I mostly ride trails and few times a year the beach
I am looking into a new fat bike and wondering if I should get a shock fork
i here with low tire pressure is like a shock fork. But not keen on riding real low tire pressure(have a lot of large roots and small stumps)
so what is your opinion on type of bike and type of fork to buy for the riding I do

Duplicate threads merged

I'm happy with my Mayor with CF fork. I actually get more annoyed by a rigid rear when riding over roots etc. Especially on flats where getting out of the saddle isn't what I want.

To me, I think either good rigid with good geometry, or full suspension. A hardtail is just an in between compromise. Obviously you can't make a bike FS after the fact.

YMMV

I like both, one thing to consider are that fat forks are really heavy but will smooth out your ride. Even with low pressures, it can't avoid a sometimes bouncy effect as the tires don't have progression like the forks.
If I were you, I'd start with a carbon fork, then upgrade as needed. Most don't need front suspension, you'll save money and weight to spend on a better bike.

The huge tires should adequately take all the shock but that’s me. If you like having front suspension that is cool.

Fat tires are not the same as a suspension fork or rear shock. Yes, if you run the tires super low you get a couple inches of suspension, but it is undamped, uncontrolled travel. Fine for when you are going slow (snow, sand, mud) but I find things get sketchy when speed picks up in drier and faster environments. Its like a beach ball bouncing down the trail. I end up running higher pressure then.

My fat bike is rigid, but I mostly just ride it in adverse conditions (snow, mud, muck). Were I to ride it as my year-round bike on rough single-track, I’d want suspension on the front.

I do ride the rigid fatty occasionally in the dry months just to change things up and make a boring trail interesting again, but it would never be my main ride.... I’d want a front fork on it for that. I would likely swap to rigid in the winter, though. Less to maintain in the adverse conditions.

A rigid fork is less rigid than a normal rigid mountain bike, but the damping control is still on you. If you will be riding lots of jump lines, get a suspension fork (or better yet a jump bike). If your riding will be as much pedal powered as gravity powered, get a rigid.

what tire pressure do you use on road? on trails?

There is no one answer to that. Somewhere between 4 and 20 psi. Depends on the tire and where I am riding. The correct pressure for sand dunes will have the bike self steering like it has 2 flat tires when you roll onto pavement with it.

For my fat bike, I have rigid. I mostly do river beds with sand and water, not sure how long suspension forks would last in that environment. As far as trails go, my concern would be the "spongyness" of a low pressure fat tire added to the suspension fork, might be risky on downhill braking and curves.

^^^So much this.

Some people have a hard time understanding that fat tires do not replace suspension.

The other problem with running pressures low enough to emulate proper suspension is self steer which can be pretty terrible with certain tires. I can't run below 8psi in the front because the handling gets really weird below that but I'd need around 5 - 6psi to properly take the hits up front.

In our rooty rock gardens I got fed up with bouncing around constantly and got a Manitou Mastodon Pro EXT. It has now 140mm travel and I could not be happier. I can now confidently ride even the most technical downhill sections as long as they're not too steep (don't have a dropper yet and I'm not a fan of stopping + adjusting my seat height every time there's a hill).

I'm starting to think the front suspended fatbike might be the mountain bike to end all other mountain bikes (for me). But if the frame ever breaks I'm going full squish. Having suspension in the rear would make the fatbike a monster.

Some years ago I rented one of the Salsa double suspension fatbikes in Hurricane Utah for a couple of days.

I remember being very enhanced riding that thing. Among a group of 7 riders or so, I was able to ride up and down some ludicrous terrain that would be pretty sketchy without it. There's a lot of sand in that area too, and the bike was able to ride through where others were forced off to walk.

It was an eye opener! Still, I didn't want and don't want to own one. I can't remember the name of those Salsas. The weight penalty is one point against it. But the enhanced capability of the bike was too much for my tastes. It took some of the challenge out of the ride, and at the same time it had me trying dangerously technical and exposed lines, which made me think that if I had one, I'd eventually crash big-time.

I can't image conditions where you would want/need a front shock on a fatbike. I've got a drop-bar Pugsley with rigid fork that I use on adventure and gravel rides. For summer, I ride Panaracer Fat B Nimble 26 x 4 tires; typically, I ride 12-13 psi for a 170 lbs rider. Here's the set up:


Finishing the 2019 Heck of the North - Photo credit to Lisa (aka wife)

The Heck of the North is a Northern Minnesota homage to the Hell of the North (Paris Roubaix), we don't have cobble sectors in the north woods ... we have ATV sectors. These are very rough and rocky sectors, and my fatbike took it great. In the edit below, you can kinda hear the other riders envy my set up (audio quality on my old GoPro wasn't great).

