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What do you guys think is the best budget fat bike on the market today? Or, alternatively, which fatty provides the best bang-for-your-buck?
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Best deal goes to On-One Fatty Trail. $1285 for a aluminum frame, Bluto, NX, light wheels, quality house brand tires, and good customer service.
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My pick is the Surly Wednesday which retails for right around $1500. It’s super adaptable to whatever type of fat biking you want to do.
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Just got my hands on a Salsa Beargrease x5. Sub 30 pounds, while it’s not as light as the carbon versions, it comes in at an MSRP of 1400 bucks. I think it’s a pretty tough deal to beat. Tubeless ready out of the box, and if you are after a “big name” bike, I think it would be the one to start with. Stretch your budget to 2k, and you can get into a full carbon version of the same rig with a full NX drive-train.
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I agree with Jeff on Surly. But with summer simmering, theres a lot of deals going on, specially the alloy versions. Saw an alloy 2016 Beargrease around $1,200, I think it was a 2x GX, good thing its gone before I got to the store. Got my alloy 9zero7 for $900 last yr from CL, my most used bike to this day.
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Budget budget? Gravity Bullseye Monster ($500). In terms of ready-built bikes with best parts:price ratio, the On-One Trail is the best globally, but for US buyers the Bikesdirect.com Motobecane Lurch comes with SRAM GX drivetrain, Bluto, and Minions for $1300. They are working on some pretty slim profits there and speccing some pretty solid parts. If you run through the specs, you’ll find that Salsa, Trek, and Specialized have some of the worst price:value ratios despite high impact factors. Surly does quite well, if you are a fan of steel and basic, but solid, performance.
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To put these prices into perspective, I have looked into building a carbon frame+fork, alloy rim fat bike with TL Schwalbe JJs, SRAM GX drivetrain, and RaceFace components and the trail-ready build cost comes in at $1150 when everything is all imported and freight fees are paid. I have quotes from manufacturers and you just need to put on your negotiating cap. I estimate a Motobecane Lurch build at $1150 based on a generous $75 for the frame (only I don’t know where they get their rims). Mind you, that excludes domestic shipping. I have great respect for their prices.
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If you are looking for a 27.5+, I would suggest an Airborne Griffen.
I ride a Specialized Fuse Comp, which is not top of the line, but I love it. When I was looking,for one a year ago I came across the Airborne, but it was still out of my price range.
I also like the Marin Pine Mountain models, I fell you get a pretty good bang for your buck.
I attached website 2 some of the ones I liked, check em out
http://www.marinbikes.com/us/bikes/family/pine-mountain
https://www.specialized.com/se/en/men/bikes/mountain/trail/fuse
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If you are looking for a 27.5+
Thanks for the comment but nope, looking for full fat bikes specifically 🙂
Gravity Bullseye Monster ($500).
I spotted that one–not bad!
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Buddy of mine just got a framed Minnesota 3.0 for 750 delivered new. I don’t think you can do better than that for a solid entry level bike. I started out on a slightly used Gravity bullseye monster and after shedding the original tires and tubes I loved it and rode it a ton with no issues at all. Had only about 500 invested in it when I was done and sold it for 400 a year later, great way to try out fat biking. Later moved up to a Salsa Blackborow which I love. Highly recommend either if just starting out in fat biking or mountain biking in general.
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My LBS has some leftover Norco Bigfoot’s marked down pretty good right now. Marked down from about $1200 to $1500 to anywhere in the range of about $700 to $900. Not sure of all the specs on the bikes, but solid frames that provide a good base to upgrade when components wear out, or to just get yourself on a fatbike!
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Being slightly short, it seems like there are never bikes left in my size to be marked down. My employer has a deal with Diamondback bikes, and I was looking at a El Oso de Acero or El Oso Grande. I also looked at the Minnesota mentioned by Triton189. They seemed like good deals. I did not pull the trigger because was I was not sure how much I would like riding a fat bike. I also wondered if it would be worth having the extra money sunk into a fat bike. However, my wife surprised me the Gravity Bullseye Monster from Bikesdirect.com for Christmas. I am happy she did (I’d probably still be thinking about it). It was slightly cheaper than the incentive priced equivalent Diamondbacks out of the box.
I am a heavy rider and have been riding the Gravity regularly this winter with no problems. The two knocks on it would be the narrow handlebars and the tires are not tubeless. When I add the money to get the right handlebar width, I will spend the same as the Diamondback. Neither shortcoming have stopped me from enjoying winter riding (mild though it has been) thus far. I am installing new handlebars this weekend.
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Buddy of mine just got a framed Minnesota 3.0 for 750 delivered new. I don’t think you can do better than that for a solid entry level bike. I started out on a slightly used Gravity bullseye monster and after shedding the original tires and tubes I loved it and rode it a ton with no issues at all. Had only about 500 invested in it when I was done and sold it for 400 a year later, great way to try out fat biking. Later moved up to a Salsa Blackborow which I love. Highly recommend either if just starting out in fat biking or mountain biking in general.
Also, the Minnesota 3.0 with an RST suspension fork for $1,000?! Awesome deal!!
