This Bike Makes No Sense, But You’ll Want One
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- In this video I will be talking about what it’s like to ride the mongoose Argus fat tire bike.
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I ride a fat bike - Surly Ice Cream Truck - as my main mountain bike… in FLORIDA. Every single time I ride it, it makes me smile and giggle. No snow in Florida, but we have trails with deep sugar sand and my fat bike flows through the sand and gnarly tree roots with ease. I can go deep into Florida swamps where people are too scared to go. I love my fatty!
That's what I do. Only difference is I am older than dirt, so, I modified a kids 20 x 4 fat bike (much easier to get the wheels turning) An extended seat post, with a D-Cruiser handlebar (15' rise) and I feel like a kid again :>)
@ Yes! Me too. I’m 54 and I feel sorry for people that don’t experience the joy of being outdoors. Don’t ever stop riding.
Oh Yeah, We Good 👍
Yeah i love feeling like a toddler on my fat bike haha
but i live in alaska, so we are blessed with snow, but at the same time i love to ride mine in the summer time out on the beaches on the sand and mud flatts which im sure Florida must have some of those too!
i love going where people normally dont go on my bikes haha
Come to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan from December through March and we will show you when the fat tire bike is needed and where it shines.
YES!!! I love my fat tire bike riding RAMBA trails in the winter! It’s pretty much the best!
Word! South Trails MQT
He’ll ya ! New England is fat bike territory. Throw a Mastodon and 3.0 in the summer… bang’n
Yeah, living in the yoop it’s sometimes a 6 month season of needing one. I also ran one as my sole bike for a couple of seasons, and while not fast at XC it’s amazing how hard you can rail turns with so much grip. Also they are great for backcountry bike packing, beasts of burden and with the ability to run 29+ they are pretty flexible and utilitarian.
Agreed fatty season once the snow and ice picks up. This year has been odd though ;) Been a few times I almost brought my regular summer setup in December ;)
Fat Bikes are fun year round! They roll slow and require more leg work but they are just fun with the ride. My Farley always proves itself fun in the snow and in the dirt . 😎 🤘🏽
I ride my fat bikes year-round here in the Denver Front Range area. I have a bike with 4” tires for general trail riding, and a 5” tire bike for snowier conditions.
I recommend that you put a dropper post on yours. Makes things a lot simpler for dropping your center of gravity on the slick stuff.
As a Minnesotan I love my Fatback fat bike, especially in snow and muddy conditions. Tire pressure is the key, and it may need to be changed for every snow ride, and even during the ride as conditions change. I love riding groomed mtb trails, but with fat enough tires and low pressure you can break trail in a decent amount of fresh snow. Fat biking has been a game changer in tendingriding season year round. I also have a suspension fork so I ride mine as a hardtail when i get that itch in normal mtb season. It climbs like a billy goat and soaks up roughness better than a smaller tired bike. Have fun!
Novelty? lol I ride one year round on everything. I did the Marji on mine and doing a 250mi ride next summer.
I live in upstate NY and ride a Specialized Carbon Comp Fatboy. I ride it year round. I put studded tires on it for the winter riding. 9 years and counting!!
Fatbikes are great in snow, if you want to try it on a full fatbike trail system the Happy Jack trail system up by Laramie, Wyoming (about 90min from Denver/Boulder) has a full network of groomed fatbike trails, just keep your tire pressures low on snow, like 3-5psi max. The low tire pressure on snow helps with traction and also with keeping the bike on top of the snow.
I use my mongoose argus year round 😂
Works great on sand roads, too. Talk about a great bikepacking ride in the real wilderness areas of the Southwest.
Totally agree. I use my fat tire bike out bike packing in the deserts of California. Seeing people have endless debates about which tires size they should use in soft terrain is silly when the fat bike is the obvious choice. Of course they don't want to accept that because they already spent 3k on a gravel bike or 7k on a mountain bike. Also riding fat tire bikes out in these terrains normal bikes can't get to, you end up having areas all to yourself with no signs telling you where you can go or hikers with earbuds in hiding around corners.
Here in New England Massachusetts. When it snows, we groom the trails and ride our fat bikes. And you can lower your air pressure to 5-10 psi.
I have the same Argus.
Upgrades:
1x9 Advent X w/ Clutch
PNW handle bars
Shimano MT200 Brakes
SO….MUCH….FUN.
