Back at the very end of 2019, I started riding a set of 45NRTH Van Helga 27.5 x 4.0 tires on a pair of Fatback Big Su wheels. We shared ‘first looks’ about the Tan Helgas and the Big Su Wheelset HERE & HERE. This story will be a review of the Van Helga tires […]
Archive | B-Fat (27.5 Fat)
Fatback 27.5 Big Su Wheelset Review
It’s kind of funny that I’ve reviewed the 26″ version of this wheelset and never really asked about the story behind the Big Su Name. So when it came time to write the review of the 27.5 Big Su Wheelset, I asked Fatback’s Head-Honcho, Greg Matyas ” I’m curious to learn the story behind the […]
Fatback Big Su 27.5 Wheelset
We’re field testing a pair of solid, lightweight Big Su 27.5 wheels from our amigos at Fatback Bikes up in Alaska. We tested and reviewed the 26″ version of Fatback’s Big Su Wheels back in 2018. You can read how they performed here. The twenty-six inch set of big su’s received high scores so when […]
First Look – 45NRTH Van Helga 27.5 x 4.0 (Tan Helga)
Otis w/VanHelga in 2014 It’s been a number of years since I’ve ridden a pair of 45NRTH Van Helga Tires. The best that I can tell, it was back in 2014. We’ve published two reviews by a couple of different product testers and the results are all pretty positive. Ken Blakey-Shell wrote, “I think the […]
2020 Giant Yukon 1 Review – by Tony Grande
One day after work, before dinner was on the table, I check my email to see that Tio Gomez sent a call out to the Bike Black Ribbon Test Squad asking if anyone wanted the opportunity to test out the Giant Yukon, why, and what size. Knowing that the Yukon rolls on 27.5 wheels is […]
Wallpaper Wednesday – The Family Truckster
This week’s Wallpaper Wednesday comes to us from Jeff Davis. It’s a shot of his Salsa Blackborow loaded with gear for at trip for two adults and two, nine year-old boys along the Arizona Trail in Flagstaff. I think that this should earn Jeff some votes for ‘Father of the Year’ and on top of […]
Borealis Telluride Review – by Ron Stawicki
PUTTING SOME TIME ON THE BOREALIS TELLURIDE In early March, I received this Colorado designed beast of a fat bike from the gnome master himself, Gomez, to put through the paces for a couple months. You can find his initial impressions and unpacked review here. My duties were to feel the bike out in two […]
2019 Sea Otter Classic SITREP
By Gomez on April 15, 2019 in 27+, 29+, Accessories, Apparel, B-Fat (27.5 Fat), Bags, Components, Wheels
The 2019 Sea Otter Classic has become the best bike show in the US and they just announced expansion plans for Sea Otter Europe. The US version of the Sea Otter Classic is held at the Laguna Seca Race Track out near Monterrey, California about an hour drive from Silicon Valley. It’s quite beautiful there. […]
ENVE M685 Wheelset and Fat Fork Review – by Julio
Way back in December I wrote an introduction to a new wheelset and fork from the carbon fiber maestros over at ENVE. This was big news given that one of the biggest names in carbon fiber was (finally) getting into the fat game. You can read all about the M685 wheels and Fat Fork here […]
45NRTH Dillinger 27.5×4.0 Review
As I was loading up the super blingy Why Cycles Big Iron outfitted with Enve Fat Fork and M685 Wheels for testing (First Look here), Uncle Gomez says “Here – try these out while you’re at it and tell me what you think . . .” as he shoves two folded up 27.5×4.0 45NRTH Dillingers […]
My New Trek Farley – By Will Ross
(Editor’s Note) – The following is from our old friend Will Ross! Will recently made a career move to the Trek Store of Anchorage and that means that he’s riding a new bike! We asked Will if he could write a story about his new whip and the rather fantastic results are below. I have […]
Giant Bicycles Jumps into the Fat-Bike Arena with The YUKON!
