I beg to disagree, sir.
Well, I don´t defend monster trucks, which I don´t favour myself either. But I would rather say that fatbikes are not the monster trucks of cycling, but rather the beach buggys, snow scooters, swamp boats… of cycling (in one package). In other words, a fatbike allows you to cycle and have fun in terrains and conditions which would be difficult (and therefore not the same kind of fun) or impossible to ride with any other bike.
Of course, it wouldn´t make much sense to use a fatbike for commuting, for example… so you probably wouldn´t want to have it as your one and only bike. But who would want to have only one bike for all purposes anyway? 🙂
I have a fatbike and I use it for everything, including commuting. I love it. It is a pack mule and does do everything. I am not a speed demon, so the pace I have on a fat bike suits me fine.
That said, I do have a second bike and am looking for another, probably more like a gravel tourer.
NOW yer talklin’, Boris! For those of us in the northern climes who DON’T ski, we finally have something to look forward to when the snow flies! I never thought I’d ever own a fat bike, and then I realized I live 6 blocks from groomed snow mobile trails: it’s the most fun you’re ever going to have at 5 mph!
Another plus is that when you have nothing but rock gardens and root farms, like we do here, it’s a great bike to let you just go for it, and an even better one to have when taking out a newbie: as long as they don’t aim right at a tree, they’ll get through it. 🙂
The rider that finished 3rd this year in the Trans North Georgia race was riding a single speed, rigid fatbike. It made me rethink fatbikes and what they can and can’t do.
I bought one for its utility on my work commute. I can now ride the unplowed trail sections I used to trudge. Even riding at 6 MPH beats walking the bike in snow at 2 MPH. It also turned out to be an absolute blast!
I will say this If I brought my bike into this shop NO way no how would moon put a tool on my bike It would be Joe or Thistle and I would be willing to wait. I have a feeling it would be the same for Help.
Michael, fat tyres can do good on many surfaces – anything loose and/or uneven. Not just sand, snow or mud… also small rocks, gravel, branches, uneven grass turf… rough pavement… 🙂 / It is also good to think or learn about the “fat tyre paradox” – that the wider and less inflated tyre is not always “slower”, that it can actually have smaller rolling resistance than the high-pressure narrow wheel in many terrains…
My take on this was that we already had “fat-tire bikes” with tires nearly 2½ inches wide, and these bikes had already evolved from the the original steel-framed middle-weight hardtails to bikes made out of unobtanium with full suspension, electronic shifting, disc brakes, GPS, smartphone connectivity, and, yes, even motors. The need for something that did little more than double the width of the tire’s footprint was, in my way of thinking, not necessary unless you were going to be doing something beyond extreme such as the Iditasport or trying to cycle the sands of the Sahara.
Bill, if you ever get the chance to ride one on the street, you’ll find yourself grinning because you feel like a kid again (or Edith Ann, but that will still make you grin): you don’t hop curbs, you just roll over them. If you get the chance to ride in the woods, you’ll find you don’t have to think so hard about your line and you can just enjoy the ride. If you get the chance to ride on packed snow, you will find an entirely new hobby: I am in love with the quiet of snow, the brightness it creates in the woods, and the chance to do something super-fun in the white stuff that doesn’t involve risking my knees. Oh yeah: and the dog loves it!
They are a blast. I have ridden them in snow and on soft sand beaches. We made fenders out of corrugated plastic drain pipe cut in half. I don’t have one… yet!
I am a bit of a Surly fan, with a LHT and my ever evolving Big Dummy. My wife was new to biking, but quickly settled into single tracking with hopes of bike camping. Do my surprise she chose a Surly Pugsly. We got it on clearance in VA beach as it was a former year’s model, and in classic “make me so proud” took about 30 seconds for her to start changing it up…and better yet, we are the same height, and I get to “barrow” it from time to time. SO VERY FUN!!! I ride it out FountainHead park in VA and it is a blast.
I´m probably not a target market for any company – I also do not have much money to spare, and I don´t… The reasons I can afford more than one bike are quite different. I can´t afford to buy a new bike every year, no way! – but I keep almost every bike I ever had. I do the most of the maintenance and repairs myself and I can keep a bike running for years and years, which is actually not that difficult (unlike with cars, for example). I even have some “scrap bikes” – bikes some other people wanted to throw away, but then gave or sold to me and I repaired them… and so on. I don´t own a car, I don´t smoke (or very rarely), I don´t go for vacations to exotic regions… you don´t need a lot of many, actually, the key is rather how you distribute what you have, I would say. As far as fat bikes are concerned – I don´t own one. Nevertheless, I have tried riding it (borrowed) and I loved it. 🙂
I’m sorry to hear about your financial situation, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with following bicycle trends.
