and then realise I don't really like it. Has anyone got a coyote if so is it ok? I think if I do end up liking the whole fat bike thing I'd go on-one? Cheers Rob

Man! Don't do that. Let me explain it why.

FATBIKES ARE FOR SNOW AND SAND! ( I can imagine it in a really really really muddy place. )

That's all. Otherwise. It's a total nonsense!!

I let you know fat bike lovers right now, that years before this fat bike madness started I saw a fatbike in work.

Believe it or not it was in Antarctica. The guy had to pull a sled after himself and it's weight was about 80kgs. He needed the big tyres for that. It made sense and it worked. It was built specially for that advanture.

I don't even know why would anyone buy a fatbike. Especially the ones who live cities..
So forgive me for my style it's all because of my desperation.
It's like buying a car that was designed to go with 400 kph at a race track and someone buys it for a bumpy so called road without asphalt on it... This is the exact same thing when someone buys a fatbike.

So really. Forgive me if it was insulting for any of you.

 

[xerxes]

Re:

It's like buying a car that was designed to go with 400 kph at a race track and someone buys it for a bumpy so called road without asphalt on it... This is the exact same thing when someone buys a fatbike.

Given your analogy, have you seen how many massive 4 wheel drive vehicles there are on our city streets; where they really don't belong.

 

[MooWoolf]

Re:

yea. exactly!

So don't get me wrong. I don't meant to be rude or anything like that.
I just want good for the cycling community all around the worldand for this guy too.
If he wants to buy something that will make him slower and look like a fool for a few plus kgs that will only make him suffer if he really rides it, then just go ahead.. It's his business.


An other interesting fact is that I didn't see anyone out there on the trails with fat bikes.
When I go to Budapest I see a lot of them going around.

Anyway I know a guy who talks a lot about downhill riding but never does it. Even tho he has a DH bike he only rides it to the work. Which is even funnier is that he uses tyres for MUD
Imagine that. And this is not a joke.

 

[klunkrider]

Re:

I get what MooWolf is saying, the only times I've seen fatbikes in real life it's been riding trails where cyclocross tyres would be wider and knobblier than necessary and I think "gee, you like a chump with too much money" but then I have 8 bikes and they're all singlespeed so I can't criticise anyone for an inappropriate choice of equipment!

Ride what you like. (But I do think fatbike stuff is horrendously over priced for what it is).

 

[highlandsflyer]

With respect, the expression 'trails' doesn't really bring to mind polished tarmac, or neatly kept gravel paths. However, fat bikes are fun even on these surfaces.

There is no comparison with driving a 4x4 around a city.

When I rode for a living in London, I used the largest volume tyres I could squeeze in the stays. Having large volume tyres has so many advantages on urban roads. Floating over potholes, kerbs and the rest makes everything much more fun.

Fat bikes are not that pricey either, I picked up an On One Fatty for £400. I had previously just missed out on a Surly for a similar price. Patience and scanning the small ads pays dividends.

At first I thought the weight might bother me, but 33 odd pounds, it really isn't noticeable. 2x10 speed is more than enough for the terrain I cover, and when the tyres are pumped hard it rolls pretty nice.

On the other hand, you can drop the pressure and take it across river beds and bogs.

As an all in one bike, for anything but fast road work, I am sold.

The 'comfort' factor of the large tyres makes small travel suspension redundant.

Anyone who doesn't enjoy riding fat bikes is perhaps obsessed with speed and such. I got over that thirty years ago.

As far as MooWoolf is concerned, you talk about people riding fatbikes being fools and such.

I don't know where you live, but up here in the Highlands of Scotland they are pretty common, and that is out on some challenging terrain.

They do the job well, but also, in my view, make super all round urban bikes that deliver a lot of what I started cycling for. FUN!

 

[trxrincon]

Well, I ended up buying one and love it, I went for the calibre Dune, I've set about modding it too. I live in the hills and Ive found out it's absolutely great in the deep mud just seems to float right over the top where as my mate on his 27.5 gets stuck in it. Really looking forward to snow now!

 

[highlandsflyer]

Same here! Should be a weapon on the snow, as well as on the glassy ice rutted tracks I ride on.