Sunspeed Bicycles are sold in India and they make a fat bike called the Spark. Sarthak Narayan Rastogi sent us some photos of his Spark updated with drop bars. He also shared a few insights into Indian fat bike culture. Fat biking is a global phenomenon. It doesn’t just happen in Alaska, the Great Lakes, and Scandinavia. There are crazy pockets of fat bikers all over the globe in places like Singapore, New Mexico, and Brazil all with their own regional adaptations and style. This is the first good look that we’ve gotten of an Indian fat bike. Welcome to the international house of fat bikes!
Sarthak had set up his old fat bike with a drop bar and a 1x drivetrain but decided to upgrade to the Spark because it came with better components and because it’s the lightest fat bike available in India. The stock Spark weighs in at 15 kgs and Sarthak’s bike with the drops, weighs 14.3 kgs (31.5 lbs). He prefers drop bars because he rides primarily on the road. Sarthak says that he loves doing friendly racing with other fellow riders that are on road and gravel bikes. We asked him a couple of questions below.
Q: Are fat bikes common in India?
Yes, fat bikes are becoming a common sight in India but most people don’t ride sand or snow on them! They’re common in Himalayan regions and places like Goa where there’s snow and sand! In India when it comes to buying any sorta vehicle whether motorized or a bicycle when Indians see BIG they go crazy. That’s why now there are a lot of SUVs on sale in India. A similar thing goes for fat bikes but 95% of fat bikes available here are low-end (heavy) steel frames, having 7-speed freewheels with 3x cranks, and the worst mechanical disc brakes. They weigh 22+ kgs (48.5 lbs.)
Q: Do you ride the beach or sand dunes? or snow?
I have ridden on sand dunes, but I really wanna try snow, for that I’ll go to the Himalayas!
Was that some fun or what? A little trip to what fat bikes are like from a rider on the other side of the globe. We talk about it all of the time here at the end of posts but if you’ve got a fat bike adventure (big or small) that you’d like to share, send us a postcard or email or message us!
Forget Spark! That is a full on bush fire 🔥😀
That is one cool looking ride and having the Himalayas to ride in your “backyard “ is awesome!
This is really cool. Good job man. Keep doing it & enjoy