For people who like to be in the limelight, an E-Fatbike is an absolute must: no other bike is approached so often, and the beefy look attracts attention. "Look, mum, a bike with tractor tyres," cheers a youngster, getting to the heart of the E-Fatbike concept: the tyres are so thick that you can rumble over almost any surface without any major technical skills.
Fat power ...
So off you go into tricky terrain. A lot of balancing and wobbling on sand, gravel or snow? No way! The Felt runs dead straight. After a short period of familiarisation, you no longer pay any attention to what you're rolling over. And fat bikes were originally developed for precisely such purposes. Based on the legendary "Winter Bicycle Classic", a long-distance race over deep snow in Alaska, hobbyists and bike manufacturers such as the US manufacturer Surly developed bikes with double the tyre width around ten years ago to cope with the surface. Fat bikes quickly rode a wave of success in the USA, which then spread to us a few years ago.
And now these big things are also available with an electric motor. The Lebowske is a perfect symbiosis of grip, balanced geometry and power - thanks to studded tyres around ten centimetres wide and the reliable and powerful 350-watt Bosch motor. This means you can get up even the steepest ski slopes without any problems. This would hardly be possible with a fat bike without a motor, as the fat tyres, which are only filled with around 0.5 bar of pressure, suck significantly more power out of your legs than a normal MTB. The high weight of around 23 kilograms, on the other hand, actually helps uphill, as it literally presses the bike onto the ground. A 23 per cent gradient on a forest path? No problem at all! Switch to turbo mode and continue at more than 10 km/h. What an experience! Only the X01 derailleur from SRAM - with eleven gears, only one chainring at the front and therefore quite high gear steps - can dampen the initial euphoria a little.
... and great inertia
But there is more. We get an idea of what the Lebowske is not so good at when we go through deep mud for the first time. Here, the otherwise stoic wide tyres start to swim as they can't find any firm ground. In rough terrain or on root trails, the wide tyres cushion very well with little pressure. However, the Lebowske tends to bounce due to a lack of damping. This can get hairy downhill and on flat terrain, as you're always travelling at a decent speed thanks to the motor assistance. And in technical, winding passages at the latest, the fat bike has clear disadvantages compared to a classic mountain bike: the longer wheelbase and the high weight alone make manoeuvring much more difficult here. The fatbike is significantly more sluggish and turns corners somewhat unwillingly. Handlebar movements and shifting body weight result more in a "directional recommendation" than in precise manoeuvring.
However, the final decision of "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" depends - as is so often the case - on individual expectations and needs. If you are mainly travelling on technically undemanding terrain, you will have a lot of fun on this E-Fatbike with high-quality equipment. However, anyone looking for a compromise for more varied requirements will probably be better served by an e-mountainbike - also in view of the official price of €3,800.
