Inpd

I understand the need for fat bikes on snow or sand dunes, so what's with all the fat bikes people are riding in sunny unsandy CA?

Am I missing some hidden benefit to them like ultra smooth ride?

I keep on thinking Forrest Gump would ride a fat bike (because they look a little ridiculous). It takes all my self will not to yell, "Ride Forrest, Ride" when I see someone on my MUP ride one!

Corbin

Just a fad. I cringe the idea of rolling that log of a tire around under my own legs. Don't worry it will be over soon.

Inpd

I've never ridden one. What does it feel like?

I'm also guessing they are really sluggish due to the low PSI and large surface tire area.

ThermionicScott 

Do you only interact with people online?

bikemig 

I see a lot more fatbikes being ridden in good weather than bad. When I ride the local trails in the snow on my vintage mtb, I don't see any fatbikes. I think a lot of them are being bought by people who won't ride them in really bad weather.

Inpd

As opposed to asking random people to interrupt their ride so I can ride their bike while they hold mine?

WhyFi

Are they all passing you too fast for you to chat them up?

ThermionicScott 

Just seems strange that no one has offered to let you try theirs, or at least described the experience. I have a couple of friends who gush about theirs if you give them half a chance.

trainsktg

When i feel like staying off the road, I have a chubby 29x3 that sees the gravel and dirt.

Lazyass

I have no clue what's up with them, but I did pick one up in a bike shop once. I don't remember the model but it was expensive, over $2000. It had to have weighed a good 35-40lbs. The entire MTB scene confuses me know, they're all over the place. It was so much simpler when they all had 26 inch wheels.

Ghazmh

It's the new single speed. In about 2 years 75% of bikes on Craigslist will be "hardly used mint condition" fat bikes.

Lazyass

I don't get the whole single speed fad, either. Or the rigid fork fad for that matter.

But I'm sure this thread will be moved to the MTB section *ahem*

Maelochs

What’s Not wrong with this picture.

A person says honestly he has never ridden one. I’d say that is true for most of the cycling community. But ... immediately the conversation goes from fat bikes to personal assault. An dumb assault, at that.

I have never ridden a carbon racing bike, a bent, a fat bike. Not because I don’t leave my home, but because no one goes around offering strangers to test their bikes. I know folks who ride with the same group every weekend and I’d bet not three percent of them have ridden one another’s bikes. How the Internet is involved .... sorry but that was a dumb, cheap, almost meaningless personal shot. No value to the thread.

Inpd responds reasonably. Whether he uses the Internet or not, it would be pretty weird to go up to people and say, “Hey, I have never driven a car like that. Slide over, let me take it for a spin.” or, “I don’t have kids, let me take yours home for a while to try it out.”

WhyFi suggests talking to fat bike riders about their bikes ... a much better idea but still totally off the point. No matter how many conversations one has about fat bikes (online or in person) one has still Not Ridden a Fat Bike. And of course, the fat bike rider will say it is great.

I don’t know about you guys, but if some random person on a the road or trail chatted with me for a few minutes and then said,. “Let me try your bike,” my answer is “No” one hundred percent of the time. Maybe if the guy leaves $10000 cash as a deposit, so i could replace the bike if he broke it .... but probably “No” anyway because I wouldn’t trust someone who claimed to have ten grand in cash in his hydration bag.

So ... not as offensive, but still not a rational response.

Well ... swing and a miss.

No One Ever has offered to let me ride his or her bike. Any more than anyone has offered me his wife, no matter how much we chatted. It would seem strange to me if some random guy said “Here, ride my $2000 specialty bike, and if you wreck, too bad for me.”

And as for “gushing” about it ... People like what they like. I know people who think rap music is the only stuff worth listening to, and they can explain why endlessly ... or they could if I would listen. I have heard a bunch, some of it is interesting almost all of it is pure crap (to me) so all their “gushing” about it transmits no information.

After all the “gushing, Inpd still wouldn’t have ridden a fat bike.

And really, going to the root of it ... ThermionicScott attacked Inpd for not having ridden a fat bike. Really?

Yes, really.

Anyway ... none of this means anything,. I just found the exchange amusing and I decided to pay some silly games with it ... get my brain woken up a bit by poking at the keyboard and poking fun at some random chat-room posts.

I have never ridden a fat bike .... what do I know.

Have good holidays.

[Now That, my friend, is gratuitous snark.]

redfooj

Anyone remember when they first came out? Over a decade, by surly I think.

It's great there is such a diversity of bikes with truly differentiated riding characteristics in the MTB world.

