They were omnipresent at Eurobike and Demoday. It felt like everything revolved around e-bikes and really fat tyres in every conceivable design. Fat bikes are the next big hype and proof that 26-inch tyres are not dead after all. With tyre dimensions of 26 x up to 4.8 inches, fat bikes even outstrip normal 29er tyres and extend to a good 11 centimetres.
The original idea behind fatbikes was as follows:
Making biking possible where you can no longer ride a normal bike.
Alaska, Minnesota and New Mexico are typical fatbike destinations. Snow, ice and sand are the biker's natural enemies. Thanks to the extremely wide tyres and rims, air pressures of around 0.5 bar are possible. The larger contact area also allows you to ride on very soft surfaces without sinking in. On top of that, there is a big plus in traction and low rolling resistance off-road.
After the first fatbike tests in BIKE 1/13, 1/14 and 10/14 the first major comparison test with nine bikes is published in the November issue. With prices ranging from 1199 euros for the Dynamics Pure to 5899 euros for the Borealis with carbon frame, the full range of fatbikes is represented. It is therefore hardly surprising that the weight range is also extremely wide. The fat bikes weigh between 12.75 and 16.6 kilos without pedals. The two lightest models have a carbon frame, the rest are made of aluminium.
You can find these fat bikes from 2015 in the test:
- Borealis Echo
- Bulls Monster S
- Canyon Dude CF 9.0 SL
- Dynamics Pure
- Mi-Tech Tyke Fat Pinion
- Rocky Mountain Blizzard
- Salsa Mukluk
- Scott Big Ed
- Trek Farley
The points table for the test can be found below as a PDF download.
You can read the detailed fatbike test (BIKE 11/2014) in the BIKE app (iTunes and Google Play) or the issue in the DK shop reorder:
