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Few pics from my ride at case this morning

3K views 26 replies 9 participants last post by  gravitylover 
#1 ·
Conditions were very good snow was pretty solid and packed down where i rode, on my loop back it started to thaw and snow became loose which made it a little more difficult however the fatboy kept truckin along. Bicycle tire Bicycle wheel Wheel Bicycle wheel rim Bicycle fork
Tire Wheel Automotive tire Spoke Rim


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#4 ·
I have ridden a Pugsley for a few rides and the Motobecane FB4 for 3 months/250 miles or so - I suppose that's limited experience, but it is some. The Fatboy is head and shoulders above either of those bikes. Some of it is weight, but I think a lot of it is geometry (and tires).
 
#6 ·
I mainly bought the fatboy for winter riding as i have other bikes, however i can definitely see my self riding this bike year round. Its just so much fun. It all depends on the type of riding you like to do which will make the ultimate decision of what type of bike you will buy. I prefer trail/aggressive trail riding, the fatboy is not designed for it. Like i said depends on what type of riding you will be doing.

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#8 ·
I bought my first fatty (Motobecane FB4) to ride in the winter. I got the bike in November and proceeded to ride it on dirt at every opportunity. They are fun, but not fast bikes to ride in the dirt. I'm not sure what it is about fat bikes, but they are super fun to ride, its hard to not smile when you're on one. This winter has been a great one for fat bikes. I've had a lot of memorable rides, some of which could have been ridden on a regular bike, but many that were only possible (or enjoyable) on a fat bike.

That said, when it comes time to go fast the fat bike gets left behind in favor of my Niner RIP9, especially on highly technical riding. The fat bike does great in the tech stuff, but only in rock crawling mode. The traction is incredible, but you can't go screaming into rock gardens, it is a rigid bike after all.

As Thom says you can put 29er wheels on a fatty - you can even buy a fatty with an extra set of 29er wheels from Framed.com - the Minnesota 2.0 bike. Not all fat bikes can run 29er wheels - it has to have symmetrical stays, so the Pugsley and FB4 type bikes that run 135mm offset rears are out.

From our ride on Sunday - another "fat bikes only" ride:
 
#23 ·
Any dealers in ct have the fatboy?
Not in CT but close enough (NYC) and yes, we have them in my shop.

:D

crazy. i have to bite my tongue (hard) now when talking to customers about new mtb or mtb upgrade purchases. it's really hard for me not to go right into a whole fatbike rant......
No doubt, same problem here. I think some of my coworkers are getting tired of hearing it :p

fvck the crust is epic out here in south coast maine this am. still a solid snowpack of the most grippy rippy supportive crust known to mankind. time to ride!
rog
Those were some of the best rides of my life. I really hope we end up with a "crappy" winter around here again next year :)

Oh man I had some unbelievable rides this winter on rideable crust - the stuff dreams are made of (literally).
Dreams!
 
#12 ·
A friend just got one of those Minnesota bikes - its a good deal for the package for sure (set aside $150 to get some On One Floaters if you want to ride in the snow as those Vee Missions are not good snow tires - barely passable on dirt).

I got a Motobecane in the fall and upgraded to a Fatboy a month ago. I really like the fat bike ride - but its all about fun and not about speed, when I want speed the RIP9 gets the nod.

Before plunking down Fatboy sized cash I would make sure you like the ride of a fat bike. I have several friends who will only ride them when they have to (in snow) and others who hate riding them even in snow. That said if you can find a Fatboy to buy I'm certain you wouldn't have too much of a problem selling it if you don't like it. I'd be more than happy to meet up for a ride if you want to try out my Fatboy (its a large) once the trails dry out (or freeze).

I am sure by mid-summer there will be Fatboys available from Specialized dealers, but they are in short supply now. I sat down with the Specialized web site up in front of me and called the dealers listed until one told me they had one on the way that wasn't spoken for. Strangely the other five dealers I talked to all said that they had customers who had deposits down and no bikes on the way. So it seems that Specialized is not respecting the deposits, not sure why they would do it that way, but that's the way it looks.

