How does one fat bike ride compaired to another?

I've tried
Smokestone Henderson
On one fatty V2
Surely pugsley
Salsa mukluk
Charge caribou
On one fatty trail
Calibre dune

I'd say they are very similar to other bikes material wise, carbon light, ALU lighter than steel and unless you get a pre CEN steel bike it'll feel just as stiff as a alu bike just heavier.

Most trail friendly was the smokestone with wren forks, probably my fav though is the on one fatty with a carbon fork for use as an all rounder
It really depends on what sort of riding you intend to do. i.e
Trail riding/beach riding/Iditarod epics etc

Geometry matters.

I rode an early Pugsley (we sold them in the shop) and was intrigued by the grip and floatation but it felt like steering a barge. I ordered a Mk2 9ZERO7 - I had to import it from Canada - aluminium frame and sharper steering made it a completely different bike from the Pug. The Salsa Mukluk was pretty similar when it arrived. I've ridden quite a few others and they covered the range of long-distance hauler to trail blaster. I'm currently riding a Cube Nutrail which, with front suspension, really does just ride like a big-tyred hardtail MTB.

I have a salsa beargrease.  Its certainly noticeable the huge rotating mass of the front wheel when turning..   i believe that its a " trail" geometry bike and it causes no issues for me.  I wouldn't say its slow steering but heavy steering if that makes sense.  I am notoriously insensitive to this sort of stuff tho

I’ve got a Specialized Fat Boy. Rides very much like a trail bike of it’s era (i.e. not a LLS hardtail) and as with all fat bikes, very much sensitive to tyre pressures.

If you can find a cheap one then it’s worth a go; I’d not have it as my only bike but it’s still a lot of fun to ride (I’ve got back in to again recently after spending a lot of time on the steel HT). They also make very good bikepacking mountain bikes IMO.

Bloody hell Craig - how many bikes is this??!!

Including the tandem?😅

Yep, agree with that. But also, it's hard to predict the geometry that'll work for you, unless you've ridden a ton of fatbikes which is hard to do. I got mine basically on a gamble, because it was so affordable, on paper the geometry is a disaster even before I added bigger tyres, and if it were a normal bike there's no chance I'd have kept it, but it worked out great just because the whole package works so differently.

There's a bit of refuge in audacity with fatbikes as well, I think, especially if you're riding it like a normal bike and not doing "fatbike stuff". Like, it's hard to really worry much about whether it's the ideal material or whether the wheelbase is really short, when you're bouncing over rocks with your rigid forks and balloons for tyres. It's unfit for purpose and fun despite that, and that means there's not much point worrying about the details, as long as it's basiclaly working. But then, there's some things that just suck regardless. Kinda like how I'm totally happy with the rigid forks, but I'd never ride it if it didn't have a dropper. it's all just kind of different and awkward to think about in the way I'd think about a normal bike.

a bit of refuge in audacity

a lovely phrase!

I don’t have much experience of many fat bikes, but have ridden 6k miles on a carbon Trek Farley in the last four years.

Why this Trek? I wanted to single speed and was fat curious, and there aren’t that many full fatties with adjustable dropouts. I also have a 29er Ti  Sonder Broken Road, set up with same position, saddle bars, dropper etc.

For the fatty I have three wheel sets and more tyre combos:  27.5 x 4.5” Gnarwhals with ice spikes, 27.5 x 4  Gnarwhals, 27.5 x 4.5 Barbagazzi, Maxixs FBR/FBR 3.6”, and 29 (50mm rims) x running 3” Bontrager XR4, and the Trek carbon rigid fork or a Manitou Mastodon pro 120mm. They all ride differently! 29x3" XR4 on 50mm rims feels more fat than 27.5x3.6" Minions, if that makes sense, and also weighs a kilo and a half less!

Broken road I’m running 29” x  2.4 Bontry XR4s, and Sid 120mm ultimate forks. They all ride very much the same largely, but different depending tyres, and forks. So I'd say Fatty tyre/fork/wheel selection is a major factor and I think really hard to pull from how one frame design rides differently compared to another … and don't start on tyre pressure!

Fat Farley  configured different ways looks like this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cojacal/albums/72157713828419618

Wow looks like you've had some adventures on that thing! What's the gearing?

I imagine Runteli bikes will feel less like a typical fat bike, more like a monster truck enduro hardtail…
https://www.runtelibike.com/morri

I think you're more likely to feel the difference in weight than feel and that is even more true of the wheels in my experience. A Lighter set of wheels and tyres are transformative but for the most part mine have always been trail bike esque but with a much bigger grin.

James

A couple of rules :

1. Don't get hungover on frame weight.

2. Think of it more as a bog or dune bike rather than snow. Snow conditions are rarely right.

Weight :I bike packed the cairngorm outer loop on my surly ice cream truck. Mind boogginly confusing bike.

But on weight, carbon wheels, tubeless and carbon forks, either rigid or lauf make a huge difference.

Add a set of 29er+ wheels and you have a superb bike packing rig.

Trail fun :I think a smokestone Henderson is the way to go.

Ti :look at Travers or smokestone.

A Ti pinion bike would be great imo.

On weight - my alloy salsa beargrease is 14 kg ish ( with full mudguards) - same as my Shand 29er  OK the Shand is not built to be light but robust and I did put carbon bars and seatpost on the fatty to save a bit and made it tubeless which saves almost a kilo ( tubes are 500g each!)

 really depends on what sort of riding you intend to do. i.e

Trail riding/beach riding/Iditarod epics etc

This ☝️

I've had a Felt DD, Henderson and now a bow-ti.. the Felt had generic fat bike geo and had a comparatively short TT length. I had to put an angle set on it to get it not to feel like a xc race whippet lumbered with heavy wheels - it was really designed around snow days I guess.

