Are fat bikes done? Are their ten seconds in the spotlight up? Did the industry dive too deep too fast before the genre was developed? Turns out the answers are not that simple.
Mountain bikes with mega-wide rubber (now known as fat bikes) started slowly in the mid to late nineties with riders in Alaska using them to traverse their endlessly snowy terrain, and in southern New Mexico and northern Mexico to make riding sand a reality. It wasn't until 2005 when Surly introduced its Pugsley that the real boom of fat bikes began.
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With Surly's purple steel frame, fork and purpose-built rims and tires, practically every bike shop in America had easy access to these new and interesting machines.
This brought an explosion of new rims, hub widths and frame standards, and of course, with bike companies still remembering the bitter taste of missing the 29er bandwagon just a few years prior, many jumped into the fat bike scene with fervor. However, unlike the singlespeed/fixie boom on the road side, fat bikes took a bit of engineering.
Fat bike sales slowing
As little as two or three years ago, every bike industry event was almost like a fat bike event as more and more companies introduced fat bikes. From tiny start ups to the major players, everyone wanted in.
Plus bikes taking over?
The future of fat
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