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Unfortunately, such bikes tend to be expensive, but Its possible to find cheaper fat bike that review nicely and will serve you well))
Mongoose have somehow produced a decent quality fat bike for under $400.
I’ve bought Mongoose Men’s Dolomite Fat Boys Tire Cruiser Bike, 26 inch .Price: $249.00 Is it expensive? No. I was surprised to see dual disc brakes at this price point.They’re brandless, mechanical discs that can be tuned up for decent stopping power (I do recommend a professional tune here).
Despite its low price, this cheap fat tire bike reviews extremely well. If you don’t have a ton of cash, consider the Dolomite by Mongoose. It’s a good, affordable fat bike that you can easily upgrade over time.I’ve found this bike here, If you are inerested http://bestadviser.net/mountain-bikes/helpful-mongoose-mountain-bike-reviews/
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I’d recommend Bikesdirect for brand-new bike, since I had a great experience with their bikes.
And second place to look at is Craigslist, of course. As Jeff’s article says, bikes depreciation is big. So, there’re should be many good deals starting end of the season.
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Check out the fat bike trader fb page. or pinkbike. Some good deals to be had there.
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I will take the Nashbar Fat Bike with a 20% off deal. Serviceable bike that will last. Upgrade parts when and if you want.
Many good choices for under 1000
for fun check out the Seths Bike Hack mongoose dolomite video.
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I bought a large Motobecane Sturgis Bullet frameset with Bluto fork, and the Bikes Direct Mulefut wheelset last year and built that bike up with a 1×10 drivetrain (28t ring, 11-42 cassette) with 11 spd XT derailleur, Deore brakes, carbon bars, and decent finishing kit for just under $1800. Bike weighed 30.8 pounds with tubeless tires. I could have saved a few bucks and purchased the full bike from Bikes Direct, but I knew I’d swap out the heavy crappy cockpit parts, and I’m a big fan of Shimano hydros. Still, I think the stock bike is a tremendous value, even with the new offerings out there. The Growler Mr. Bigstuff that’s now available looks like a very well spec’d bike for $1900 if you want a Bluto fork. Geometry looks about identical to the Sturgis/Night Train.
However, I got the itch to try 29+ tires, and I wanted a frame that had ideal geometry for it (low bottom bracket, short chainstays, longer front-center). All the better if I could use the frame with 26 x 4.5″ tires for the few times we get a heavy snow, or when the trails are really soft. I managed to pick up a large Kona WoZo frameset from Canada and swapped over all the parts I could over from my Sturgis. If you are considering 29+ tires, this bike is a no-brainer. The stock WoZo full bike costs $2400, which isn’t “cheap”, but the build is spot-on in every category. A huge bonus is the lifetime frame warranty from Kona, and of course the well-known brand name. Plus, the frame has sliding dropouts to change the chainstay length, or if you get the single-speed itch. I also like the lower q-factor with the 177 rear dropouts.
That On-One Fatty Trail looks like a great bargain. However, keep in mind that the rear dropouts are quick-release (not a thru-axle), and you will have to pay customs if buying in the USA. Also, that bottom bracket height is seriously high, and I would consider dropping the fork down from 120 to 100mm to get it down to where it should be (all you have to do is swap the air shaft and add a token or two).
If you are just looking to try out a fatbike, don’t want/need a suspension fork, and don’t care about thru axles, then you can spend WAY less. As mentioned earlier, their are some decent bikes out there for well under a grand, like the Framed Minnesota 3, the cheaper Bikes Direct offerings, and the SE fatbike from Nashbar, or Nashbar’s own fatty (tip: Nashbar often runs 20-25% off sales). Also, keep an eye out for deals from your local bike shops. A friend scored a left-over 2016 Salsa Beargrease X5 earlier this year for $950.
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Hey guys, my article on this topic just went live this morning! Check out the new Budget Fat Bikes Buyer’s Guide here:
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I also bought the Framed Minnesota 3.0 for $750 at the end of 2016. I believe the 2.0 was $650 and the 1.0 was $600.
I have no complaints about the MN3. The trails have been abnormally soft (meaning closed) this winter, but I’ve put several hundred road, gravel, and muddy miles on the bike. Last weekend I did a 40 mile gravel grinder with a buggy trail that was complete soup. I’ve crashed it once on snowy singletrack. No mechanical issues to report – I mean, my derailleur froze solid, but that was happening to everyone, regardless of how expensive their bike was.
For my budget, the MN was the best value I could find, but a lot depends on your expectations. I expected a (relatively) heavy bike with no illusions of going tubeless with the stock wheels. I also don’t live near trails that demand a full-suspension bike (or even a suspension fork when you’re on 4″ tires). On of my friends has a 1.0 and she puts a ton of miles on it – she also has higher-end bikes for when there’s not snow on the ground.
Personally, I think that if most people are realistic about their needs (and don’t live in the frozen tundra), fat bikes should be less expensive “toys” for use when their other bike(s) aren’t able to gain traction. You wouldn’t spend as much on a snowmobile as you spend on your car, right?
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