Fatbikes, always outrageous and ridiculous, have been made even more outlandish. Whereas four years ago you could only buy a steel Surly Pugsley or a custom from Alaska with very limited parts options and some issues with chain lines and a small tire selection, we're now seeing suspension, carbon rims and frames, titanium, special cranks, 190mm wide hubs, and a gazillion new manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon, even some big names.
Below are some pictures I took at Interbike in Las Vegas, a visual documentation of the fatbike craze in evolution.
First, here is the reason why I won't be buying a fat-bike any time soon. This bread sandwich and yogurt cup cost me $21 in the convention center's food court. Water was $4 for a 12oz bottle. Beer? $8 for Bud Light in a can. A decent fat-bike still costs $2000+ so on a mechanic's wages it might be a few years, especially if I move to Las Vegas.
Crucial to the development of fat-bikes is the growth of the accoutrement industry. Companies are making fat-bike enabled bike racks like this one here by
SoftRide, that can fit 5 bikes at up to 50 pounds each.
Suspension is another important side industry that we're seeing more of. Fat-bikes don't require anything special from their suspension towers. Any decent downhill or all-mountain suspension posts will work, but the bridge that connects the towers to each other and the frame is something special. As of now there aren't a lot of major manufacturers with a complete ready-to-ride fork, but lots of companies from
Paul Components to Whatevermajig Taiwanese Mfg. are coming out with aftermarket parts. If they get traction we might see front-suspended OE fat-bikes from the big names as early as next year.
 |
| This was an employee's own bike, just sitting there. |
 |
| Old News, I know. But the Phil Wood/Santa Cruz full suspender is pretty cool |
 |
| 11nine's inverted fat-fork and Titanium frame. |
From Surly, the leader of the fat-bike craze and top manufacturer of fat-bike components we're seeing a little restraint. Instead of besting the
Moonlander Super-Fat Bike, Surly has come out with a couple not-so-fatties: the
Instigator and the
ECR. The Instigator is a front-suspended MTB that can fit 650b tires as wide as three inches and the ECR is a mountain touring 29er that also fits three-inch-wide tires with room to spare.
NOW THE BIG NEWS
The big-name brands have embraced fat-bikes, finally. Specialized has released the Fatboy for 2014, though they didn't show me one at Interbike (The first bike I ever bought with my own money was a Fatboy BMX, btw) And Felt has partnered with Bosch to create an e-Fatbike. It's just a prototype now, but if they get enough interest it might go into production. One of the product gurus told me he tested the electric system and was able to get it up to 30mph and even took it off a few jumps!
 |
| The cockpit electronics, where assistance is regulated |
 |
| The speedometer shuts the electric assist down if you go to fast. |
 |
| Cool internal routing. Hopefully the welds will be better on the production model |
The last bit of big news comes from Salsa and HED. Salsa got good reception from their Mukluk, the first production aluminum fat-bike, then they rolled out the Mukluk in titanium. Then they got the Beargrease last year, a racing version of the Mukluk. Now they've gone one step further and are releasing a full-carbon Beargrease racing frame.
But that's not all! Their neighbors over at HED have created the first carbon fat-bike rim, due for release in 2014. The HED/Beargrease combo with a SRAM XX1 drivetrain weighs an incredible twenty-four pounds! Pricing hasn't been released yet, but it'll probably be cheaper than a new Honda Civic, but more expensive than the down-payment to a decent ranch-style house in Des Moines. HED is also currently testing a tri-spoke fat-bike wheel, which they hope to have ready soon. The product guy said he's tried it and it is good at shedding snow. The era of aero fat-bikes is nigh.
 |
| New XO1 drivetrain, HED rims, carbon, carbon, carbon |
 |
| Hey, watch the trim, guy |
 |
| The extra anodization on the hubs adds .8 grams. I wouldn't recommend it. |
 |
| Yeah, it's light. |
There is a lot of ideas about fat bike that I have learned in this blog. Great article your clarity shines through like no other! Thanks for the share.
ReplyDelete