I reviewed the steel version of the Panorama Cycles Torgat last winter and they’ve just announced that they’ve come out with a Titanium version with a unique two Q-Factor setup. Their press release is below along with some photos of the new Ti Fatty. Panorama Cycles releases the Torngat Ti, their first titanium fat bike […]
Archive | B-Fat (27.5 Fat)
Interview – Dave Wages of Ellis Cycles
Dave Wages is an award-winning bicycle fabricator and the man behind Ellis Cycles. Ellis Cycles is located in Wisconsin and I visited Dave’s workshop back in 2014 in pursuit of a story that we published titled – Builder Profile – Ellis Cycles. Dave and I ran into one another out at Kettle last summer and […]
Panorama Cycles Torngat
This past winter I was sentenced to field test a couple of Chromoly fat bikes and today we’re going to share the experience of field testing the Panorama Cycles, Torngat. Panorama is yet another regional bike brand. Panorama is part of the burgeoning bike culture of Quebec, Canada. Panorama joins other regionally popular brands like […]
Rocky Mountain Blizzard C50 – Wren Fork & Winter Riding
Today is about how the Blizzard filled my dance card this summer with a Wren Inverted Fork and how it performed over this past winter(ish) season.
Why Cycles Joins Revel Bikes in 2023
Revel Bikes is announcing that they’re unifying their brands. For fans of fat bikes, that means the Why Cycles Big Iron is now the Revel Big Iron. The Big Iron is one of my top five fat bikes that I’ve had the pleasure to ride and the new Revel version has an updated dropout that […]
Shelltrack ’23 Race Report
The Snow Crown Race Series kicked off its first race last weekend in Manitowoc. The Shelltrack race goes back to the beginning of fat bike racing in Wisconsin. It’s one of my favorite spots that host a race and it’s only a couple of hours away. The course is in a county park that’s nestled […]
The Moots Forager brings the Bling
I’ve been riding a Size Large Moots Forager for the last seven weeks. Before there were fat bikes, Moots became synonymous with high-quality – made in US Titanium mountain bikes. They’ve stood the test of time and maintained their brand’s integrity. They’re on their third generation of fat bikes and the latest version, the Forager […]
2022 Fat Biker’s Holiday Gift Guide
It’s the Fat-Bike.com Holiday Gift Guide with something for everyone that has a fat bike enthusiast on their holiday shopping list. This year, we surveyed our Bike Black Ribbon Society brain-trust for what they’d like to see under the tree and researched diverse and creative gifting solutions for months on end. We started working on […]
NEW! Esker Cycles Introduces the Walden Ti
Esker Cycles introduces the Walden Ti fat bike. Following their entry into Titanium with the popular Japhy Ti and Hayduke Ti models, Esker is bringing out the Walden fat bike in the wonder metal, with the Portage Dropout, refined geometry, and excellent ride quality that all Esker models are known for. “At Esker, we strive […]
Wallpaper Wednesday – Switchback
Today’s subject for Wallpaper Wednesday is from, well…me. The picture was taken maybe halfway up and down Switchback at Levis. That sweet sliver of watermelon sugar is a Rocky Mountain Blizzard C50 rocking a Wren Sports inverted suspension fork. If you look closely, you’ll spy the ‘sex-mullet’ wheel setup. The deep-v Borealis Carbondale rim is […]
The Dose of Fat – September 2022
NEW stuff – Manitou Mastodon / Otso Voytek / Aeroe Spider Rack
Fezzari Kings Peak Field Test
Back in June, I started field testing the Fezzari Kings Peak carbon fiber fat bike. We published a first look at the bike before it got dirty (like in the photo above). Today’s journey is going to be all about how much fun we had putting this bike through six weeks of Summer riding! A […]
4 Ti Fat Bikes we Like
Sometime last winter, I started to wonder to myself…what is the ultimate titanium fat bike? So I started to do what I could to get acquainted with what was available. During the last six months, there have been some interesting new developments on the Ti Fat Bike front. The 27.5 wheel size is driving some […]
The Dose of Fat – Summer 2022
It’s Summer cats and kitties! Have you ridden your bike to a large body of water and then gone swimming? Time to do a cannonball into the deep end!