The Henderson was a world apart - I guess mainly because it was designed a prototyped in my local woods so has great geo for my local riding. I've now gone with a bow-ti (titanium Henderson) mainly because, at 5'10" Im between sizing.

I have a medium Salsa Beargrease frameset, Hope Pro2 Evo based wheels and tyres going up for sale soon if any good?

unless you get a pre CEN steel bike it’ll feel just as stiff as a alu bike

A myth from some past examples and designs, imo. They can do but don't always and there's no need for EN-compliance in a steel frame with shorter/ish forks to mean high stiffness / comparable stiffness to average Al frames. Just fwiw anyway.

I've only ridden the Calibre Dune, which I then upgraded slowly into a well specced Canyon Dude but I imagine that most trail geometry Fatty's feel pretty similar.

As has been said, its all about the choice of tyres. If I had the space and money it would be lovely to have a row of wheels with different tyres to choose from depending on the conditions or ride.

Mine was my fun hardtail with 4.8 minions for winter duties but these days, it's wearing 4.0 JJ's and unless it's wet and slippery it's happy riding steep trails or bike packing.

I can't be arsed changing fatty tyres regularly so I've swapped the gravel bike for a basic Orange Crush so the upgrading has begun again 🤣

The Dude with JJ's also surprises everyone who picks it up, it weighs a lot less than it looks like it should. Until I cover it with bike packing gear that is...

If I was you, I'd buy a second hand On One Fatty Trail, Trek, Dude, etc, if you like it you can then treat yourself to Smokestone. Prices second hand are low at the moment.

I have the Rose Tusker after a bad crash I swopped the wheels and tyres to Maxxis 4.8 minions and DT Swiss rides much better now, my son has the On One fatty trails cant put 4.8's on the rear sadly,  but still great fun to rideable round, my mates have the On One mk1 one with the carbon fork the other with blues, ...tbh there is not much difference between all these bikes I've mentioned,  all great all rounder bikes imo ...as long as you have good tyres

Ooo, I can do this one.

Obviously haven't rode all of them, but have ridden the 4 follwing ones that were all fairly different feeling.

Charge cooker Maxi

Felt DD30

One one trail fatty

Surly Icecream truck

Cooker Maxi was a demo, first one I rode and felt pretty much like you'd expect a fatbike to feel I think. Felt like a hefty bike in every sense, fun in a monster truck kind of way but relatively sluggish in both speed and handling.

The Felt was my first purchased fatbike. Totally different character, felt much more like a super capable xc bike. Pretty nimble and amazing fun. Not fast but not slow, kind of normal bikish in many ways. This had wheels swapped out to the DTswiss ones plus a tubeless set up and the difference was huge. As others have said wheels and tyres are EVERYTHING on a fatbike. With tubeless Jumbo Jim's that bike was a rocket. I don't know how the Jumbo Jim's roll so fast but they do. Great bike and still holds plenty of my PRs. It had a set of Mastodon pros on it for awhile towards the end which made it more capable but also more normal if that makes sense.

Unfortunately the frame cracked and Felt's customer service in the UK is all but non-existent so new frame time. I considered a Chinese carbon frame for a bit of a punt but decided against it and went proper with Surly's Ice Cream truck. I was worried it would weigh a ton but its not too bad. Ran with the Mastodon initially which was again, ridiculously capable. The trail geometry compared to the Felt made it feel less XC and more hard-core hardtail. Great fun but it over lapped a bit with other bikes (mainly the Trek Stache) so I sold the fork and kept it rigid. The simplistic fun of a fatbike works best with rigid in my opinion, it's more fun that way and more characterful. Feels like being a kid again on a rigid bike back in the day. Kind of wild and exciting when it's a bit out of its depth.

I know Steel and Ali bikes vary and not all Ali is stiff and unforgiving and not all steel is soft and forgiving but in the case of the Felt and Surly it is exactly that. The Surly feels softer edged than the Felt ever did. Less responsive. Even through the big tyres you can tell.

The trail fatty is my Dad's sat gathering dust in the garage. Bluto equipped and it feels like a hybrid of the Felt and Surly, more trail than XC like the Surly but more responsive like the Felt. Nice bike but crying out for tubeless and a lighter wheelset. Unfortunately bring a qrQR170 rear I could never try it with mine.

As has been said Great do it all bikes in many ways and with all the rack mounts the Surly is a champion for bikepacking but just hope you don't get a puncture or need a spare tube from a shop!

John

I have an Ice Cream Truck and until recently a Spesh Fatboy. Have now changed the spesh frame for a carbon frame.

The Fatboy was my summer bike with blutos, 80mm rims and Surly Edna's. The ICT was fully rigid with 100mm clownshoes and bud/lou 4.8 tyres.

Very different setups for different jobs. The Fatboy made a great all-round trail bike and was used for everything from bikepacking to enduro (albeit not too seriously). The ICT is great for winter plodding through mud and beach rides. Ive also taken both to the alps for winter snow riding, using the clownshoes on both for float.

And I've run the ICT with the blutos and summer wheels.

The upshot is that rim width and tyre make the biggest difference, adding a suspension fork thqqqqe next. Both bikes were great for either trail or beach/snow use. The Spesh perhaps a better all rounder, but the ICT is just so nice to ride, ill never get rid of that bike.