I am so sick of hearing about them and cannot believe the extent to which the market has jumped on board. I’m sure they’re fun to ride (seriously), but I’m equally sure that the market of people who will actually be riding these boat anchors for their intended purposes in 2-3 years is a small fraction of a percent of the people who will buy one of these things.
Someone somewhere is laughing at their good fortune. It’s like a trade-show concept prank has just taken off. At this point I won’t be surprised if the leather banana hammock will take off in a big way. Maybe they should make one that’s specific to fat bikes.
I am so sick of hearing about them and cannot believe the extent to which the market has jumped on board. I’m sure they’re fun to ride (seriously), but I’m equally sure that the market of people who will actually be riding these boat anchors for their intended purposes in 2-3 years is a small fraction of a percent of the people who will buy one of these things.
Someone somewhere is laughing at their good fortune. It’s like a trade-show concept prank has just taken off. At this point I won’t be surprised if the leather banana hammock will take off in a big way. Maybe they should make one that’s specific to fat bikes.
Aaaaand I’m done.
Brakes? What kind of fandangled obscurity is that?
I get your angst, but they’re still bicycles and pretty much all bicycles are beautiful, just because. (Except for road bikes with compact frames/sloped top tubes–those are just plain dreadful and should be crushed.)
Fat bikes still make me smile when I see them. Although I also remember a time when seeing a PT Cruiser would make me smile, so I’ll acknowledge that my enjoyment may pass…
I don’t have one, but I would differ with you. Roads aren’t getting any better. Infrastructure is crumbling. Most fat bikes are very simple mechanically. They have no suspension to maintain, but yet they’re still super comfy. They’re ridable in the craziest of weather, and the weather seems to get crazier every year. So I think in 3+ years (and way beyond) we’ll see a lot more people riding fat bikes than, maybe a bigger fad, skinny tired one-speed fixies.
I think you could roll around pretty comfy on crazy roads and weather with tires 1/4 the size of fatbike tires =)
I don’t have one, but I would differ with you. Roads aren’t getting any better. Infrastructure is crumbling. Most fat bikes are very simple mechanically. They have no suspension to maintain, but yet they’re still super comfy. They’re ridable in the craziest of weather, and the weather seems to get crazier every year. So I think in 3+ years (and way beyond) we’ll see a lot more people riding fat bikes than, maybe a bigger fad, skinny tired one-speed fixies.
they seem like a fun way to open up miles of groomed snowmobile trails and allow for riding in the bitter cold. I’m guessing there will be user conflicts between these bikes and snowmobiles and XC skiers when doofus riders strt blowing out the ski tracks. I like to ski in winter, but absent that I’d buy one of these bikes I guess.
But if the get banned from local snowmo trails, it’s a useless boat anchor
Count me in as another person who hates them, right along with the recently invented gravel bike. Such nonsense. These seem like passing fads, like doing a tough mudder.
Count me in as another person who hates them, right along with the recently invented gravel bike. Such nonsense. These seem like passing fads, like doing a tough mudder.
Not having a fatbike, I can’t say from personal experience that they’re great or not. But there is little doubt that they’re very versatile. About “gravel bikes”, also don’t have one, but, if I were to venture a guess, I think they will be very successful category. I think it will be the traditional road bike that will be getting a smaller market share in the future. Roads in most parts of the US are not in the best of shape, and frequent intense weather events are making them less fun to ride every year. Plus, many paved roads are now full of distracted and texting drivers. Gravel roads and trails are mostly free of such hazards, so that makes them fun, quiet, and relatively safe. And the US cycling population is getting slightly older, and probably a lot less tolerant of getting their fillings knocked out by riding road bikes with hard tiny tires over a million potholes. That doesn’t meant folks won’t want a super fast bike for certain events, it is just that athletes won’t want to put in their training miles on such a rig.
Well before the gravel bike trend, I built up this thing. Its 2.1" wide tires ride so nice over trail, gravel, paved road, road shoulder (even sidewalk in a pinch) that it has become my new ‘road’ bike. Nope, it’s not the fastest thing in the world, but I can still get plenty fit on it.
I have a plain jane road bike with 25c tires and ride down gravel roads and paths through the woods all the time. It has decent tire clearance but it’s an otherwise normal road bike. No gravel bike needed, whatever that is.
So don’t buy a fatbike?
I can’t fathom how someone else’s enjoyment of a bike trend has any impact on your enjoyment of the sport.
Yeah, I guess you’re right. Due to the fat bike trend I no longer enjoy riding my bikes. Why am I wasting so many hours each week doing something that fat bikes have made me hate so much? I guess it isn’t (as stated in my post) that I’m sick of hearing/reading about this new category of bikes, rather it’s that their very existence has ruined all of cycling for me. Thanks for reading between the lines and seeing what wasn’t there but clearly should have been.
Ding ding ding. I race triathlons, but not road. I bought my road bike 6 years ago, but I probably won’t buy another one.
CX bike is pretty damn versatile, but my ideal “road” bike would likely be a 1X11 with clearance for 28mm+ tires.
25mm GP4000s for going fast. 28mm Conti 4 Seasons for everyday riding/commuting. And something like this for dirt/offroad unless I could fit a file-tread cx tire into standard road brakes:
As much as I love hydraulic discs on my mtn bike, I’m just not a good enough mechanic to want them on an everyday vehicle.
Yeah, I guess you’re right. Due to the fat bike trend I no longer enjoy riding my bikes. Why am I wasting so many hours each week doing something that fat bikes have made me hate so much? I guess it isn’t (as stated in my post) that I’m sick of hearing/reading about this new category of bikes, rather it’s that their very existence has ruined all of cycling for me. Thanks for reading between the lines and seeing what wasn’t there but clearly should have been.
Is it the fat bike you hate? Or is it getting passed by the guy on the fat bike (likely also wearing loose shorts and t-shirt) that you hate?
