Fat tire bikes

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OVERKILL

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Was down at the local Wild Rock Outfitters the other day with the wife (she wants a Canada Goose coat) and saw a Specialized fat tire bike, which was kind of neat.

I figured it was a bit of a novelty thing but then came home and read a few reviews on the 'net about it and apparently people really like them????

Anybody on here own one? They are a bit pricey (this one is around $2,500) but maybe they are worth it? I've heard the ride is excellent.
 
They are a novelty to many and the handling is terrible, but I ride mine a lot in winter and that is fantastic riding. It added 3 months of fun riding i never had before. Still since March I have 2000 on my road bike and maybe 500 on my regular 29er, and maybe 100 on the fat bike. That will change the moment snow flies, though.

Specialized, trek, Borealis make some great bikes but you can get a framed minnesota for under a grand that is a quality bike.

Saw a guy do a metric century on one this summer. I'm about 4mph slower than on my road bike, so its not the horrific nightmare you might imagine... But he looked like it was killing him.

Here you can rent one year round for about 50 a day, totally worth it especially if you've never ridden on snow.
 
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I don't own one but I demo'd one a few years ago for a 12 mile trail ride (Surly model) in central Oregon. I love the idea of them, but for general trail riding I found it to be heavy, slow, and cumbersome. Though I will say they have unlimited traction.

Of course there are lighter models than the Surly bikes, and if you ride a lot in snow or sand they seem like they would be a blast. But for general trail riding (my extreme riding days are well behind me), it doesn't replace my Vassago 29er hardtail.
 
Would LOVE to do a fatbike build, but its not in the books right now. They are very popular for winter riding around here.
 
Before plunking massive money down try to rent or borrow one. I am very fortunate that a town park I ride daily is 1 mile from my home typically has all the decent bike makers come with large trailers and have demo days. I have ridden $10k Specialized mountain bikes thru them for an 1hr+.

I tried a fat tire bike in winter during a demo it worked very well on loose-packed snow however cannot tell you how it would do on normal conditions.
 
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Before plunking massive money down try to rent or borrow one. I am very fortunate that a town park I ride daily is 1 mile from my home typically has all the decent bike makers come with large trailers and have demo days. I have ridden $10k Specialized mountain bikes thru them for an 1hr+.

I tried a fat tire bike in winter during a demo it worked very well on loose-packed snow however cannot tell you how it would do on normal conditions.


The idea of being able to ride it in the winter is enticing but I also do a lot of goofy boggy trails in the summer with my kids which I thought it might be good for
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My kids don't ride fast due to their age so being able to go mach 4 like I do on my Gary Fisher isn't overly important.

I'll check to see if a local store has one that I can test drive.

Thanks for the input so far guys!
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Mine's a 2014 Specialized FatBoy Expert:

FatBoyRackS_15NOV14_zpsc2cc6289.jpg


Just turned over 5,000 miles. Where I live it is very much a "mixed surface" environment including dirt, gravel, sand, paved roads, unpaved roads, etc. - the FatBoy handles it all well.

Obviously, it's no gazelle on long paved road trips, but I'm no spring chicken anymore, either.

The geometry on the FatBoy is virtually the same as a 29er - much improved over a Surly I rode a few years ago. I don't regret the decision to buy mine at all.

Definitely find one at a LBS that you can test ride - it's a hoot!

HTH
 
Originally Posted By: gaijinnv

The geometry on the FatBoy is virtually the same as a 29er - much improved over a Surly I rode a few years ago.


That could very well make a big difference from the Surly I rode a few years ago.
 
So the other local store has a couple of Norco offerings, the 6.2 and 6.3. They do not have the higher end 6.1 (Carbon fork and the goodies) in stock but sitting on the 6.3 (I'd probably opt for the 6.2 or 6.1) was really nice. I am able to take it out and I may do so when I don't have the kids with me like I did today. It was really comfortable, I found it extremely enticing.
 
My brother in law has one and it rides very well in the grass and mud. Very weird on pavement, but you gotta expect that. He plays around with the air pressure a little to get the best ride for the conditions.
 
Need to find a place to rent one of these.. Looks interesting to bring to the campground and on the rides with the kids. And as backup for the commuter in the winter.
 
I bought one at walmart to cruise around the neighborhood in.

I realized after I got it home it had no speeds.

It was pretty uncomfortable to ride.

I may give it to a kid and get an autobike with the automatic gearbox.
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
I may give it to a kid and get an autobike with the automatic gearbox.


For a cruiser bike, I would just go with an internally geared hub for low maintenance and an indexed shifter for convenience.
 
For a couple winters we just made our own studded tires, using 2.1" tires and cheap hardware sticking through the tire about a 1/4". We could do ALL the trails in Jackson park that anyone had packed down by walking, granny gear out of the saddle climbs and all, and it was better the icier it got as the hardware would just lock in better. Riding on pavement wasn't great but we just looked for snow or ice to ride on.
I can see how a fat tire bike would work much better on something like a groomed trail or snow where you can get down to something solid.
 
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
For a couple winters we just made our own studded tires, using 2.1" tires and cheap hardware sticking through the tire about a 1/4". We could do ALL the trails in Jackson park that anyone had packed down by walking, granny gear out of the saddle climbs and all, and it was better the icier it got as the hardware would just lock in better. Riding on pavement wasn't great but we just looked for snow or ice to ride on.
I can see how a fat tire bike would work much better on something like a groomed trail or snow where you can get down to something solid.


If you have a few minutes, go check the one out at Wild Rock or the two they have at Fontaine (Norco). Let me know what you think.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
For a couple winters we just made our own studded tires, using 2.1" tires and cheap hardware sticking through the tire about a 1/4". We could do ALL the trails in Jackson park that anyone had packed down by walking, granny gear out of the saddle climbs and all, and it was better the icier it got as the hardware would just lock in better. Riding on pavement wasn't great but we just looked for snow or ice to ride on.
I can see how a fat tire bike would work much better on something like a groomed trail or snow where you can get down to something solid.


If you have a few minutes, go check the one out at Wild Rock or the two they have at Fontaine (Norco). Let me know what you think.

I've played around in the parking lot on one at Fontaines, and its lighter than it looks.
My take on the whole fat bike thing, is that they excel in sand and snow of a certain density, and can climb pretty well in low traction situations. The same can be said of a 2.5" tire free ride, or even a 2.1" xc bike, they just need denser snow/sand.

If you want to go riding on a groomed snowmobile/ski trail, they are the ticket though. Or in the late winter when the snow melts down and freezes hard overnight, they would be super fun to take anywhere and bomb around one of the golf courses.
For walking trails though or hard packed icy single track, I really liked the extreme studded tires on the xc bike.
That's just my opinion though, I'd rather spend that kind of money on an FS "all mountain" type bike and make or buy a good set of big studded tires. Then I could rip it in the summer, and ride what I can in the winter, but if winter riding is what you want mostly, then the fat tires are the way to go.
 
Yeah, my intention is winter riding and maybe some bogging on the gooey trails in Jackson with the boys in the summer. I was REALLY surprised at how light that Norco was, given how heavy it looked. I think it is lighter than my Gary Fisher.
 
Next time you get tires for the XC bike, you should try some bigger DH ones. It almost feels like cheating on the tricky climbs and in the corners going down the hills. Not so good on the flats but if your not racing, then it doesn't matter, roads and flats are boring anyways!
 
So my wife and I had an early Christmas present exchange today and she bought me the Norco 6.2, LOL!!
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So it looks like I'll be enjoying some fat tire riding this week
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