One Year with a HED Made in MN Wheelset
One year ago I unboxed a set of super-light wheels from three Minnesota companies that are collaborating together to create the HED Made in MN Wheelset. At nineteen hundred and seventy-three grams, I declared them the lightest fat bike wheels in the universe and I’ve been riding them for a full year now. I shared […]
Field Testing the Rocky Mountain Blizzard Carbon 50
Our friends at Rocky Mountain Bicycles have a new fat bike called the Blizzard Carbon 50 that I’ve been lucky enough to put some miles on here in the big whiskey recently. The Blizzard was announced in August last year. I’m here to tell you that this bike was well worth the wait. The waiting […]
First Look – Fezzari Kings Peak
We received a new Kings Peak from Fezzari Bicycles last week. I got to see this bike for the first time at Sea Otter and now I’ll be lucky enough to ride a size large Kings Peak for the next couple of months. My sermon today will serve as an introduction to the bike that […]
S240 – Fat Bike Freedom
The Sub 24 Hour Overnite or S24O is, yet another, sterling example of bicycle freedom and potentially another excuse to ride your fat bike. I’m quite fond of the S24O. I’ve recently taken a couple of S24O trips to two local remote campsites with different set-ups, just to keep things interesting. My old Surly back […]
UP Field Trip – Bearclaw Bikes TŌWMAK
The second leg of my recent trip to the Upper Penninsula of Michigan took me to the east side and the tiny hamlet of Moran, home of Bearclaw Bikes. Moran is near the gateway to the Eastern UP not too far from Mackinac Island Ferry but far enough away to fly completely under the radar […]
Spring Bike Safari – Made U.P. Lake Ehfect
I’ve had a plan to get up to the UP to ride for at least a couple of years. Ever since Jason at Bearclaw Bikes announced their drop-bar fatty called the TOWMAK I dreamt about returning to the vast Huron National Forest and its hundreds of miles of rustic roads, trails, and beaches. So when […]
Dose of Fat April 2020
It’s April and the transition from Winter to Spring shook me to the bone with what I like to call Prescription-Strength weather. My bike rides provided a front-row seat to the epic battles between the seasons until I high-tailed it to Sunny California for Sea Otter. I came back to Wisconsin and Winter continued to […]
MOOTS’ New Forager Fat Bike
Ready for All Seasons and All Terrain If you’re not hanging up your wheels when the snow flies and you love the solitude of quiet winter adventures. This Overlanding machine is built for you. Moots’ 20+ year history of building fat bikes all comes together in a modern take in the Forager. The Forager is […]
2022 Sea Otter Bike Expo (Part 2)
We’re back with part 2 of our coverage of the 2022 Life Time Sea Otter Classic presented by Continental. Let’s get right back to the parade of cool bike schwag. Our friends from Corvus Cycles made the trip down the coast to Sea Otter to show their wares. I got to ride the new Ti […]
2022 Sea Otter Classic Bike Expo (Part 1)
The 2022 Life Time Sea Otter Classic presented by Continental was last week. Racers, fans, and our favorite brands gathered at the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey California! I walked the aisles of the expo to bring you the latest and greatest products coming to the US market from all of the best companies. It […]
Billy Flamingos Stud Nuggets by Scott Peterson
Fatbike tires in general already offer outstanding traction and ride quality in a wide variety of conditions. For sandy beach riding or snow of any depth, fat tires are a necessity. Why would any fat bike rider need studs? Ice. As much as most of us love snow, ice is always some factor in […]
Terrene Tire 27.5 x 4.3 Yipee Ki Yay mid-term review
Terrene Tire collaborated with Corvus Cycles to develop a new 27.5 tire specifically targeted on the sweet spot between 4.0 and 4.5. The Yipee Ki Yay’s 4.3″ width differentiates it from every other 27.5″ fat bike tire available today. The size of this tire follows the ‘Goldilocks Principle’ where a rider that rides a 4.0 […]
The Weekly Dose of Fat – Black Fly-Day 2021
Let’s just jump right in with Nick Barbetta’s Krampus on the north rim of grand canyon! #visualslpendor Newness Leialoha Concetta Sousa-Sommo Fat Biking in Alaska Terrene released their new tweener 27.5 x 4.3 Yippy Ky Yay fat bike tire this week. It’s sort of a goldilocks fat knobby varietal for the ‘one tire does it […]
CABDA Midwest Report
It’s been a long time since I’ve walked the floors of a convention center filled with the latest and greatest products from the bicycle industry, but earlier this week, I laced up a pair of comfortable shoes and drove down to Schaumburg, Illinois to explore the aisles of the CABDA show. CABDA isn’t open to […]
Rocky Mountain debut’s their new Carbon Blizzard