Giant Bicycles has finally joined just about everyone else and is offering a fat-bike called the Yukon. It will come in two models the Yukon 1 and the Yukon 2. The two new models are both aluminum with 27.5 wheels. MSRP is $1630 for the Yukon 2 and $2100 for the Yukon 1. Yukon 1 […]
Mid-Term Report: 27.5×4″ 45NRTH Van Helga
At the beginning of this winter I got a bunch of tires to test, mostly of the 27.5 fat variety. Of the tires I have available, I have been riding the 27.5×4 45NRTH Van Helgas far more than anything else. Part of this is because Mother Nature had been stingy with snow but even more […]
Spy Photos – Quiring Cycles – Project Abominable
Last time that I was up to visit Scott & Christina Quiring we talked a lot about 27.5 fat-bike wheels and Scott told me that he was working on a bike specifically designed to run the new sized wheels with the new gargantuan Terrene Tires 4.5″ Cake Eaters…(Project Abominable) We left an asset in place […]
Builder Profile – Wyatt Bicycle Company – LaCrosse Wisconsin
Just before the Holidays hit (with a thud), I day tripped out to where the cheese curtain meets the mighty Mississippi River to visit the Wyatt Bicycle Company in LaCrosse. Back in the day, LaCrosse hosted mtb races out at a private campground called Blueberry Springs. Way back in like nineteen 89? a bunch of us […]
Business Spotlight – Bearclaw Bicycle Co. – Michigan
The final stop of my December trip to visit three Michigan bicycle companies landed me in Traverse City, Michigan. I made arrangements to meet at Einstein Cycles with both Keith Conway, who manages the shop and Jason Lowetz who owns both Einstein Cycles and the Bearclaw Bicycle Company. Einstein Cycles (Jason) launched the Bearclaw Bicycle Co. […]
First Look – ENVE M685 Fat-Bike Wheelset and Fat Fork
While there are currently a quite a few rim/wheel options out there in the fat-bike universe, one major player in the high-end carbon market has been noticeably absent – ENVE Composites. The same can be said for fork offerings … lots of choices but no ENVE. Well, that’s now changed with the launch of the […]
First Look – 45NRTH Van Helga – 27.5 x 4.0
The 27.5 fat tire selection continues to expand and this is the second tire that 45NRTH has offered in the 27.5 size (the other being the Dillinger 4). For those of you not familiar with the 45NRTH line of tires, the Van Helga is their more aggressive 4″ tire that is designed for “all-round mixed […]
2019 Framed Alaskan Carbon Review – -JP Syverud-
Framed Alaskan Carbon 27.5- The Good, the Bad, and the Gnomey. Long Term Review -JP Syverud- In September we introduced you to the new Framed Alaskan Carbon 27.5 Fat Bike. The version we received came with NX Eagle. Here is the link to the first look article with all the specs and my initial […]
Road Trip 2018 – Visit to Why Cycles – Carbondale Colorado
This is the second report from a Road Trip to points west of the Mississippi last month. After spending a rainy weekend in Fruita, to visit some friends, I made my way to Carbondale Colorado to get a peek behind the Titanium Curtain at Why Cycles. It poured rain all the way there and my […]
First Look – Terrene 27.5×4.5 Cake Eaters
There are a lot of people excited about the Terrene Johnny 5 because it has been touted as a potential Bud/Lou challenger and I have to list myself as one of them. That said, I think I am actually even more excited about another Terrene tire; the 27.5×4.5″ Cake Eater. I didn’t realize this until […]
Mid-Term Report – Pub Carbon Wheelset – 27.5 x 75mm
Uncle Gomez sent me a set of 27.5 carbon fat bike wheels recently. You can check out the “product spotlight” he wrote up but the basic stats of this wheelset are the following: Exterior width: 75mm Interior width: 69mm Front weight: 1,053g (with tape and valve stem) Rear weight: 1,164g (with tape and valve stem) […]
2019 Salsa Beargrease Carbon X01 Eagle Review – By Leia Schneeberger
It’s been a long and sometimes strange journey that’s led to my review of the new Salsa Beargrease. Back in March of 2017, I had just won the Fat Bike Birkie and right after I rolled over the finish line was when I first met Gomez. He was standing there, staring at me with […]
Otso Voytek Plus/Fat Review By Seth Bell
Back in July, we received a beautiful Otso Voytek Plus-Fat rig for review. If you missed the introduction and specs, you can find that post here: https://fat-bike.com/2018/08/first-look-otso-voytek-plus-fat-rally-sport-by-seth-bell/ Now that Summer is officially in the rear-view and the crisp days of Autumn are here (my favorite!), we wanted to share with you what a few months of […]
First Look – 45NRTH Dillinger – 27.5 x 4.0 – By Seth Bell
Fat-bikers of the world with that newfangled 27.5” wheel size rejoice, for more tires choices are here! Fat-bike.com HQ has received some of the new size offerings from 45NRTH for testing, and today we’ll take a first look at the 27.5×4.0” Dillinger 4. The 27.5” Dillinger uses the same tread pattern and stud placement […]
