Fatso basking in the sun on Perranporth Beach.
Did it pay off? Woo Yeah! I love riding the Fatty! It is certainly different to other bikes, but you soon get used to the less lively (wobbly? Tippy?) ride and instead revel in the stability, traction and comfort that is found in abundance. This thing feels invincible! Where the narrower tyres of my Voodoo for example would get pushed around by roots or rocks, or slip and slide, or just spin out in some mud, Fatso just chunters on, flattening all in his path seemingly, and with grip to climb the side of a house. I have found though that wet and sloppy mud is best tackled slowly and under power. Hitting it at speed does see the tyres float and skate about, which in a straight line is huge fun, feeling the tyres moving about beneath you as the rear decides it doesn't want to follow the front for a bit. Not so hot possibly on a bend.
For a slow bimbler like me, all this adds up to being ideal. I like to potter along on Bridleways and in the woods, and so don't carry much momentum into obstacles, but those tyres and the stability make things easy. I've fallen off the Voodoo a couple of times at low speed, both times as a result of losing balance when getting tipped by a lump or in one case, a root. I've yet to fall off Fatso, I expect it will happen, it's not actually invincible, but by heck it doesn't half give confidence.
One downside is when switching to the Voodoo - I nearly always feel like I'm about to tip over at the junction at the end of my road, just because on Fatso, it feels far more solid and stable.
My neighbour Craig, laughed when I first told him I'd gone Fat, but after seeing how it rode around a local woodland mountain biking trail (Cardinham) he decided he had to have one too, and got himself a Specialized Fatboy. He then persuaded a roadie mate of his to get one as well (a roadie who had never previously ridden a mountain bike...) and the pair of them now go each week to Cardinham and hoon as hard as they can around the twisting, diving, lumpy woodland trail. They can ride a lot harder than I can with my bad back, but even now, six months or so later, they still go round grinning and laughing out loud at the liberties they can take thanks to those big fat tyres. Fatbikes are an absolute hoot, no question!
Fatso on the left, Craig on his Specialized Fatboy on the right.
You need a big van to transport these things around...
Fat attack on the trail. These bikes are simply massive fun anywhere.
I've ridden Fatso on and off road, and for me, there are no downsides to fatriding. Sure there's more drag from the tyres compared to some road bike missile, but so what? If you want to go fast then a roadbike is what you ride. Take a fatbike, adjust your expectations accordingly, and enjoy! Anyway, these bikes are not half as draggy as they look like they'll be. My average speeds around my usual local loops are no different to on my other bikes, and I don't seem to be putting in any extra effort.
The biggest downside to Fatbike ownership by far is the attention you get. I'm someone that generally likes to go about without drawing attention to myself, and the Fatty is not the best choice for the shy and retiring by a long way. Buy one and you'd better get used to people staring and also endless questions about how what and why etc. Go for a ride with another Fatbike and the impact on the unsuspecting public is doubled! Riding with Craig on his Fatboy really can get embarrassing as people wonder what these two rasping, thundering bikes are.
Buy a Fatbike and you'd better get used to this sort of reaction, 'cos you're going to be seeing it a lot...
Anything else... oh yes, if you do go Fat, fit some mudguards or get used to wearing lots of grolly. Those tyres fling slop around with great enthusiasm - up your back, in your face, up your chest and over your shoes. Fun to be had though when riding beside a non Fat biking mate through puddles - move in close and give him a soaking from the Fatbike's wake!
So, those are my overall thoughts on my first year of Fattery. I might buy other bikes in the future - I also like the look of some 27.5 plussers, but I don't think I could go without having a Fatbike in my motive power depot now, and if I had to keep just one of my current bikes it's not a contest, it's easily Fatso.
So now we'll have a look at how the bike has fared in the first year with a few photos of some Fatty Beausage...