Whereas on the road, the only real fuss is whether discs are kosher or not, and emanufacturer are left exaggerating and bloviating on obscenely stupid minutiae like brake fairings and seat post diameters

fishboat

Amen. As for the lamen on the attack..grow up.

I find the fat bike thing humorous. They do look cool..in a novelty-act sort of way. I can say I'll never ride with anyone that has one..not because I'm snooty..but because they'll never be able to keep up with me, and I'm much older and slower than I once was. I hike local MTB trails (dual use) and see maybe 5-10 bikes in a hundred MTB are FT bikes. I can't imagine why anyone riding off-road would want to lug...all..that..up and down craggy trails. It's so much more fun on a nimble MTB bike. I may rent one when traveling..I think they might be fun to slam in..maybe 4 or 5 miles on a beach-trail-town somewhere to get the flavor of local environs.

Why do (kids..young adults..early adopters) buy them?..they're "new & trendy & hip"..and, as mentioned, will eventually find their way to CL along with paisley hip-hugging bell bottom pants. Or they'll find an urban niche where "lookin' good" ranks higher than actually riding anywhere...in a sideways baseball cap, nose-ring, pants dragging sort of way.

More importantly..why do they exist & marketed?.. It's what manufacturers & marketeers do to sell new bikes to people that already have other bikes..or grab sales that can only be motivated to buy through "trendy..hip..". It's an age-old marketing standard..how do you sell more Allman Brothers CDs to the entire population that already owns Allman Brothers CDs? You come out with a new remastered box set with two "previously unreleased..low-quality outtakes" and people gobble them up..replicating what they already have. The women's fashion industry takes this to it's highest art-form. ..."it's just business..foisted on a gullible consumer...insert product here___________..cha-ching$..NEXT..."

Xherion

Speaking from experience since I own one after being hooked into the idea of riding through the winter, I've determined they are not for me. Winters in the midwest are still frigid cold and owning a fat bike doesn't make it any warmer. I like to ride fast and fat bikes are heavy (unless you drop $4000+) and the rolling resistance makes it incredibly sluggish.

WinNT

the bigger the better
I think it is what people think buying fatbikes to ride in a city

bikemig 

They have their place for winter riding; fat is good. I've been riding a vintage mtb with 26 x 2.1 studded tires. I wouldn't mind a wider tire when conditions get really dicey, though. I'm just surprised by how few fat bikes I see in winter. I see a lot more fat tires in good weather than bad which is a bit weird.

The price of studded tires for those things is pretty prohibitive. A lot of people ride beaters in the winter cuz their bike is going to take a beating in the winter. I know mine does.

Inpd

Just to be clear i was referring to fat bikes being ridden on the road. Off rode makes good sense.

Fixed gear bikes i can understand. I just sold mine, but they are known to help pedaling smoothness. However, they require long stretches of flat road not interrupted by traffic stops which i dont have.

I was thinking fat bikes are popular as they provide a good aerobic workout? The chain rings are tiny (32/22) so its like a spinning class but only outside.

If their popularity is due to people seeking attention. That's kind of sad.

revcp 

Chiming in from Minnesota. I agree, I don't understand at all why anyone would ride a fatty on the streets. In the snow, however, and out in the woods, they are right at home. If your goal is to ride fast then look elsewhere (which is why during what everyone else calls "in season" I'm on my Orbea Orca), but if you want to explore and be 7 years old again then a fat bike is tremendous. Also, they do look heavy and ponderous, but that's not their feel. Unless you get a dog from a big box store they are surprisingly nimble, and their gearing makes pedaling pretty effortless. You really have to ride one before opining.

Chandne

I have one but I ride in only on snowy trails. I know others who ride it all the time now and have them built up light, in the 24lb range. The grip is incredible but I like my full-suspension 29ers for trails. On snowy trails, the Fatties are a blast and they are really really becoming popular here. Of course, our trails can be snowed infer several months so the frustration of not being able to ride, started this thing here. Most mountain bikers I know don't like riding road, so they get fat bikes. As for me, I love riding road but on or after snow days when trails are sorta packed, the fat bike is pretty incredible and opens up another aspect of riding. It has been growing in popularity every year here.

redfooj

because not all off-road riding is the same.

would your nimble mtb bike be fun on a really rocky downhill course?

fishboat

..not taking the bait..you'll need to find someone that likes to debate...been there, haven't done it..don't care.

WhyFi

Yeah, everyone that didn't treat the thread and the OP with solemn respect should feel bad about themselves, because it was clear from the first post, wherein the OP expressed a desire to yell at the riders in an effort to compare them to a famous movie simpleton, that this thread was never intended for a circle-the-drain trajectory. No, never. Shame! Shame!

redfooj

"i'd like to throw my opinion out there but refuse to listen to others' "