To most bicyclists the words 'fat tire' conjure up images of mountain bikes. They got this nickname from being compared to the skinny tired siblings on the road. Most fat tires are around 2 inches wide with a plus/minus of about .4...but most fat tires seem to run between 1.9 to about 2.2
With the uptick in interest in fatbikes (which are unto themselves their very own genre), I have come to realize that my aforementioned term 'fat' might have been a little mis-leading - they look like they are on a diet relative to:
The new 'fatbike' genre applies specifically to snow/sand bikes that have tires up to 4 inches wide!!! For my own little order, I am going to call these 'obese tires/bikes'. Obese tires are to fat tires, what fat tires are to road/slick (or perhaps anorexic) tires.
I have recently caught the 'obese' fever and have been reading and reading and reading about these bikes. These bikes suffer from specific engineering/geometry challenges that make the decision making process all that much more interesting and challenging (there are many many branches in this decision making tree). Since it is a fairly new genre in the biking world, the development is still in it's beginning (I won't say infancy because there is more than 1 player now). With more players in the market, innovation has been pushed forward - which is always a good thing for the consumer as it means progress and options.
From most of my research, it really boils down to 4 options....The first option is the grand-daddy of the obesebike: The Surly Pugsley.
The Pugs was first to mass produce & market. They have a good stand-by steel frame with horizontal droputs which makes the frame adaptable to regular wheels, single-speed applications, etc...
Other recent new-comers to the all-you-can-eat-obese-party include the Salsa Mukluk, 9:zero:7, and Fatback
More to come on the specific design challenges on obese bikes....if you are interested in learning more about this growing (excuse the pun) genre, check out the MTBR forums on 'Fat Bikes' as there is a girth (excuse the pun again) of information out there.
With the uptick in interest in fatbikes (which are unto themselves their very own genre), I have come to realize that my aforementioned term 'fat' might have been a little mis-leading - they look like they are on a diet relative to:
The new 'fatbike' genre applies specifically to snow/sand bikes that have tires up to 4 inches wide!!! For my own little order, I am going to call these 'obese tires/bikes'. Obese tires are to fat tires, what fat tires are to road/slick (or perhaps anorexic) tires.
I have recently caught the 'obese' fever and have been reading and reading and reading about these bikes. These bikes suffer from specific engineering/geometry challenges that make the decision making process all that much more interesting and challenging (there are many many branches in this decision making tree). Since it is a fairly new genre in the biking world, the development is still in it's beginning (I won't say infancy because there is more than 1 player now). With more players in the market, innovation has been pushed forward - which is always a good thing for the consumer as it means progress and options.
From most of my research, it really boils down to 4 options....The first option is the grand-daddy of the obesebike: The Surly Pugsley.
The Pugs was first to mass produce & market. They have a good stand-by steel frame with horizontal droputs which makes the frame adaptable to regular wheels, single-speed applications, etc...
Other recent new-comers to the all-you-can-eat-obese-party include the Salsa Mukluk, 9:zero:7, and Fatback
More to come on the specific design challenges on obese bikes....if you are interested in learning more about this growing (excuse the pun) genre, check out the MTBR forums on 'Fat Bikes' as there is a girth (excuse the pun again) of information out there.
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