Daniel4

This weekend I will be test driving a FAT Bike. Last weekend as my wife and I were walking around the beaches area in Toronto, we ran into a new shop who had a Fat Bike for rent. We dropped in and spoke about it. The owner said there was no market for Fat Bikes so he's clearing out his inventory. Retail would be about $1000 but he's selling for $500.

So I'm going to rent one for the day and test it out on the sand and climbing hills as well as taking it on the road. My intention is a Fat Bike for winter commuting. Half my trip is through a park trail so something that will ride in thick fresh snow is something I need. I've already done a winter with a mountain bike and it won't cut through 5inches of fresh snow.

So what should I be looking for in the Fat bike? Some basic research on the net showed that decent mid range bikes would be from $1000 to $2000. So I want to look at the components to ensure it is mid-range quality and not Walmart cheap.

Thanks in advance.

trainsktg

What brand/model is it? Some are $200, some $5,000. $500 sounds like a good deal, but specifics would help settling the question.

I say buy one. I bought a semi-fat 2014 Surly ECR on close out in May and in June racked up 500 miles and 31,000 feet of climbing on old logging roads with it, if that tells you how much I am enjoying it.

Keith

Ursa Minor

I agree fat tire bikes are way fun. I bought one last summer and did some great beach rides like 36 miles round trip Stearns wharf to
Elwood pier. The ocean waves are hypnotic. For fat tire snow riding you might ask Scrming. Hes done a lot of that.

Charlie

Juan Foote

I am rather surprised the market there is so different for them. They are all the rage here with the city crowd, for no practical reason at all.

fietsbob

LBS Sells a bunch , many pay more and have an electric Mid Drive Motor in place of the stock crankset.

Daniel4

Took the fat bike out for a test ride. It wasn’t any name brand. It was built to spec from China. The frame is aluminum. The components are from England. It was a seven speed. I forgot to count the number of teeth on the crank set.

I handled well on the road. Then I took it to the beach and I couldn’t pedal on the deep sand until I deflated the tires. The pressure was 15psi when it left the shop. I dropped the pressure until I could easily squish the tires by hand. Later at the shop when I measured the pressure, the gauge read “0”psi. Anyways at the beach it took awhile to learn how to turn properly in thick sand as it wouldn’t make sharp turns. Later when I watched youtube videos, I noticed a lot of them were on packed sand and going straight. Which those low tire pressures, on the paved bike trails, the bike wanted to go straight and required some forced to steer into turns. Climbing was ok. Riding on the street back to the shop I maintained ok speed even with those deflated tires.

I didn’t buy the bike. Instead I went to Walmart to look for cheap fat bikes and then to another bike store to look at other midrange and more expensive fat bikes. I ended up testing a Rock Mountain fat bike that costed closed to $2200 Cdn. Handled well and loved the gear shifters.

Back home I checked on youtube for videos showing fat bikes climbing deep fresh snow on hills. Could not find any particular ones. This is a concern because if I were to spend $500 (even if it’s half price) it would have been a waste of money if I can’t climb hills with fresh snow. It would be just like what I was already doing with my beather mountain bike this past winter.

I found that someone else had posted this same question in another forum about mountain bikes. Boy, sometimes you just can’t get a straight answer as there were two pages of responses including one sarcastic one (which of course doesn’t help at all).

So I’m at a dilemma. I think fat bikes should be able to ride up hills with fresh snow. This bike is a 50% off sale which is a bargain but only if the retail of about $1000 really does reflect the quality of other bikes in this price range. Now I know what a high quality bike feels like, I’ll test ride this bike again.

Up North

3-5 inches of fresh snow on top of hard ground and you'll be fine. The same on top of snow base and you need a snowmobile my friend not a bike, snowshoes will work also. You are expecting too much from a bicycle. Without a hard solid base the bike will handle just like you experienced in the sand- poorly.

Ursa Minor

For riding on sand please check the thread "Do any of you guys ever actually ride on the beach" in the Beach cruisers forum.
Sand riding is easy if you ride right at the water line where the sand is firm packed especially at low tide. Dry sand is a pain.

Good luck.

Charlie

corrado33

This was my dilemma as well when I was interested in a fat bike. I expected them to be able to do much more than a typical mountain bike, but they really can't. There's a very small niche of weather that they can ride in that mountain bikes can't. For me, it's not enough to justify buying another bike. However, I've heard they're just REALLY fun to ride.

Little Darwin

I have never ridden a fat bike, but a couple of years ago I went to an event and a guy was there that was demonstrating riding a fat bike in the snow.

I am in PA, and the demonstrator had the previous year journeyed to MN to ride in some very long fat bike race in the snow, he did drop after several hours because of hypothermia, but rode often in the snow for recreational purposes. Anyway, in theory knew what he was doing, he was also in shape, and college aged.

A couple of things he mentioned. Several people in his area do snow riding, and he said that it was a lot easier to ride following someone elses tracks who had blazed the trail than to go through "virgin" snow.

He also talked about varying pressure for conditions, and when I talked to another person riding in the summer, he said the same thing, we would ride 3-4 psi on gravel, and if he was going to ride any significant time on pavement would stop and inflate to 10 or 15 psi, or the bike was sluggish,.

Anyway, back to the demo. After talking about the equipment, he then decided to show us that riding in the snow could be fun. There was about 6-8 inches of snow on the ground. He hopped on his $3000 carbon fiber fat bike, and took 3 or 4 tries before he could finally get going and slowly slog along for a few yards to show us. He offered to let others try, and the only way anyone could ride in the snow is if they started on the plowed parking lot and transitioned to the snow after gaining some speed.

But, if you want or need to ride a bike in the snow, it is one of your few options. I just thought of something, I wonder if anyone has equipped a fat bike with a ski in front??

Daniel4

Yes was my experience so it was good that I took a test ride to dispel some of the misconceptions and hype - not implying anything dishonest but my test ride brought me back down to earth what it can do.

My commute would be short - only 4.6km but to keep changing tire pressure on those $100 tires would not be an option just because I would be hopping from park trail to street.

And yes, while test riding I had fun riding around the beach and going over concrete curbs grassy hills.

Leebo

They are not magic in the snow, need some kind of packed base, like from foot prints, snowshoes, skis or snow mobiles. They work very well, the 5" tires at low pressure are awesome. Great for all around mt biking too. For summer I use 4" tires on 80mm rims, tubeless.

corrado33

Yeah but that's the thing. If the snow is packed enough, you can take almost any wide mountain bike tire and you'll be fine. There's a very... very fine line for what you can't ride in a normal bike compared to what you can ride on a fat bike. For me, as a grad student without a real job yet. It's not worth it. Possibly if I ever live by a beach I'd consider it.

TalonX

In the Buffalo area there is a Fat Bike race in the snow. Here's an incredibly obnoxious music video of the 2015 run. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cqYLnagg1w

Leebo

No comparison to 2.5 inch tire vs a 4 or 5 inch tire. They work great in the snow. Get a job. Get some bikes, start there.

Daniel4

Well for me, I haven't been a student for 30 years. Unless someone can prove it to me I don't see the fat bike as a utility vehicle. So spending the money on one that can't climb a paved bike trail in fresh snow means it won't be much different from my current beater mountain bike.

Next winter, I'll take some pictures of the snow trenches cut out by pedestrians so see if anybody on his fat bike can ride through those.

Leebo

Just demo some. Fresh snow? 5" of light powder? Great. 5" of sticky snow with a slushy base? Not. Snow changes every day.