Bicycling

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Seventh_sl said:
It's because there's a market for it man.

Anyway - any of you guys own a Fat Bike? I'm going to pull the trigger on one in a few weeks so that I have it in time for the winter. Right now I'm between the Specialized Fatboy:

Specialized Bicycle Components

And the Surly Moonlander:

Moonlander | Bikes | Surly Bikes

But it's such a seasonal (heh) purchase, I'm tempted to try and save a little coin and go with a less expensive setup, something like the Origin 8 crawler. The Spec/Surley would run me around two grand, whereas I can get the Crawler for about $1500.

First Impressions: Origin-8 Crawler Fatbike | Maverick Moto Media
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How "fat" are we talking? Also, have you ridden a non-symmetric before? It just felt awkward riding it, so I decided to hold off.
Go look at the Surly Ice Cream Truck or Salsa Mukluk. Actually, get a Mukluk and you can get some Knards or dirt wizard tires and use it as your mountain bike as well. The Salsa Mukluk 3 should be like $1800 and the Mukluk 2 will be ~$2300. I'm sure you can get a slight discount on that if you're friendly with your local shop.
 
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Seventh

Golden Squire
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Er, really fat? It'd be almost entirely a snow bike, and I'll probably run studs for 90% of the riding. The local trial-maintaing club up here (NEMBA) does a fantastic job on the singletrack in the cold season, and every time I'd be hiking/shoeing this past winter I'd be jealous as fuck of the fatties cranking by me.

I've got a MTB I'm super happy with, so I'm going to just go all in (sort of) on a solid snow bike. Those Motobecanes do get decent reviews, but I'd like something a bit higher end and with as much float as I can swing for around 2 grand. My usual LBS is a Giant/Rocky Mountain dealer (and I believe RM has some coming out this season), along with the Origin 8 stuff. The Origins look great for the price point (~$1500 or under) but I'm not wild about that Nuvinci internal gearless setup. According to MTBR it's pretty solid, but I want something that I can work on myself and toss a 42T on.
 
Famm

Famm

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Get a frame/fork/wheels and then build the rest. I want to live vicariously through all your blinged out ano parts you will surely throw on it.
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Fifey

Fifey

Trakanon Raider
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Get the motobecane for six hundo then sp end 1400 on anodized parts. Win/win right there.
 
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Seventh_sl said:
Er, really fat? It'd be almost entirely a snow bike, and I'll probably run studs for 90% of the riding. The local trial-maintaing club up here (NEMBA) does a fantastic job on the singletrack in the cold season, and every time I'd be hiking/shoeing this past winter I'd be jealous as fuck of the fatties cranking by me.

I've got a MTB I'm super happy with, so I'm going to just go all in (sort of) on a solid snow bike. Those Motobecanes do get decent reviews, but I'd like something a bit higher end and with as much float as I can swing for around 2 grand. My usual LBS is a Giant/Rocky Mountain dealer (and I believe RM has some coming out this season), along with the Origin 8 stuff. The Origins look great for the price point (~$1500 or under) but I'm not wild about that Nuvinci internal gearless setup. According to MTBR it's pretty solid, but I want something that I can work on myself and toss a 42T on.
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so 5" or 4" or 3.5"? Do you want 29+?

Seriously, if you're looking at a fat bike for 5" tires and considering a Moonlander, go with an Ice Cream Truck. Also, if these are groomed/cared-for trails, you wouldn't really want studs. They help for ice, but you aren't going to get that much additional traction to justify that weight trade off. I'd suggest a Mukluk 3 to make sure you like it, then you can move shit around as necessary for parts.
 
Borzak

Borzak

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I live a very sheltered life and haven't seen another person on a bike while riding mine in probably 10+ years. What's the purpose of the fat tires?
 
opiate82

opiate82

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Jysin_sl said:
Ok, an apples to apples comparison from the same manufacturer: The full blown mountain bike is ~$10k and the full blown street bike is $17k. The mountain bike is also full carbon frame and utilizes more complex systems like front and rear suspension and disk brakes. There's also more raw carbon fiber due to the rugged design of the frame.

Yet, the road bike is still 70% more expensive?
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I think you are underestimating the amount of engineering that goes into shaving weight off of road-bike parts.
 
Lejina

Lejina

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For mountain bikes it's largely about shaving weight off the frame while keeping it strong. Lots of research with sensors and studying damaged frames goes into making the tubes thinner or smaller at the right places without compromising the whole thing. It's a lot of engineering and money for what the average user sees as very marginal gains, but when you look at the top end of things that's how it works. The other parts get weight improvement sure, but it isn't as radical as with road bikes since you want to keep them still somewhat sturdy. With road bikes they pretty much take every bit of metal they can without the thing just falling apart on its own.
 
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Borzak_sl said:
I live a very sheltered life and haven't seen another person on a bike while riding mine in probably 10+ years. What's the purpose of the fat tires?
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It's the bike version of a monster truck. Demo one if you can. First time I rode one I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. All I saw was things to ride over.
 
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Seventh

Golden Squire
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I ordered the Fatboy today, should be here in August. I could have picked up the black/yellow a lot sooner, but the olive color is just a shitload cooler. $1850 out the door. I rode the demo bike (which was a size too small for me) and it was a friggin' blast. A lot more agile than I expected it to be, super smooth shifting and surprisingly quick on pavement and the local rail trail.

ttaGbWo.jpg


My only concern now is that it fits like this on my Kuat NV, with a Specialized Ground Control, 26x4.6:

SXPJ1ov.png


The MTBR folks appear to run it like that normally, but I'll definitely be using some kind of extra ratchet strap/bungee cord, unless Kuat sells a replacement cup that will accommodate the wider tire. Either way, can't wait for it to show up - already ordered a OneUp and the requisite 1x10 goodies for the front.
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Famm

Famm

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I'm going to have to give you opposite advice of what I want you to do from now on.
 
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I think there's a replacement cup available. Yakima has one for it's similar-style trailer.
 
Kuriin

Kuriin

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I'm tempted to buy an aero handlebar since I'm planning on doing the lifecycle again (SF -> LA) next year and it has tons of flat. Love dropping down but that starts getting a little painful in the hands. Does anyone use them? If so, do you like them?
 
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