BLIZZARD CARBON FRAME FEATURES The Blizzard Carbon has been updated to include a variety of new frame features. SMOOTHWALL CARBON SMOOTHWALL carbon uses one of the world’s most sophisticated carbon processes to deliver industry leading stiffness-to-weight, ride quality, and durability. We eliminate excess resin and fibers by using rigid internal molds instead of traditional air […]
Otso Voytek – New Fork and Colors
The Otso Voytek will be getting its first frameset update since it was launched in 2016, as well as a new paint scheme with four new colorways. Otso designed a new fork for the 2021/22 Voytek. This new fork follows similar lines and contours as the previous forks but has three-pack mounts on either side […]
Free to Ride the Country
Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to rough it to get your bike-fun merit badge. I’m here to tell you that it’s ok to go glamping or (gasp!) stay in a nice hotel and soak in the hot tub after a day in the saddle. I see a lot of press about riders […]
Reader’s Ride(s) Adam Blake’s Salsa Beargrease aka Buzz Lightyear
The Details Bicycle Base: Salsa Beargrease 2019 GX style with Kingpin Deluxe fork Hbar: Whisky 31.8 750mm width Stem: Paul Boxcar 90mm up from the stock 70 length, and in SUPER RAD PURPLE Grips: Wolftooth Fatpaw grips Brakes: Sram Guide RS with Centerline-X 180/160 rotors Shifter: Sram GX 12sp Seatpost: SDG Tellis when running a […]
Da Crusher 40 EX Race Report – by JP Syverud
Todd Poquette is at it again. He loves creating super hard races in the most secluded spots in the UP of Michigan, changing the course every year. This year he outdid himself. His goal, for participants of the 40-mile event, was to experience Mosquito Gulch. Mosquito Gulch is a long stretch of nasty boulders. There […]
The Lightest Fat Bike Wheelset in the World out of the box video.
We recently got word that a set of Made in Minnesota HED/Berd/Onyx Racing fat-bike wheels was on the way. We set up the camera and shot a quick ‘out of the box’ video to share some stoke for what HED Cycling bills as the lightest fat-bike wheelset in the world. A sub-2000 gram wheelset is […]
Fatback Big Su Carbon Wheel Review
A quality Carbon Fiber Wheelset can significantly improve the ride feel of a fat-bike. Reducing rotational mass on a fat-bike is more important than say on a road bike because of the size (and weight) of fat-bike tires. Lightweight wheels provide a similar feeling that you get when you go tubeless but, by my estimation, […]
Back to Back Bandito Loops – Maverick vs. Montana
I decided to take a ride the other morning with the purpose of comparing a Framed Montana full-suspension fat bike and the Wyatt maverick front suspension fat bike. I basically wanted to see which one was faster. I have a local loop that I like to call the Bandido that consists of chip and seal […]
My Fat Fish Forty Race Tale
I started planning for the Fat Fish Forty a couple of months back. I pinged mi amigos but a couple of dudes planned on hitting the Balls Ride that weekend and the others were otherwise disinclined. That’s the way she goes with things. Trying to get a bunch of bike rebels to commit to anything […]
Fat-Bikes at Levis
Over the past year and a half, I’ve been dreaming about bike shenanigans, waiting for a time that we can start to gather together for a good bike party. With the new CDC recommendations for vaccinated people to be able to gather together, Adam Blake and I put together a little get-together with some close […]
Factory Studs vs. Aftermarket Bike Studs
Have you ever wondered if hand-studded tires are as good as factory-studded ones? I spent last winter on a pair of 45NRTH Dillinger 27.5 x 4 – 120 tpi tubeless ready tires. One of them came to me as a new factory studded tire and the other one was ridden for a season of dirt […]
Product Spotlight – 2021 Framed Montana F/S Fatty by Byrone
The Framed Bikes Montana Full Suspension Fat-Bike gets a first look from our newest BBR Test Pilot Byrone
First Look – Fatback Big Su Carbon 27.5 Wheels
I’ve been riding a set of Fatback’s Big Su 27.5 Carbon Wheels for the last month on my Fatback Corvus FLT. March is a great time to experience virtually, all four seasons in America’s Dairyland. I just mounted my third different set of tires on our test wheels to keep up with the rapid transition […]
26 vs. 27.5 Fat Bike Wheels
Should your next bike have 27.5″ Wheels? Do you need to run out and trade your old 26″ fatty for a newer model? 26 vs 27.5 editorial
Whisky Parts No.9 76 W Rim Review by Adam Blake
The Art of Staying Light and Fat – Whisky No.9 76W rims Written by Adam Blake, Photos by Gomez If you’ve read some of my recent gear reviews, you know that I am very much into carbon rims on basically every bike I ride. I like that they add liveliness and responsiveness to my steeds […]
Cantu Rumble Wheelset Review by Adam Blake
An immediate difference… that’s what I noticed after installing the Cantu Rumble wheelset on my Salsa Cycles Beargease. The question was: what was I noticing? In my initial Cantu review, I touched on the fact that double-wall carbon rims aren’t much, if any, lighter than single wall alloy rims that are available and quite popular […]