Out of my 3 bikes, my fatbike is by far my favorite ride. I take it everywhere. No hesitation, I take it everywhere. If I have to think about what bike to ride, I just take out the fatty
I have 27.5 x 4.5 wheelset for snow and beach riding. I also have a summer wheel set 27.5 x 3.8 for trail riding. It’s been my go to bike for all seasons. Livin the fat rigid life. ✌🏻
I had a fatbike a couple years back and I miss it very much they're known as the monster truck of bikes LOL
Phoenician here: I ride a Fatback Skookum on 26 X 5.0, 94mm inner width rims. I’ve taken it on ALL the trails, but it shines on sandy terrain. When I want to explore a wash, a sand dune, a beach, I take my fatty. If I want snow, where I can stud my tires, I go to Flagstaff in winter. I’ve taken it on the Pines to Palms Epic in Palm Springs and it shined on the sandy ascent. Fatbikes are great bikes: veritable monster trucks.
4-7psi. Bring a pump. When it's slick and no studs, the whole fatbiking thing opens up when you realize you can adjust traction and suspension by airing up/down. And most people are aired up waaaaay too much. If the sidewalls aren't wrinkling, you're leaving traction and softride on the table. If you air up, pedaling is easier on long, groomed sections.
I don't see many people riding fat bikes. I think some people buy then because they are attracted to the look of the bicycle.
You are a low-level thinker.
Use mine primarily in the winter. Fat bikes are a different breed but even in the dirt they will rip corners faster than anything. With the right wheels and tires they’re fast. Once the trails get icy we use studded tires. That’s the negative with fat bikes, between the tires and cold weather gear is a lower return on your investment but if it keeps you outside through the Winter it’s worth it.
Besides winter riding they rule in slow rocky tech trails of the northeast and after a rainy day. Make it tubeless and start playing with air pressure for grip and suspension.
The key to fat biking in snow, is lower tire pressure. Not going to give specifics as to what psi, because that is different for every biker, but lower than normal to allow the tire to spread out over the snow. This is especially true for climbing in snow.
Grandma's wrinkly elbows 😅
From Montreal Canada! Matty, you have more snow than us! Like you channel.
The fat bike is the most capable bike ever I go through the craziest conditions that my mountain bikes cringe at! LOL!! If you go riding in extreme conditions rocks roots water crazy stuff the fat bike can do it all and a normal mountain bike well NOPE you have to try your hardest to even attempt to try and go in places you can with your fat bike. In that snow you can let out a lot of air in the tires you will get much better traction I am 150lbs I ran 3 to 4lbs or less in the tires in the snow with mine!
From Alberta, Canada and get bikes are every where. We bike year round and fat bikes are great for the winter. I do bike packing and my Norco Bigfoot is what I bike pack in the winter with. Switch those tires to tubeless, air them down and you will be good to go. Fat bikes are great in the summer as well when you have soft roads and mud to ride. Enjoy!
I love my fat bike with 100mm bluto fork and 4.8" tires. It is capable on most technical single track trails and should be fun to get it in some snow this winter. Fat bikes make sense because they are fun as hell! Mine has decent components with maxxis minions tubeless, GX eagle groupset, and weighs less around 33 lbs. I ride it all the time.
The roadies out there with the crazy drivers 😂
Fatbikes were once exclusive to riding on sand and snow. Now that the geometry has come around, I rode my fattie on all my regular trails in Colorado. Monster trucking over rocks, roots, everything is so amazing. You can run much lower pressures (lower the pressure til you feel it steering itself, then bump back up 1 or 2 psi. GET LOW!) The GRIP from those massive tires is awesome.
stop with geometry, bs. bikes are mostly capable, and people are not.
Oh my, the geometry was so dark ages....simp.
@@HughJhannis that's ... an opinion. I mean, you're wrong... But go ahead thinking that. How a bike is built absolutely has an effect on how that bike rides. More aggressive geo made fat bikes more fun to ride on tight, twisty techy singletrack. One definitely COULD have done it before, but it became much more fun about 8-10 years ago when... bike companies started making fat bike frames with better geo for riding trails.
@@HughJhannis name-calling? Ok. Tells me everything I need to know. I mean everything I didn't already understand from your choice of screen name.
This Canadian rides my fatty from October to May. I am out daily. It has enabled me to progress all year round. I added a Mastadon fork and dropper to a similar frame. Then I was riding farther into the spring, including blue jump trails. Now my main fatty is a Rocky Mountain Blizzard, the trail-biased geometry suits my riding style and available terrain. I am building another forked Blizzard setup for shoulder and summer riding. I can't stop smiling when I am on a fatty. The Enduro and DH bike are easy to transition to and will remain in stable. Peace y'all, ride what you love. Take that however you want, just keep it PG.
Minnesotan here and love my fat bike. It's my daily driver in winter, snow or not. It can also be a quite capable singletrack bike year round if you don't want to invest in a specific mountain bike.
