I’ve seen a few riding these things around town on the streets with their enormously wide tires. They are interesting looking but I would think the rolling resistance would be a lot more work than for bikes with skinnier tires for street biking. People do seem to like them. Have you ridden a “fat bike”? what do you think of it as an everyday rider?
Well they did brew a beer in their honor…so they can’t be all bad.
They’re extremely lame to ride on the street, IMO. On the trails, however, they’re a good laugh - amazingly capable relative to what you might expect. Decent ones aren’t that heavy nowadays, and the traction you get through the mud and over the roots is excellent. Not a bike for longer rides on rocky trails, but excel at the sort of arsing-around rides you might do in woodland. I did a mountain bike event recently - 30 miles, 5000 ft of climbing, and a guy riding an on-one fatty came in just behind me which seemed like a good effort. He looked absolutely wrung-out, mind.
I see walmart are doing them nowadays - get a singlespeed one for $150 and a geared one for about $200. If all you want is a pub bike to ride round town then I wouldn’t look further than this. If you want to take it off-road, though, you need to get a proper one.
Back in the day, I had one for the streets of Honolulu. I liked it. I think the brand was … Diamondback?
We went on big group ride last month and the organizer rode a fat bike, he went more than 50 miles on that thing. He said it wasn’t too bad.
I really love the look of them. They remind me of a jeep wrangler with modified suspension and fat tires. Completely useless at anything but rough fire trail riding at relatively low speeds. Overkill for town riding but fun nevertheless.
When it would not stop snowing last winter they were the only bikes I saw riding without having to stop for spots that were not plowed on the trails.
Maybe they wouldn’t be the perfect commuter, but wouldn’t the additional rolling resistance make them a good choice for exercise?
I don’t have one, but Mr. Athena’s had one for the past few years.
He goes back and forth on them. They’re more or less stupid to ride on standard trails or on pavement unless you’re looking for a workout; a mountain bike or road bike is much superior.
We do happen to live in a place where we have some crazy number of snow bike trails (cool movie about it here), so he rides on those trails in the winter. He’s had great fun on them, but it’s heavily dependent on weather and trail conditions. The trails are easily ruined by any number of things - some dumbass walking on them and creating big, deep footprints, bikers biking with too much air in their tires which tears the trail up, a thaw that makes the snow all soft & soupy. In great conditions, it’s great, but even up here where we have no lack of snow and cold weather, great conditions aren’t as plentiful as he’d like.
They’re also fun on the beach and in sand dunes, assuming you live in a place with beach and/or sand dunes.
Actually mine was a mountain bike. I thought that’s what we were talking about here. Fat bikes are different?
I’ve seen them all over in Anchorage in the winter and they seem to get along good in the snowy conditions.
Fatbikes are basically mountain bikes with fatter tires (3 to 5 inches wide). Your basic mountain bike runs tires that are about 2 to 2-1/2" wide. The fatbike requires frames, forks, rims, and hubs that are designed to accommodate the wider tires.
Here is an example of a fatbike.
I have 2 mountain bikes, 2 road bikes, and a cross bike. I want a fatbike.
Ah, never mind then. Mine in Honolulu was a mountain bike. I don’t think there were any fat bikes around at that time. But I did take part in an annual 100-mile bike ride one year and went the distance. Was in much better shape back then.
I don’t have one but wouldn’t mind trying it out. I’ve seen them on the singletrack trails that I ride on often and I always think that they look slightly ridiculous. I kind of understand the idea - but 29ers also look a bit ridiculous to me. I don’t know exactly why.
I have ridden all kinds of other bicycles, but I got stopped using my full suspension MTB to go back to a 97 GT that I loved (and reminded me of being younger). I may upgrade to a front fork suspension, but for right now I get along just fine with the fully rigid that has shifting issues.
When it starts to get snowy, I’d be willing to try one out a little more, but as I’ve gotten more into cycling, I have definitely moved to a “less is more” approach - my road bike is also relatively stripped down and pretty basic, but it gets the job done. That is probably just a personal thing, but I can see the advantage in snowy and sandy settings. To each their own, of course. I think they are worth exploring – ride what makes you comfortable.
The guys I’ve run into on the trails that have them seem to be pumping ridiculously hard. I often run into people from the local bike club but I prefer riding alone, so I don’t know how they do over the whole ride. I’ll ask more about them next time they are at the trailhead when I’m arriving/leaving.
If you try one, let us know how it goes!
A guy in our group did the entire KATY Trail on one in June. He was slower, but looking at those 4.5" tires made me smile. I’m considering getting one for winter riding in the snow. Supposedly you can stay on top of light snow with tire pressures as low as 8 PSI.
If the snow is really hard, you might use 8. 3-4 PSI is more common. I’ve heard of people riding with 2psi.
And it’s important to pay attention to that - you use the wrong pressure, your tires dig ruts into the trail, and the trail gets ruined very, very quickly.