Well things could've got off to a very rocky start, as the bike dropped its chain on my very first ride and in getting jammed up, took gert lumps off the chainstay paint. But I was having too much fun and I took this ugly incident surprisingly philosophically for me. By then, even on the maiden outing, I'd already realised this bike was going to be a keeper, and a long term one at that, and it didn't spoil the fun I was having.
Now this is an ugly scar. From whence it came I just don't know, but some touch up paint is required for the top of the right fork leg here I think.
Cable rub on the fork top. Now I could get some of that clear tape to protect the frame, but for some weird reason, such marks now don't bother me, rather they add character... Hmmm... looks all wrong written down, but that's how I feel. Battle scars are just part and parcel of riding a mountain bike, so wear 'em with pride! Something like that anyway...
Heel rub on the seat stay - see above for my thoughts on such blemishes...
The black cranks have held up well, just light scuffing to the finish. Some bikes with mega money crankery fitted look far worse than this after just a couple of rides.
Don't believe these folk that say Fatbikes are draggy and have serious rolling resistance issues. Oh no. Quite the opposite! Try parking a fatbike by leaning it against something and you'll find it takes several goes to get the bike comfortable and settled, those wheels just want to keep rollin'. So the bar ends get scuffs a plenty - big deal! As for the bar ends themselves, yes they are as fashionable these days as flared jeans and Mullet hair cuts, but I find 'em great when slogging up hills or along long flat straights. They're also handy for hanging one's hat on when it gets hot, or one's shopping bags perhaps.
Sram X5 is pretty low down in the ranking of their gear I think, t'is cheap stuff, but so far I've had no issues at all (other than the one dropped chain incident - it hasn't done it since) and no adjustments have been needed. 2 x 10 is a must for my weak legs and the gert big hills round these here parts. Chain is still fine too, well within wear limits, after just over 800 miles.
The Avid brakes come in for some criticism from some owners, but I've not had any issues with them. They don't have the over the bars bite of some discs, but are powerful and progressive enough for my needs. The original pads were changed at 690 miles though, front and back, as they were utterly hooperchooped. They had seen plenty of mud and gribble though. I replaced 'em with Clarks pads... yes the super cheap jobs, and so far I'm pleased with their performance, no worse than the originals certainly in performance - bargain!
Standard 760mm El Guapo Wotsit bars are superbly comfortable for me, the perfect width and rise. I've since fitted another pair to the Voodoo which has sorted the shoulder pain I was getting on that bike. Handlebar Spider is a factory install I believe, much like the wing mirror spiders on cars these days.
Ah... now here's an issue for sure. The On One Floater tyres are perfectly good enough in my book, they seem to have plenty of traction available, aren't especially draggy, and (touches wood... prays to the puncture fairies...) I've yet to get a puncture. But... firstly the rear in particular is wearing quite rapidly... that's the sort of tyre wear that would make a Suzuki Hayabusa owner laugh... But that isn't the real issue. No. Seating the darned things on the rim is what really rips my knitting, it's a first prize ball ache. The bike arrived with a flat front tyre, and a slightly out of round rear. It took many goes with soap, washing up liquid and much pumping of air to get them seated to an acceptable level, and they're still not 100% perfect even now. I'd swap the tyres over to even the wear but so far have bottled out of tangling with all that hassle again... it can wait until I've worn the rear down to the canvas... Beggar that for a laugh. Good tyres otherwise though, and most importantly, they aren't silly money like some fat tyres.
Overall then, I just love riding the Fatty, as I think I might have said earlier... A lot of folk dismiss Fatbikes as being for snow and sand only (Rubbish! Tripe! Untruths! Throw fruit at these people...) and claim they are clowns bikes that drag along the road as if their tyres are made of velcro. If they've ridden one and not liked it, fair enough, but a lot of the critics online plainly haven't, as they spout utter rubbish, and that ain't right. So if you're fat curious, as I was, blag a ride on one or just go for it anyway, take a punt, and enjoy the ride - they are huge fun!
Where the fun lives. If you like your cycling really grin flavoured, you need some of these in your life.
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