Fatbikes are so much fun! Getting the tire pressure right is key. I usually run anywhere from 4 to 7 PSI depending on how loose the snow is. Lighter riders go even lower.
Nice video. Like the scenes where you are far away from the camera and still talking. New way to film something. Very refreshing!
I live in Southern Arizona and use mine in sandy washes and probably the best use = bushwacking. I also had a 29er+ wheelset built so I could have 2 bikes in one = bikepacking rig/hardtail. Been riding it for 10+ years and is easily my favorite bike.
fat bikes are essentially what mountain bikes used to be like back in the early days, but only difference is the obviously bigger sized rubbers!
i love my fat bike, and i ride mine year round up here in alaska!
studs are very necessary too
But the main reason one would spend the money on a fat bike is to have an excuse to get outside and to enjoy the outdoors during the winter time when most people would end up just staying home everyday and rarely leaving.
Here in alaska theres so many fat bikes everywhere, and its the main cure for 'winter blues' or 'cabin feaver' easily.
haha
Fat bikes get people outside more often during the winter for sure!
and thats why i love mine
but one thing that ive learned is that sometimes its best to go 'off trail' or to the side and through the brush to get where you want to go easier than following trails.
you have to learn how to read the snow conditions and the trail conditions on the spot. These bikes literally give you the confidence to go anywhere you want after a while, and theyre usually very good at that!
I ride my Farley 7 everywhere. I live in Rockland County, NY and we don't get a lot of snow. We have a lot of rocks and tech and those big tires can roll over a lot of crap. It's my go to bike!
Fatbikes are a blast, Matty. I’m glad to see you try one. We don’t get much snow on Long Island these days, but we have lots of great beaches. And they’re good for exploring, especially in coastal areas. My Farley has even done DH in the snow (at the Winter Woolly at Highland Bike Park).
I have a fat bike ,living in Michigan and if you want to ride the winter you need one for sure. I ride mine to stay in shape for summer and its a great work out so when spring comes my full sus trail bike feels like a rocket ship. You really need studded tires to give you the traction out there and piece of mind . I found out real fast how easy it is to have your wheels come out from under you.
💯👍..I looked to possibly purchase that exact bike online, I'm concerned about the frame geo and wheel size 26' in wheels IDK. I want to use it for a beach crusher and desert riding. Seems like a blast. You may just sell a fell with this video. We may have to start calling you Fat Matty 🤔 yes ? 👍🏾
The rims are 26" but with a 3.5-4.0" side wall (tire dependant) makes the overall wheel size 30"
Love my fat bike even when there is no snow. Just something about the slow ride and being able to ride anything the trail throws at you
Fatbikes are the move, especially where you have trails with beach. I live on long island so no brainer for me. It's not my main bike. I have a rocky mountain blizzard and have added rockshox bluto in the front, 120mm travel, an angleset for more aggressive geo, a 28t oval black chainring that can climb anything, fast rolling shwalbe jumbo jim tires. Bike is a beast on the sand, in the snow, dirt trails, and the shock makes a huge difference. It can be a quiver killer with an additional wheel set, or not. Super fun to ride.
My buddy and I got 2 mongoose fat bikes December 2023 in Pennsylvania and have never ridden our 29ers since. Every place we rode our 29ers all year long we have ridden our Fatties.
Fat bikes like this are considered part of mountain biking, or a sub sector of it. Actually they do make sense as far as riding in the snow or deep soft sand. They were a pretty popular thing up untill a few years ago and seem to be making a comeback.
I ride a fatbike. Mine's set up as a fat gravel. I love riding it. It instantly erases my stress from working in the Hospital.
After 30+ years of being a "roadie" (a couple of Pinarellos), a couple months ago I got a new Bigfoot 2.
I LOVE IT!!
27.5 x 4.5 knobbies, 1 x 12, I ride it everywhere.....tarmac to trail.
Working on setting it up for my first ever bikepacking trip on a section of the Continental Divide. I'll begin from far West Texas and head North in to New Mexico.
First stop? Pie Town, New Mexico. From there, high probability of continuing North, with a side trip in to the Rio Grande River Gorge near Taos. After that? IDK? May be "get lost in the wilderness" for a month or so.
FAT BIKES ROCK!! 👍💪
Here by me, we ride them in the winter all year long on the beach on the trails you name it it’s being ridden
I have a Farley 7 with stubbed tires, I live and ride in the northern east coast, mass, nh,, maine, and vt, we get snow and ice for 4 months out of the year, I bought that fat bike so I could stay riding throughout the winter and stay in shape for when spring riding starts. I love that bike. There is a bit of a learning curve. it's heavier than my trail bike, your not going to do alot of shredding or be a speed demon that's not it's purposes. It's really built for winter snow/ice trail riding. If you live in a area that doesn't get alot of snow or ice I don't think it's worth it.
