fietsbob

another N+1 solution , buy more bikes.

CanadianBiker32

I seen guys ride Fat Bikes at bike mt bike events like some of those 100 mile endurance events and done quite well, so its possible to ride it over a traditional model

LesterOfPuppets

I got beat by one at the second-too-the-worst CX race I've done.

When he passed me I was like "This can't be happening. "

rebel1916

Those guys would be even faster on an XC bike. Dude, I get that you're obsessed with the fat tires. But they are a niche. In snowy parts of the country, they may be a decent niche, but they make no sense on trails that are not on the beach or snow covered. Unless you are just doing it to see if you can, or to handicap yourself.

Dannihilator

I want to do up a fat bike as a beach cruiser.

dminor 

Having trail-ridden and XC'd my DH bikes enough times - - and experienced the life-sucking rolling resistance of mere 2.5s - - I can only imagine how much more magnified that would be doing normal trail riding on 4.0s.

scrublover

It's suprisingly not as bad as you'd think. Caveat: I live somewhere where the climbs are short and steep vs. long prolonged slogs. There are some spots around me I'll likely not ever ride the thing - sucky climbing, want the big bike for hucking, whatever.

Rides decently enough that it's gotten a fair bit of my solo ride time since building it up. As I've said before not the bike for huck-fests or hauling ass group rides or trying to KOM all your local stash.

Just screwing about in the woods, slow speed rock crawling, trialsy stuff is realy fun on it. Then here is of course the obvious snow/sand uses if one is so inclined. Folks getting all worked up
about fat bikes and what's their purpose/intent? Chill, dudes. It's a bike. Ride it how and wherever you please. Riding bikes is supposed to be fun, right? Don't wanta' ride one? Simple - don't.

Anyhow: nah, they won't replace anything. A niche bike that is blowing up a bit, but for most people will just be a second/third/whatever N+1 bike. I predict the used market will food with the lower cost options in another 6-12 months. Riders will either dig it and want to move on to something nicer, or sell it off or lack of use.

hardtail with a 5.5" fork
5-6" trail bike
7" big pig bike
road bike
commuter/townie/grocery getter
fat bike

dminor 

That's the kind of thing I envision I'd have a ball doing with one.


Had they existed then, fatbikes would have absolutely ruled the snow dual-slaloms a local ski hill hosted every February a few years ago.

LesterOfPuppets

They probably were around, you just had to special order them from Alaska.

WAY back in the day there were custom frames and they'd lace up two rims side by side and mount tires to each rim.

Can't remember the one or two companies doing 'em in the late 80s. Wildcat something or other, maybe.

LesterOfPuppets

Hey, I guess Clark Kent did a couple, around 1993. Pics by Jerry Sneck.





Still trying to think of that company that did these on the regular.

LesterOfPuppets

I think I was combining two companies in my head when I thought Wildcat.

Snow Cat were the OG wide rims - two rims had one sidewall cut off each then welded together. https://www.allweathersports.com/winter/snowcats.html

Wildfire designs was a more recent Alaskan fat bike maker.

LesterOfPuppets

OK, one last pic. Triple rim monster!!!

modernjess

No, They will not replace regular MTB bikes, instead I like to think they enhance a riders options. I agree it's N+1 bike/ But for me my fat bike has made my hard tail obsolete. However it will never replace my FS 29er for pure MTB joy and performance, Nor for that matter will it replace my Road bike or my CX all around bike.

But with that said, I live in a winter place and it has really opened up more winter riding options than I ever though imaginable. I commute on it, ride trails, basically wherever I want to go in the winter. Despite having other choices I ride it all summer on certain trails and in sand and bushwhacking, and it's my loaner bike to my road bike pals that want to spend a day on the trails. Everyone loves riding that beast. I think they are a blast to ride and are far more nimble and responsive than most people assume. Once you understand tire pressures they are magic.

scrublover

Having pedaled some big pig bikes around on XC kinda stuff as well, a fatty is way, way more suited than a DH or big FR rig. You're not working against the suspension (no matter how well tuned) or the slack angles. Makes a huuuuuuge difference.

There are some trialsy bits around here that I've not gotten 100% yet - the fatty tires make some stuff like that even easier - you can sit and trackstand for days with the amount of rubber on the ground, while working out your next move.

letitsnow

If I had to choose between a fatbike and an entry level 29er, the fatbike is probably a better trail bike. I'll keep riding my Spec Epic in the summer, but the fatbike does get much use when conditions aren't pristine.

Zephyr11

Yeah, but what is possible and "best tool for the job" (or even "good tool for the job") are not necessarily the same. Before modern mountain bikes were around, people rode trails on what were pretty much cruiser bikes. Now that we have better options, very few people have any interest in having a klunker as their primary mountain bike. Maybe as an n+1, but that's it for all but a very small fraction of diehards.

scrublover

It's not always about the best or fastest tool for the job.

Sometimes it's about the most fun tool for the job, which can vary from day to day.

Some days it's the hardtail, some days it's the fatbike, some days it's one of the squishy bikes. Even back to back on the same trails.

YMMV.

Zephyr11

Right, I agree with that. And that's just another argument as to why fat bikes won't replace every other type of mountain bike.

scrublover

Right - I agree. I'm not actually sure on the point of the thread - who or where is saying fat bikes will replace any kind of bike? If that kind of info is being tossed about, I'm sure not seeing it anywhere.

Zephyr11

I thought that was the question originally being asked, so that's the context I took that other post I quoted in. Maybe that's not how it was intended, I can't even tell anymore.

scrublover

Yeah, from the OP. I just don't know what brought it on. Purely a Q from the poster, or what? I got the impression he's thinking there is "pressure" there, but whatever.

Riding bikes is fun is all I know.