Doggus

Me: retired hard core roadie. Always wanted to try mountain biking, but living where you have to haul your bike to the local trail, never could pull the trigger. 2020, wife decides she's had it with living in the burbs and we buy a 22-acre place in the middle of nowhere. Now I'm back to doing what I did as a kid - ranching, chasing tools, etc. I need a utility type bike to roll around the ranch on. We live near a National Wildlife refuge that has some basic trails too. I'm currently rolling around on a Townie. Yes a Townie. Remember, I used to live in the burbs. I've already beat the hell out of that thing here. I need a fat bike that can handle rolling through a pasture with cattle and horse hoof holes. Most normal people would own a 4-wheeler for what I do, for some stupid reason I still want a bike. I see Burley sells fat tire cargo wheel. I can see myself dragging this around loaded with tools.

Any recommendations? The Framed Montana Carbon 27.5 FS Fat Bike came up in my search but then someone bagged on it for being over-priced with mediocre components. I know nothing about MTB components. I'm a roadie. Help me out here.

soonerrebel

I'm also a roadie but just had to have a FAT Bike. Purchased a Salsa Beargrease with Sram components that are comparable to Shimano 105. MTB components have their own hierarchy just like road groups. Was around 3 large and well worth it to me.

Doggus

I was just about to edit my original post and add that I had read about the Beargrease (with a Bluto). It's on my shortlist.

The real problem is where do you find a bike in 2021?

prj71

Between e-bay, pinkbike, Jenson and a few other online sites...Bikes ARE NOT that hard to find.

https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/lis...se&category=71

Doggus

Never heard of pinkbike. I've scoured craigslist (searchtempest) and FB marketplace. I keep seeing "fat bike has reached max popularity and now people are dumping them". Not what I'm seeing. Even the retailers are SOLD OUT on most everything: salsa, canyon etc...

jim_pridx

I'm also a long-time roadie that just got into fat biking at the beginning of this year. Since my wife and I were originally going to spend much of our retirement time in the southwest over the winters, I never really considered the idea of purchasing a fat bike. Long story short, since the pandemic basically put a kibosh on our retirement plans, I became increasingly more interested in beating our Wisconsin winters by riding in the snow on many of our local off-road trails. When I first started looking for a bike, I was mostly concerned about purchasing an intermediate model that had decent components but, most importantly, it needed to be a good fit regardless of the brand. I finally ended up with a 2021 Salsa Mukluk Deore, and I've been very happy with it! As it turns out, I enjoyed this past winter far more than I have in many years. Even my wife decided to purchase a Salsa Beargrease after seeing how much fun I was having, and she's now hooked, too!

At any rate, while there aren't that many new bikes available at the moment, I do agree with prj71 that used fat bikes "aren't that hard to find" if you're patient while looking around enough. Wishing you the best in finding one!

prj71

Craigslist is on the outs. I wouldn't even bother.

Kapusta

Check out the Surly Big Fat Dummy if you want a fat bike that can also haul stuff.

revcp 

I have the good fortune of living in the Twin Cities, a cycling hot bed and fat bike Mecca. There are ALWAYS fatties listed on CL (I agree with the above poster that it's in the way out,and my experience is that the cycling posters on CL are less reliable than those on DEDICATED FB cycling groups).

I would be happy to keep an eye on the market up here for you. Shipping is easy and relatively inexpensive, about $100, and if you buy well you can always resell for more than you paid (I'm on my sixth fat bike, and with selling low and buying high, my wife and I, who's on her second) are riding for free.

And it would be well to decide whether you want to pull a trailer (Y Freedom out of the UK is the best I've found for general hauling) or, as mentioned above, get something like a Big Dummy (Surly).

Doggus

Thanks. Maybe I'll start trolling the CL up there and see if I can get one shipped. It's unbelievable how nothing is available from the bike makers these days. I just missed a deal on a 2018 Canyon Dude shipped from MI. Didn't move fast enough

DangerousDanR

ICAN https://icancycling.com/collections/us-warehouse shows their frames in stock in the US. The frame will run you around $600 + shipping. Then you spend as much as you want on the components. They also sell nice carbon fat bike wheels. I bought the wheels built on DT Swiss hubs and so far they have been good. If you buy the wheels, they will have to come from China.

browngw 

In 2017 I purchased a Felt DD70 for around $1250 CAD and have really liked it

for off-season riding in Canada. With a solid rack and triple cranks it is a real mule. I run about 8psi in the Schwalbe Jumbo Jims in winter. Tires are a significant part of the price of fat bikes. Choose good ones.