I love the fact so many people put their bike on a higher priority than their car. I’m not putting any more money into a car than absolutely necessary, even plan to get rid of the thing altogether (we live in the city).
There is always the formula for bike ownership – applies to Velomobiles too!
That is: N+1 when N= the number of machines currently owned….
After finding that my balance is now too precarious for riding a solo bicycle, I have gravitated to 3 wheels and have a converted Tandem as well as a Mango Velomobile.
It is a much more relaxed method of transport.
Once you junk the ‘ride like a tour de France winner’ mentality life becomes much more laid back and enjoyable.
I am sure that Yehuda agrees 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
PLUS: if you have more machines, their individual lifespan can be longer (if well maintained and stored in suitable conditions, of course).
IN THEORY, you can have three bikes in a succession, each lasting for (just for example) 10 time units, then becoming too worn and torn to ride on – OR – you could have those three bikes at once, each lasting for 30 time units (because you only ride one at a time, the other two “rest” during that time, and the tear and wear gets distributed) – for the same price, if counted for the whole period of 30 years. 😉
The other formula for bicycle ownership is N = B – 1; where ‘N’ is the number of bicycles owned, and ‘B’ is the number of bicycles that will cause the spouse/significant other to break up with you.
Now that there are studded fat bike tires, I won’t ride anything else in the winter. And I’ve spent a winter commuting on 2” studded tires. Up north it means that bike season never ends!
The truly correct answer is, “Why do you need a fatbike?”
They’re the monster trucks of cycling, and just about as useful.
I beg to disagree, sir.
Well, I don´t defend monster trucks, which I don´t favour myself either. But I would rather say that fatbikes are not the monster trucks of cycling, but rather the beach buggys, snow scooters, swamp boats… of cycling (in one package). In other words, a fatbike allows you to cycle and have fun in terrains and conditions which would be difficult (and therefore not the same kind of fun) or impossible to ride with any other bike.
Of course, it wouldn´t make much sense to use a fatbike for commuting, for example… so you probably wouldn´t want to have it as your one and only bike. But who would want to have only one bike for all purposes anyway? 🙂
I have a fatbike and I use it for everything, including commuting. I love it. It is a pack mule and does do everything. I am not a speed demon, so the pace I have on a fat bike suits me fine.
That said, I do have a second bike and am looking for another, probably more like a gravel tourer.
Well said Boris!
http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p5pb13127704/p5pb13127704.jpg 🙂
NOW yer talklin’, Boris! For those of us in the northern climes who DON’T ski, we finally have something to look forward to when the snow flies! I never thought I’d ever own a fat bike, and then I realized I live 6 blocks from groomed snow mobile trails: it’s the most fun you’re ever going to have at 5 mph!
Another plus is that when you have nothing but rock gardens and root farms, like we do here, it’s a great bike to let you just go for it, and an even better one to have when taking out a newbie: as long as they don’t aim right at a tree, they’ll get through it. 🙂
I can´t help, but many fatbike pictures from a quick G search look quite “yehudaesque”… or is it just me? 🙂
Like this one http://brimages.bikeboardmedia.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Rocky-Mountain-blizzard-fat-bike-review-2.jpg
… this also looks like pure, useless fun 🙂 http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p4pb12974769/p4pb12974769.jpg
The rider that finished 3rd this year in the Trans North Georgia race was riding a single speed, rigid fatbike. It made me rethink fatbikes and what they can and can’t do.
Down here (Argentina) we have a saying: “No es la flecha, es el indio” (or in plain English, “It’s not about the arrow, it’s about the archer”.
I bought one for its utility on my work commute. I can now ride the unplowed trail sections I used to trudge. Even riding at 6 MPH beats walking the bike in snow at 2 MPH. It also turned out to be an absolute blast!
…and I installed fenders.
Thanks Bicycle Boris I thought of them as just beach cruisers now I know they can do more
I will say this If I brought my bike into this shop NO way no how would moon put a tool on my bike It would be Joe or Thistle and I would be willing to wait. I have a feeling it would be the same for Help.
Michael, fat tyres can do good on many surfaces – anything loose and/or uneven. Not just sand, snow or mud… also small rocks, gravel, branches, uneven grass turf… rough pavement… 🙂 / It is also good to think or learn about the “fat tyre paradox” – that the wider and less inflated tyre is not always “slower”, that it can actually have smaller rolling resistance than the high-pressure narrow wheel in many terrains…
My take on this was that we already had “fat-tire bikes” with tires nearly 2½ inches wide, and these bikes had already evolved from the the original steel-framed middle-weight hardtails to bikes made out of unobtanium with full suspension, electronic shifting, disc brakes, GPS, smartphone connectivity, and, yes, even motors. The need for something that did little more than double the width of the tire’s footprint was, in my way of thinking, not necessary unless you were going to be doing something beyond extreme such as the Iditasport or trying to cycle the sands of the Sahara.