Like I said, I love fat bikes, but some people don't, so try before you buy seems to be a good motto.
 
#13 ·
A friend just got one of those Minnesota bikes - its a good deal for the package for sure (set aside $150 to get some On One Floaters if you want to ride in the snow as those Vee Missions are not good snow tires - barely passable on dirt).

I got a Motobecane in the fall and upgraded to a Fatboy a month ago. I really like the fat bike ride - but its all about fun and not about speed, when I want speed the RIP9 gets the nod.

Before plunking down Fatboy sized cash I would make sure you like the ride of a fat bike. I have several friends who will only ride them when they have to (in snow) and others who hate riding them even in snow. That said if you can find a Fatboy to buy I'm certain you wouldn't have too much of a problem selling it if you don't like it. I'd be more than happy to meet up for a ride if you want to try out my Fatboy (its a large) once the trails dry out (or freeze).

I am sure by mid-summer there will be Fatboys available from Specialized dealers, but they are in short supply now. I sat down with the Specialized web site up in front of me and called the dealers listed until one told me they had one on the way that wasn't spoken for. Strangely the other five dealers I talked to all said that they had customers who had deposits down and no bikes on the way. So it seems that Specialized is not respecting the deposits, not sure why they would do it that way, but that's the way it looks.

Like I said, I love fat bikes, but some people don't, so try before you buy seems to be a good motto.
Thanks for the reply. How was the motobecane? I really only want it for winter riding. I just bought a giant trance advanced sx so I am looking to purchase a fat bike for next winter. I just really need something in the winter to bang around on to keep in shape as the gym gets super tedious. Saw these guys riding fat bikes in trumbull and looked like fun. I just need something that will climb well in the snow. I read someones review recently on the framed and it looks like you need to do a lot of upgrades to make it climb. Not only that but the top tube looks really high and not angled where the motobecane and the specialized look angled down. Was the motobecane a total POS is that why you upgraded?
 
#20 ·
The only mandatory upgrade is the rear derailleur. Its really bad, the chain would bounce around a lot over any kind of bumpy terrain, I can't count the number of times I had to stop and put my chain back on. That's really the only part that makes the bike difficult to use in the woods. You can get an SLX derailleur for $45.

The Vee Mission tires are not very good, passable on dirt, but on the leaves or in the snow they don't offer very good traction. They also have really bad self-steer on hard surfaces (rock faces, dirt roads etc). Get a pair of On One Floaters for $135.

For weight savings, make the tires split tube tubeless, this will save almost 2 pounds of rotating weight off the bike. I had both front and back tubeless on mine. The front was easy, the back required some foam in the center to keep the tire from burping. This costs $15 for tubes and $20 for Stans if you don't have some already.

The second weight savings idea is the rear cassette, the one that comes on the bike is really heavy, you save a half pound by buying a mid-range SRAM or Shimano cassette ($50 or so).

You can save some weight in the handlebars and seatpost, but its minimal weight.

I also changed the grips (it comes with crappy foam grips) and I swapped the big chainring for a bashguard, but those were both choices and really didn't need to be done.

That's as far as I went with my bike before selling it. You could probably save another half pound or more with new rims, but that's a lot of money for not a lot of weight savings.

Incidentally if you're looking, I heard that BikesDirect has some of the Boris X9 fat bikes in stock right now from people who ordered bikes but didn't take them - you have to call them, I don't think they are showing up on the webpage. The Boris is a rebadged KHS fat bike, it looks like a decent package, probably a bit better than the FB4.
 
#22 ·
Ha! you're hitting all my hot buttons (there's a long thread over in the Fat Bike Forum that I started on that topic).

I had planned on building up a Chinese Carbon fat bike instead of getting the Fatboy. There was a projection that they would have frames up within a month or so, but it seems like that is at risk now. Take a look at that thread and you'll get the latest information on those carbon frame - my opinion is that its a mid-summer thing, if that. It seems that the manufacturers are building the molds, then someone swoops in and buys the molds, meaning they can't be sold directly.
 
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