29+/fat tire all-rounder
 

I've saved up enough to buy a mountain bike, and I love my CC and VIA1 (with Surly Nard 41s). So
I went out and tried out a Beargrease 2 and loved it. I also love the Surly Krampus and today drove by and tried out a Trek Stache 5.

The Trek has a max weight limit of 300. I'm sitting at around 260-265.
I can't find a weight limit for the Krampus, and I'll assume that the Beargrease has none for me to be concerned about.

So if you were to be looking at a bike you could do trails riding (single track on rock terrain in El Paso) and ride across New Mexico and other bikepacking options - which one would you consider?

The Krampus is a 1x10 and so is the Trek. This concerns me because of where I live and the riding I do to commute would mean having to really, really get stronger to make it up the road (N. Mesa St.). The Beargrease has a double. Another thing I'm considering is weight. The Trek feels like it is around 25ish pounds and I know the Krampus is 31ish. The Beargrease felt groovy, but I know the 4" tires are going to be the biggest setback - besides the fact that the bike feels more like a racer than a bikepacking do-all rig.

I'd consider an urban 29er like the Marin Muirwoods.

I think fat bikes are kind of slow... I haven't seen too many people in mountain country where I live riding them.

A 29er weighs less and there are few places it can't go where a fat bike can.

And snow in my neck of woods rarely lasts more than a few days - just not enough reason to get a fat bike yet.

You did see that I own a 2013 Crosscheck AND a 2014 Giant VIA1 (townie, front rack, three-speed internal hub) which I am running Surly Nard 41s on, right? Why would I add another commuter-specific bike to the mix? I'm looking at a fat bike to do fun commutes on down a road that let's me barrel along at 30+ mph for more than a mile - and one that I can go bushwacking with on the weekend. The Marin is pretty, but that's a limited-use bike that isn't even in my initial post.

Thank you for the suggestion, though.

You can mount 29er 29 X 2.0 or 700 X 52 c tires. And it has a mountain bike tough frame so don't be misled by the marketing. Its a 29er MTB and is far being from being limited to the pavement.

That said, since you're looking for a fat bike X 29er, the best value is BD Motobecane 29 X 5: Its like two bikes in one: in the winter its a fat bike and in the summer you can add a 29er wheelset and it doubles as a 29er:

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...+-x5-blk-5.jpg

At $599.99 its a great fat bike X 29er deal under $1000.

Surly ECR 9 speed. QBP has a pretty good deal on these right now, have your LBS call them up and get the details. Not only are the complete bikes on closeout, they should come with a few Relevate Designs bags to go with them. For a do-it-all 29+ bike, it's tough to beat.

^^^ We just built up one of those ECR's last week. They are pretty sweet. With some balloon tires they'd be a super comfy commuter.

Try to figure out your tire size you want to run, 3"? The kampus will have some better rack mounts and bottle options than the Stache. Running racks or frame bags or both. Again , the Krampus is set up for the suff you are looking to do. 1x10 can be geared very low, say 28x36 or lower. The rear cassettes can be set up with a 40 or42 for the low.