With regard to the picture you posted, Boris …..
Now let’s see them turn around and pedal back to the top! «grin»
Bill, if you ever get the chance to ride one on the street, you’ll find yourself grinning because you feel like a kid again (or Edith Ann, but that will still make you grin): you don’t hop curbs, you just roll over them. If you get the chance to ride in the woods, you’ll find you don’t have to think so hard about your line and you can just enjoy the ride. If you get the chance to ride on packed snow, you will find an entirely new hobby: I am in love with the quiet of snow, the brightness it creates in the woods, and the chance to do something super-fun in the white stuff that doesn’t involve risking my knees. Oh yeah: and the dog loves it!
If I lived in snowy climes I’d get a fatbike or at least a ‘plus’ bike. I bet it’s a blast.
I saw one (FatBike) on the beach. It worked well.
They are a blast. I have ridden them in snow and on soft sand beaches. We made fenders out of corrugated plastic drain pipe cut in half. I don’t have one… yet!
Aaron
Good point Bill 🙂
Getting back to the top is always the hard part for us who pedal.
I am a bit of a Surly fan, with a LHT and my ever evolving Big Dummy. My wife was new to biking, but quickly settled into single tracking with hopes of bike camping. Do my surprise she chose a Surly Pugsly. We got it on clearance in VA beach as it was a former year’s model, and in classic “make me so proud” took about 30 seconds for her to start changing it up…and better yet, we are the same height, and I get to “barrow” it from time to time. SO VERY FUN!!! I ride it out FountainHead park in VA and it is a blast.
Is it just me, or is that customer a Gary Fisher lookalike?
“But who would want to have only one bike for all purposes anyway?” said Boris.
Umm… Those of us who can’t afford 17 bikes for every possible condition we expect to encounter on our rides maybe?
Some of us (at least me) are not well off financially, aka “poor”, and can’t/won’t buy into every new bike company gimmick used to sell new bikes.
Enjoy the latest trend. You’re just the target market they need.
I´m probably not a target market for any company – I also do not have much money to spare, and I don´t… The reasons I can afford more than one bike are quite different. I can´t afford to buy a new bike every year, no way! – but I keep almost every bike I ever had. I do the most of the maintenance and repairs myself and I can keep a bike running for years and years, which is actually not that difficult (unlike with cars, for example). I even have some “scrap bikes” – bikes some other people wanted to throw away, but then gave or sold to me and I repaired them… and so on. I don´t own a car, I don´t smoke (or very rarely), I don´t go for vacations to exotic regions… you don´t need a lot of many, actually, the key is rather how you distribute what you have, I would say. As far as fat bikes are concerned – I don´t own one. Nevertheless, I have tried riding it (borrowed) and I loved it. 🙂
(… you don´t need a lot of MONEY…). Pardon my French.
I’m sorry to hear about your financial situation, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with following bicycle trends.
I love the fact so many people put their bike on a higher priority than their car. I’m not putting any more money into a car than absolutely necessary, even plan to get rid of the thing altogether (we live in the city).
There is always the formula for bike ownership – applies to Velomobiles too!
That is: N+1 when N= the number of machines currently owned….
After finding that my balance is now too precarious for riding a solo bicycle, I have gravitated to 3 wheels and have a converted Tandem as well as a Mango Velomobile.
It is a much more relaxed method of transport.
Once you junk the ‘ride like a tour de France winner’ mentality life becomes much more laid back and enjoyable.
I am sure that Yehuda agrees 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
PLUS: if you have more machines, their individual lifespan can be longer (if well maintained and stored in suitable conditions, of course).
IN THEORY, you can have three bikes in a succession, each lasting for (just for example) 10 time units, then becoming too worn and torn to ride on – OR – you could have those three bikes at once, each lasting for 30 time units (because you only ride one at a time, the other two “rest” during that time, and the tear and wear gets distributed) – for the same price, if counted for the whole period of 30 years. 😉
(The same with shoes, clothes etc).
The other formula for bicycle ownership is N = B – 1; where ‘N’ is the number of bicycles owned, and ‘B’ is the number of bicycles that will cause the spouse/significant other to break up with you.
Coroplast (plastic cardboard) political signs.
http://kentsbike.blogspot.com/2007/01/tobys-coroplast-panniers-fenders.html
Now that there are studded fat bike tires, I won’t ride anything else in the winter. And I’ve spent a winter commuting on 2” studded tires. Up north it means that bike season never ends!