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| There will be more from where this came from... |
I mentioned how gravel/adventure bikes were going to be a trend this year. Well, obviously there will be other bikes as well. One type of bike I'm seeing teased is the fat bike. I expect they will make an impact this year, and you can credit that to the burgeoning popularity of these bikes. I know many will scoff, but the numbers don't lie. Check out this from Byron from "Bikehugger", who runs a a popular bicycling blog, and had the following to Tweet from over the weekend:
byron@bikehugger @bikehuggerSo, with significant numbers of these bikes being sold- most during what is traditionally the "off season" for bicycle sales here in North America- it isn't any wonder that the custom bike builders are picking up some of the slack in sales of these rigs? In fact, several builders have staked their largest chunk of output on fat bikes. It's reminiscent of what happened when 29"ers took off as a trend in the early 00's, and we all know what happened then.
"QBP says 10k Fat Bikes sold, expects 10k to sell, while independent builders have wait lists, 30% increase in sales."
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| A Krampus I rode last September |
This has all the earmarks of a budding "trend" as well, and perhaps some astute builder or two will be on that. Regardless, I see the 29+ thing as becoming another sub-category of mountain biking that is going to sell in bigger numbers than maybe some people are thinking now. Certainly the concept has captured the imaginings of the cycling nerds already. If that continues, you will start to see ordinary folks jump on the band wagon as well. At which time- of course- the "trendseekers" will have to shuffle off to find "the next big deal" and who knows who will invent that. I mean, who'd a thunk a Krampus up before this?
4 comments:
I was looking at cranksets tonight over at Universalcycle.com. I was surprised to see so many company's already making dedicated cranks for use on fat bikes.
Take a picture a couple years down the road, and I think the Krampus is going to over take fat bikes. Its more 'normal'. Easier for people to accept. I was impressed enough with my test ride that I sold my Mukluk, and am eagerly anticipating the build up of a Krampus. I think that bike does a very good job of bridging the gap between fat and skinny. I'm the type of riding that doesn't need that huge amount of float. Considering conditions of snow this year, 3" of tire should be fine enough. We'll see though. I've got a Pugs in the back pocket, and Singular just may still do the fat project...
@Head Honcho: You might be "partly correct"- Here's why: 700c X 3 inch tires = bigger than 29"er, which folks already grouse about when it comes to smaller sizes. legitimately, there would be really no good way to make a smaller Krampus without it becoming ungainly. Think 36"ers with huge tires and maybe it will start to make sense to bigger guys like us as for why that would be.
I think the big, 3" tire thing will work better for more folks on a 584 ISO diameter standard, which would work out to be 29" or so in overall diameter. I know that there is a small, as yet unheard, push by insiders for this sizing. Time will tell.
This is what i am looking for ........really you made my day.
Custom bike fit toowoomba
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