A new Member In The Fat Camp...

First off, it's been a funny old week or so – a frustrating one and an exciting one. Frustrating thanks to the usual back trouble flaring up again which also happened to coincide with some internet trouble which went on for a couple of days. You only learn how to really swear when you keep losing your internet connection every couple of minutes, I can tell you. Some of the things I muttered I'd never even heard before myself...

The exciting part though was the result of some retail therapy (alright, this wasn't sleep shopping, this purchase was definitely intended) which arrived on Friday in the form of... a Fat Bike! Yes, in some cycling quarters it is a bit like announcing you've just joined the Moonies, but to hell with the cynics, I had a fat sized itch that needed scratching.

I had been pondering some very tasty and tempting 27.5 plussers for my next bike, but Fat Bikes have also long intrigued me. Some folk think they are the work of the Devil himself, 'Clown's shoes', 'pointless monstrosities only useful in six feet of snow' and so on. Others meanwhile seem to rave about them, riding the things here, there and everywhere, bulldozing flat everything in their path like a marauding Panzer, and enthusing about greasy pole climbing levels of traction and unwashoutable front wheels. The downsides of Fatternomics – weight, draggy tyres on hard ground, slow etc, don't bother me one bit. The upsides though prove very tempting indeed. Too tempting in fact to resist.

So last Tuesday, I finally made a decision and ordered an On One Fatty, which was built up on the Thursday and through my door in an unusually large box on the Friday afternoon. Pretty good going I think, so all credit to the lads and lasses at On One.

Latest arrival in my motive power depot - Fatty. Fun times ahoy!

Fatty arrived fully assembled and tuned, so all I needed to do was lob some pedals on (I ticked the 'no pedals' option on the 'build your bike' section) and straighten the bars, and if my back hadn't been playing up, I'd have been off faster than well kicked cat and enjoying the ride. As it was, I had to wait until Sunday for my first outing.

The only other thing I changed on the suggested stock spec list was to swap the standard grips for lock on foam ones at no extra cost. I've been a fan of foam since Grab-On grips first appeared for motorcycles and see no reason not to have them on my 'pushies' too.

I also bought from various retailers two spare tubes (Schwalbes from Merlin Cycles), a seat bag and basic Cat Eye Velo 9 computer (Amazon), and a Mucky Nutz front guard from a trader on Amazon. Wiggle got the job of supplying the DMR V8 pedals and a bottle cage. I had thought I'd make do without a rear mudguard... Big mistake! I now am waiting for a rear 29er jobbie from Mudhugger.

Overall then, I am very pleased with all these purchases and the service I've had. Everything, including the bike, was easily ordered and arrived promptly.

The bike itself looks a cracker. One of the reasons I went for the On One Fatty is the looks – I love the chunky ally frame, especially the twin top tubes, and the straight line from steering head to rear wheel. Some fat bikes look a bit like a kid's drawing with a spindly frame and huge wheels with balloon tyres, but the On One looks right to me. You don't buy a bike on looks alone though, and the 2x10 gearing and Avid hydraulic brakes appealed over a rival product's 1x10 (36t rear granny ring wouldn't play well with the hills round here, not with my legs anyway) and cable discs. Price of course is an important factor as well, and the On One scores well in that department too.

Unlike some bikes, it also looks great (to my eyes anyway) in the metallic white. Unable to ride it immediately, I grunted and grizzled my way through giving it a coat of good old paste car wax which really made the glossy paint shine, and makes subsequent cleaning easier.

The biggest impression though comes from those tyres. There is no escaping those huge rubber donuts whether viewing the Fatty from the side or from in the saddle, where that huge front tyre dominates the view ahead.

Anyway, enough of all that waffle, what's it like to ride?

Bloody huge fun!

Sunday came and I couldn't wait any longer, it would probably kill me, but beggar my achy back, Fatty and I were going for a ride!

The local lanes are still a bit bedraggled after the recent wet weather. That front guard does its job at keeping one's fizzog clean. Just as well too, 'cos these fat tyres don't half throw the muck up.

The immediate feelings were of immense security – this thing feels solid and planted – If someone opens a car door on you while riding one of these you may just notice a slight bump, otherwise it feels like forward motion would continue unabated.

The tyres do drag a little more than on my other bikes, and my legs got a good workout over the course of the ride, but that can only be a good thing – upping the fitness won't be bad at all, and I certainly am not bothered by the added effort or lost speed of fattying along.

That 2x10 set up proved the right choice too. I rode up all the hills on the lanes I used, including one properly bad ass one that regularly tests the bursting limits of my lungs. The 1x10 jobbies on most of the bikes I looked at would've required the fitting of a bigger granny ring on the back or a whole new wider ranging cassette.

Grinning like a loon already just riding the lanes, I decided to give my back an even tougher time and take Fatty into the woods. Oh, by the way, my bikes don't normally have names, but the Fatty seems to have the sort of character that lends itself to having a name, and well, it's called Fatty already, so Fatty is what he is now called.

So Fatty and I went off roading, and those big tyres soon made their presence felt. Going up one steepish, rocky, loose climb I heaved on the pedals and the bite from the rear was instant and the bike just surged forwards and upwards. Likewise with the front – it just rumbled over anything in its path whereas previous trips up here on my other bikes have seen the front wheel getting pushed around by stones and rocks.

Oldie and Fatty in perfect harmony.

I am a lazy rider I must admit. On my other bikes I set the tyre pressures more for the road and don't bother altering them for off road jaunts. The result is I don't usually like encountering mud, as the wheels dive in deep and the rear soon starts spinning, bringing me to a halt and having to put my foot down into squelching, clawing, gloop. On Fatty, I came across one long stretch that was pure mudageddon, but rather than going round the quagmire, or finding another path, I went for it. There was some rear wheel slippage I think, but again, the drive forwards almost caught me by surprise it was such a new sensation to experience in such conditions. I rode the full length of this path through the thick wet mud with quite some ease. Even the wheel rims stay clean as they don't sink into the clug like narrower wheels do. Fun!

Then there was the rough, straight, downhill that saw me clinging on to the marauding Fatty like riding a freshly stung Rhino, all the while laughing out loud to myself... This thing is mad! Unfortunately, so was my back by now, only not in such a good way, so I had to rein in the antics and head for home while I still could. But by crikey this thing is going to be great if that initial ride is anything to go by.

So I made it home, much muddy of backside and in increasing pain from my back, but also with a smile on my face that only surgery could've removed. Fat bikes don't just like riding through mud though, they like sharing it around as well, and the tyres really chuck the muck with great enthusiasm, hence the immediate ordering of some rear protection. The 'just crapped my trousers' look isn't one I tend to favour.

This hill is a brute, and this was taken about half way up, but I still made it up ok without bailing out. The gearing seems spot on so far, covering all bases nicely.

One other aspect that I saw much mentioned on the net by owners, and I also encountered on my brief maiden voyage, was questions from 'civilians' about those wheels. One ride in and I've already had a long chat with a slightly gob smacked dog walker, and also over heard mutterings from two separate groups of walkers I passed - 'Did you see the wheels on that bike he's riding?!' Not for the shy and retiring types then, obviously.

The conditions were choppy on this stream that crosses the entrance to a field.

So now I'm just waiting for things to ease up again in the spine department so I can get out and bother some more mud!

There is a T-Shirt slogan that goes something like 'Once you try Fat, there's no going back' and that could well turn out to be accurate – I'm smitten!