Product Spotlight – 2019 Framed Alaskan – by JP Syverud
Product Spotlight- Framed Alaskan Carbon By JP Syverud The story of how I became the test pilot that gets to field test the new Framed Alaskan Carbon goes back to last winter. Tio Gomez and I were sitting at the bar at the Sawmill Saloon up in Seely, Wisconsin. It was the day […]
Borealis Carbondale 27.5 x 50mm – Maxxis FBR/FBF (Plus/Fat) Wheel Review
“What my fat-bike did on summer vacation” Back in April, we published a comparison of 4 sets of wheels (Two 26″ & Two 27.5″ options) with the goal of demystifying how 27.5″ rims and tires compare with their 26″ counterparts. I was especially interested in learning how tall each of the four wheelsets measured along […]
News – 45NRTH Launches 27.5 Vans and Dills
A couple of days ago, our amigos up there in Bloomington (45NRTH) announced that they’ll be offering two of their popular fat-bike tread patterns in 27.5. The Non-studded Dillinger 4 and the Van Helga are available now. The Studded Dillinger 4’s will be in stores sometime in October according to the Q-Mothership. The two new […]
26″ & 27.5″ Fat-Bike Wheel Comparison
We’re in the midst of testing 4 sets of wheels that range from 26 x 4.8 to 27.5 x 3.8. All 4 wheels are pictured below and labeled A-B-C & D for reference. Starting last November, I ran 27.5 x 50mm Wheelset C and wrote an article about how stoked that I was to be able to ride […]
Rocky Mountain Suzi Q C70 Review by Nick Holzem
Rocky Mountain has laid down the blueprint for modern cross-country race fat bikes. Along the way they also have established a place in the endurance and adventure sectors as well. After an intense 5-week schedule of fat bike races during the heart of winter and capping it off with an impromptu excursion to the […]
Product Spotlight – Pub Carbon Wheelset – 27.5 x 75mm
We’re going to get deeper into the 27.5 wheel size over the next few months and the next set of wheels in the spotlight is the Pub carbon 27.5 x 75mm rims laced to DT Swiss hubs with Terrene Cake Eater 27.5 x 4 run tubeless. The Pub Carbon rims have an inside dimension of […]
First look – 2018 Rocky Mountain Suzi Q – By Nick Holzem
The Rocky Mountain Suzi Q fat bike arrived this week and just in time for peak winter season riding. Over the next month and half, I’ll be riding and racing this bike all over the Midwest. My season is heating up with 5 races over the next 6 weeks including The Swety Yeti, The […]
Maxxis Minion FRF/FBR 27.5 x 3.8 Review
We’ve been riding a couple of sets of the Maxxis Minion FBR/FBF 27.5 x 3.8 tires for the last ninety days on a variety of bikes and rims. We published a product spotlight about the new low-fat sneakers from Maxxis Here and we also posted an article about a plus/fat wheel configuration that we tested […]
Fat Bike Tires on Plus Bike Rims
My amigo Thad Carson (taddyhogg) tipped me off that he’s been running the Maxxis 27.5 x 3.8 tires mounted to a set of HED 27.5 x 45mm Raptor rims on his Oddity Cycle Lime Greenis Maximus. He also shared some encouraging reports about how his set-up handled the rocky trails near KC. (KC has super […]
Product Spotlight – Maxxis 27.5 x 3.8 Minion FBF/FBR Tires
We’re checking out a pair of Maxxis 27.5 x 3.8 Minion FBF & FBR tires. These are the tires that are coming on the new Salsa Beargrease complete bikes for 2018, so we thought it would be a good idea to shine our product spotlight and share some basic numbers with our readers. This is […]
2018 Heller Bloodhound Trail – 27.5 Fat Mountain Bike
Heller made a bold departure from their 2017 Bloodhound, and set their sights on building a fat (mountain) bike. The result is the 2018 Heller Bloodhound Trail, that made it’s debut at Saddledrive last month…..and they made it…Black! I have a thing for Black Bikes, (which is funny, because I ride a purple one). […]
Terrene Tires says “Let them Eat Cake” with their newest Fat & Trek-Fat Tire
Terrene Releases Newest Fat and Plus Tire Model Bozeman, MT—August 30, 2017 — Terrene Tires announces newest model, Cake Eater, to their growing lineup of bicycle tires. Our amigos at Terrene Tires are releasing their sixth tire model. Cake Eater is a versatile, fast-rolling, studdable fat tire. Continuing with its goal of bringing to market a […]
Saddledrive News – 2018 Salsa Mukluk & 27.5 Fat Beargrease
It’s your uncle Gomez here at Saddledrive at beautiful Northstar Village in Truckee, California. It’s Media Day at Saddledrive and QBP showcased all of their new products. Let’s start with our friends at Salsa. They have 4 new Mukluk models in the 2018 lineup and 3 new carbon Beargrease models that are all rocking 27.5 […]
Bontrager Gnarwhal TLR – 27.5 x 4.5 Studded Tire
It’s not very often, that we need to borrow a fat-bike to test a fat-bike tire, but it’s happened before with super fat sized tires and the litany of new wheel/hub and tire choices has created a similar situation at times. This time it was Trek’s new 27,5 fat wheel size that created the need […]