Snow and beach riding
U need the surly moonlander it’s 6in wide tires
Hi Matty, FatBiker from the north. I live in NB, Canada and winter here is around 5/6 months and I try to ride outside once or twice a week but sometimes more. I ride and own all the bikes but the FatBike is one of my favorites. It's just so stupid, maybe that's the appeal? I have a local brand from my province and it makes a great summer trail bike with a tire change. I'm also going to try my luck at Bike-Joring this winter with my dog. Check out Quest Carbon bikes sometime and videos like these are your best. Love your enthusiasm in them.
I ride mine in snow when there's snow and enough cold to not melt to slush too soon. Trails in the foothills that you ride in the summer will have snow on them most of the winter. I was without a mountain bike for a while and my fatbike worked surprisingly well for that, not as well as a real MTB though.
As someone who lives in northern MI... fat bikes are for getting to class when the roads are iced over
In Northern BC, we ride fat bikes on the mountain bike trails all winter. My town has almost 100km of groomed trails.
I take my Rocky Mountain Blizzard C30 mountain biking in the summer to Valemount. Next summer ill try Sun Peaks.
Fat bikes are a way of life in Alaska. We ride year round on them and in the winter time we take them all over the place - places you can’t ride in summer.
I also use mine for mountain biking and bike commuting. Come on up to AK and we’ll ride out to a glacier and show you just how awesome fat bikes can be . Fat bikes for life baby.
Also super fun on flow trails without snow
Here in Switzerland I have seen them being rented out in the mountains, but I don't think a lot of people own them privately conpared to road-, gravel- or mountainbikes
Fatties are prob one of the most versatile bikes out there. That Mongoose is somewhat outdated but if you have something like a Trek Farley, slap on a suspension fork and a 29x2.8 wheelset and you have Trek Roscoe (of sorts).
And for what it’s worth, looks like you’re running too much tire pressure. Tire pressure is pretty important on these bikes. And it takes some practice/experimentation to get it right for various conditions. And there’s nothing wrong with running it as-is in the summer. Four inch wide tires offer incredible grip: traction. = confidence.
Hopefully Surly will send you an Moonlander 2 to try out. :)
fat tire bikes are awesome, i bought my second one a couple months ago, they are silly but so fun!
I got a scotts big john fat tire bike and ya i just use it in the snow
We go to 3 sisters in evergreen , Colorado
I enjoy it.
In the UP of Michigan it's all we ride all winter. Lots of groomed trails.
I'm in Minnesota. I'm somewhat of an odd ball since I'm a winter rider that doesn't own one. Our local bike shop has specific rides for fat tire only bikes... especially once we have had some measurable snow (lately no snow...too cold). 🤷🏾♂️
That looks fun. My local bike store just sent me an email invite to try out some fat tire bikes, i think I'm going to try them now.
I slept in and missed my snow opportunity in Houston.
🤦🏻
With you liking the simplicity of a rigid, you can drop the air pressure a LOT on those tires and have a little bit of cushion and extra grip on your ride. I'm no expert on those bikes though, but if I ran across one for cheap I'd definitely give it a try. I think they're a little goofy, but just enough to be cool. Not that I take myself that seriously when riding anyway...:)
Popular up here in Canada but that’s likely because of the sweet sweet snow.
I purchased a Mongoose Dolomite ALX. It looked comparable to the bike ur riding. It's 2 years old and is in the ride rotation with 7 other bikes. Yes great on snow and loose sink sand. At this point I've added carbon Aliexpress wheels I laced myself. FYI use spoke nipple washers. It is also a 1x10. Rides great. Want to try at the Great Sand dunes there if I can.
I've had a Dolomite ALX which seems Identical to this. I have a carbon fork and some studded tires and use it all the time in the winter. Its harder but addicting lol I keep thinking about upgrading to a nicer fat bike but this one does what I need it to do.
I don’t see many in Colorado but they are a thing in Minnesota.
Well in the Boulder area all the fat bikers are riding Brainard Recreation Area up in the Indian Peaks. I did several fat biking videos in the epic conditions there. You got to do it.
I now live in the upper Midwest. Here, when it snows it doesn’t melt for three months. You need the fast bike there. Preferably studded.
Walmart just recently released an Ozark Trail 26" Fat bike. $370. Judging from the pictures, it's no better than a Mongoose, but it's a start, and easy returns, if needed.