Jump to 5:30 for a sector of very rough ATV trails

The Bucksaw!

I live in Minneapolis area and I see Salsa staff test riding new bikes around town... I remember seeing a pre-production Bucksaw out in the wild - it was sexy and horrifying all at once.

I've rented some very nice full-suspension bikes, but for the riding we have here, there are so few reasons for full-suspension. I only ride the local single-track trails and there's no good reason for full-squishy on these trails. Only exception is going to the local ski resort for some downhill runs.

Hell yes, it was the Buck Saw.

I loved riding it!

It was perfect for the open rocky and sandy terrain.

At the time I was plenty strong enough to boss that thing around.

Thinking back on the Buck Saw I decided it wasn't going to be the thing for what I usually take out a full suspension bike for.

Where I more often ride, the climbs are long and up to ridges with 500 to 2500 feet of climbing at one go, and then Foresty long singletrack descents. I felt the weight was too much, and the sometimes narrow and slotted lines would make the Buck Saw a difficult ride, and more than a handful when at full speed and braking.

By the time of test riding the Buck I'd already had my . Mukluk for a couple of seasons, and was long past my first fat bike honeymoon period.

The dreadful self-steering properties and the burping off of air running low pressures in demanding terrain were negative fat bike potentials that I had already realized running the Mukluk down local technical trails.

The Bucksaw was a dream come true in many ways though. I remember looking at the Lenz Leviathan at the time.

It was the dawn of the 27.5 plus size tire. I rode a Rocky Mountain plus bike with moderate travel front and rear, and it was nimble. This was just before Boost 148 came out.

After that season I eventually scrapped my BMC FourStroke, my last triple ringed all-mountain bike and a year later bought a Specialized Six-Fattie Stumpjumper. I still have it, and I still like it.

Since then, most all of the gang have Boost 148 based bikes as their primary trail ride.

Rereading my post and Sorerer's post and I realized what a hypocrite the Hypno Toad is... Anybody riding a drop-bar fatbike has no business criticizing somebody's bike choice

I'll take you on some rocky rooty single track trails in Wisconsin. You'd be eating those words and wishing you had a front suspension fork.

Good point, Minnesota doesn't have any rocky-rooty single-track trails ... Wisconsin is so different and far away from Minnesota.

Seriously, I did point out downhilling would be a different story, but I'd go with a 29er with suspension over a fatty for that. For rooty-rocky single-track trails, on a drop-bar set up, I don't feel a need for suspension + fat tires.

Personally I find that many bikes are not properly designed around the extra length of a suspension fork. Even if it is a light fork, it seems to dull the handling down too much for my taste. I'd still rather hit up singletrack trails with a rigid fork + some thicker tires and take my chances.

If you ride with the pressure so low there is a lot of give, it requires more effort to pedal. So you need the pressure high enough so there is little give.

The bumps absorbed by a fat tire is way less than suspension. Let's say you hit a large rock, the tire gives half an inch, and suspension gives 4 inches. It is nowhere near the same.

There are benefits of full suspension bikes, but I settle for front suspension, because it is easier to put a rack on the back or a rigid bike.

Lol. I'm not sure MN trails are the same unless you start getting north of the cities into/near the Duluth area.

I rode Mission Creek area this past summer. It was pretty tame compared to my local trails.

Heck of the North is just a 108-mile course focused of gravel, MMR, and ATV trails in the hills above Two Harbors (far enough North for you?)

FWIW - In the post-COVID world, I'll be riding the Heck Epic with this drop bar Pug. This is not MTBing, but the demanding and rough trail surface will be very similar.

To be clear - IMHO:

• If I'm going to ride rough single-track fast - I want a full-squishy 29er
• A fatbike will not be my fastest option (with or without suspension) to 'race' single-track trails
• I simply don't see a situation where fat tires AND suspension will be the right combo
• I am a hypocrite

Lol.

I was just up in Two Harbors last winter. Did a day of fat biking at the Demonstration Forest. Gravel, MMR, and ATV trails are usually pretty rideable with gravel bike or hard tail mountain bike. I'm sure the fat bike makes it a little more comfy.

So funny thing...I clicked on your link above for Heck of the North and in the pictures you can scroll through half way down the page...the girl with the pink and black jacket is a good friend of mine.

Love the connection!

If you have the chance/interest, Heck of the North is amazing, totally different flavor of gravel from the farmland courses.

My in-laws retired just north of Two Harbors (Beaver Bay), since they've passed, we still make many trip to the North Shore every year.