Whats good about Fatbikes, Your thoughts?

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Hi there,

So winter has been over for a while already but I wanted to share my view on this.
Some might dislike me for this but I have to say I really don't like fatbikes at all!
Yes somehow they do look kind of cool and in some points I do understand why they are so popular but performance wise,
it seems to me that the fatbike industry is lying to us.
I had 2 whole day test rides with a Salsa Beargrease (Carbon).
I was surprised how light the bike was.
The first test in test in a whole day trip of trail ride through a mix of pathways, roads and forest (Nice weather and dry).
The second test was at mount Fuji, Japan with about 7 to 8 inches of snow.
Why I think they are lying to us, all fatbike makers seem to always advertise how good it is to have a fatbike during winter time and that you can ride absolutely anywhere with it, espacially it seems sand dunes and snowy mountains.
The reality was that on the dry testing day it performed rather well, but I felt actually less comfort in trails that with a regular Trail MTB, also it is a bit harder to maneuver through the woods with this chunky bike (So I learned, Ok fatbikes are not really meant to be used for trails), on the road it performed best even though it makes a lot of noise at higher speed (Probably because the bike is not so streamlined). One other big negative point was that I had 2 flat tires while trail riding through the forest.

The second test was with heavy snow conditions, we had 8 different MTB's with us (Trail, Enduro, 29er, 27.5, Fatbike....). There was so much snow that for almost all of us it was not so much fun, of course i thought that these weather conditions would be excellent testing ground for the fatbike. Oh my was I dissapointed, maybe it was because I had not enough weight of the bike but everytime I tries pedaling the bike would either get stuck in the snow or would spin without moving forward. The only advantage I could see was that due to the large area of the tire it was more stable and you wouldn't need to put your foot on the ground as much. In the afternoon I then changed to 29er as I blew up another fatbike tire (Fatbikes seem to be very expensive to run, 3 tires in 2 days :)) and actually could perform a lot better with it in the deep snow (Only maybe with less stability).

So, have some of you tested fatbikes in extreme weather conditions.
What were your thoughts about their performance?
 
Spend some time lurking/reading here:

http://forums.mtbr.com/fat-bikes/

Quite a few people do not agree with you.
No one believes that any bike, fat or skinny, can power thru deep snow.

To each their own. That's exactly why there are so many types of bikes to choose from.
 
I also am not to fond of fatties!
Or big knobbies.
Or silly combo sizes like 24/26"ers.
I will vouch for the fat tires riding beach's! That they do well.
But for me, tradition is thick and heavy, I stick to 1.5 ish small knobs, usually center ribbed.
Something I learned watching my brother: he was a furious punk guitar player, he finally moved up to a Gibson from a p.o.s. Paul, a copy of a Less.
Anyway, he got it all plugged up, started playing, sounded good compared to the feed back pickups....
Well he sat it down, cursed. I said, "little brother, what's wrong?"
Never forget it he said, "better guitar didn't make it any easier to play..."
Now my brother is a moron, but I realized he was confused, practiced ability or god given talent is 99 percent, the rest is equipment.
 
I also am not to fond of fatties!
Or big knobbies.
Or silly combo sizes like 24/26"ers.
I will vouch for the fat tires riding beach's! That they do well.
But for me, tradition is thick and heavy, I stick to 1.5 ish small knobs, usually center ribbed.
Something I learned watching my brother: he was a furious punk guitar player, he finally moved up to a Gibson from a p.o.s. Paul, a copy of a Less.
Anyway, he got it all plugged up, started playing, sounded good compared to the feed back pickups....
Well he sat it down, cursed. I said, "little brother, what's wrong?"
Never forget it he said, "better guitar didn't make it any easier to play..."
Now my brother is a moron, but I realized he was confused, practiced ability or god given talent is 99 percent, the rest is equipment.
Last guitar I bought, I forgot to purchase the "talent" option....... Har!
 
It really comes down to personal preference I think. I love my fatbikes, and have ridden then in snow, deep sand, various trails surfaces, and cement. They are just fun. I have a nice 26" wheeled MTB too that I also really love. But I hated my 29er.

As long as your enjoying riding a bike, who cares what it is.
 
Yea, I don't buy more then 1 of a type of bike,as I have a bunch
of different rides for different sensations and purposes. In a couple
of weeks I will have forgotten the Dolomite and want to pedal a road
bike and later on the Phat and then later on the Fat again...Stevil
 
When I had my Mongoose Beast I loved it, The looks it got, the off road readiness, The capability in snow, the way it just rolled over street curbs without feeling it, the intimidation factor on bike paths, I loved EVERYTHING about that bike. I still kinda miss it but I needed the van more and now that the Dolomite is out with 7 speed and disk brakes I have my sight set on one of those. Just waiting for the price to go back down and money to fill my pockets.
 
I like my Dolomite, but its too heavy to be something I would want to ride all the time. I prefer my Hardtail MTB as a daily rider, which is fine, as I am building up my Dolomite in the build off to be sort of a special event type ride.
 
My thoughts? I can't see the attraction to the fat tire cruisers. I mean they are cool looking, but short of that, I don't care for the ride. That's me and I am one opinion....different strokes as they say.

As far as off road fat tire mountain bikes, I am considering a Surly or something along those lines for winter. I have had very good experience with fat tire bikes in the snow. I will say that a bike can go from practically unrideable to a snow taming beast with less air pressure.
 
The newer fat tire bikes we're seeing are okay, but I wont be buying one. Mainly because I don't want what everyone else has. I'm weird that way. I'm sure they're good bikes and if you have or like one, that's cool. They're just not for me.

With that being said, I do likes me some 4 1/4" fat tires on the backs of the bikes I build, i.e.: REAPER, the TAXI folder and currently KING NOTHING. I'm a BIG fan of the Big 'N Little look on my bikes! :113:
 
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