I have 3 fat bikes I ride this bikes all year long. I rarely ride my mountain bike, I used the fat bikes to do it all, best bikes to do all you need to do.💯%✌
I have a Trek farley 5 fatbike ride it all year loads of fun also have the Roscoe 7 awesome
I prefer the stability, I ride on ungroomed swampy forests to get to my hunting area, my fat bike is perfect for that
Cheers
You should try the new Surly Moonlander with the 6.2-inch tires.
I use 2 bikes....giant advaced 1 for the road...105 wireless...great bike...for off road got a steel all terrain bike...the tiara made by panorama back country...best bike i ever had....would never take my carbon fiber bike off road...stone chips everytime...well that's how I roll....lots of fat bikes in canada..
Lol..lots of snow
I have never tried one of these - It just looks to be very hard to peddle. I do know this isn't so. They would do much better in the snow due to the wide tires and the higher coefficient of friction, it's a snow bike😉
Here around Pittsburgh we have a mix of Great Lakes/Midwest/Appalachian weather so our riding season is typically just from April to November; just 7 months. I could see having something like this the rest of the year, whether we get snow or the crushed limestone trails turn to muck. I hear the wider tires are less likely to cut ruts into the earth too. Are the tires studded though? We've been getting a lot of ice in the winters.
They are not. Maybe I should try that sometime
Oh Yeah, We Good 👍
I love my fat bike! I do live in upper peninsula of Michigan so we get a lot of snow. RAMBA is my local trails and they do amazing job grooming! I still like to run the tires a lil lower PSI and have studs for ice patches. The lower psi makes the tires more supple and seems to help with traction. I have ridden my Salsa Mukluk on the trails for a few summers before going to a full suspension trail bike. If I could only have one bike, it would be a fat bike. They are the like monster trucks in the bike trails lol.
Enjoy the fatty!
Great video.
What did you use to mount your camera to the frame?
Thanks for sharing your adventure.
You would probably enjoy it with a tubeless setup with less psi.
Brooooo see if Surly will send you a demo Moonlander! Overlander supreme! Bikepacking extreme!
The Fat Bike is your winter bike, not fast but can handle anything, only bike that I own that sees road salt, my personal opinion only, is that steel is better on a fat bike, more comfortable.
But alum does not rust from road salt exposure the inevitability you will get …and usually lighter.
@darrenlutes8771 have to try it, just absorbs the vibrations better if you're going to be fully rigid
Sand snow rocks anywhere really
Fat tire bikes are great on baby’s head rocks too.
Winter riding trails require fat tire bikes in Maine
Go smash that thing down Haunted Forest at Happy Jack up by Laramie.... it's fast and wicked sketch 😅 Fatbiking..... it's not "if" you fall down, it's "when" and "how many times" 😂😂
Fat bikes aren't just for the snow. I ride mine in the desert environment too. It does much better in the soft and chunky terrain than a mountain bike with 2.2" tires. Fat bikes open up more riding opportunities that wouldn't be much fun on a traditional mountain bike.
Don’t tell my wife, but I think I could sell my other 3 bikes and be just as happy with 2-3 wheel sets and a suspension fork on my fat bike.
Get some studded snow tires for that Beast! ( Like some Schwalbe Al Mighty Studded Tires)
Tire pressure is god on a fatbike.
"Luxurious Mountian Biking"
Personally I've only had the "Generational Bike," as in used no suspension mountian bikes lol
Oh and add "old" to the attribute for bikes I've oersonally used
My Fat Bike is my favourite all around bike. 24/7 365
No one's mentioned your tyre pressure yet? It's never a bad idea to air down on a fat bike.
They can do everything, just with more rolling resistance.
If there's a lot of sand or snow that's where you see them. I'm very close to buying one, but we just haven't as much snow as I'd like to justify buying one.
What was your tire pressure at? It can be like 3lbs, but also most fat bike trails are groomed, it's pretty hard to just ride through soft powdery snow.
You have to run a little bit lower tire pressure, sir
On well groomed and hard packed snow, you can ride one up a 15% grade just fine. Until your legs and lungs give out, anyways.
This bike is mostly used for _fun._ Which kinda applies to... all bikes, I guess? 🤔
Let's see you do some bmx racing on a track!!!
24 Cruisers....🤙🏽💪🏾💯✌🏽♾☂️☔🌂🙈🙉🙊
Used for sand
Less air in fat tires better traction
On long Island i ride fatty all the 95% of the time beach and trails i have 2 fattys one norco carbon with a bluto suspension fork the other is old cheap se fatty beater i love my fatties beach riding is fun group social rides great on trails then when it does snow so much fun