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It seems like an appropriate time to post this video again!

This. I could always tell what hype was being pushed every time i walked into BSS on lamar and saw whatever was front center on the riser. For a while it was fatbikes, then FS fatbikes then salsa rep showed up with their 27 & 29+ FS bikes telling me that they set new KOMs on strava with these plus bikes *rolls eyes*. Last thing on riser were e-bikes. Now there is no riser and the store is almost half the size it was. Shops are shrinking and dying left and right, so not sure how their strategy is working out for them. There has actually been discussion of the disappearance of the fatbike as it's considered even less practical than a full DH rig. If I still lived in snow country, I might have one to ride with my buddies, but we usually went south to the desert for the winter. friend in ut demonstrating proper usage of a fb

Shops stock a lot of expensive bikes now, but we all know their margins are in service. The average rider can do a fair amount of maintenance in their garage with a few youtube videos and a can-do attitude, but where are they gonna go when their motor is on the fritz? I see a new revenue stream for shops. And niche of a niche, how many of those do we already have? XC, down country, enduro, trail, downhill, slopestyle, hardtail, aggressive hardtail, full suspension, singlespeed, bikepacking, endurance, fat bikes, plus bikes, wide trail, 29er, 27.5, do they still make 26", mullet, and on and on. You don't see many cross country skis around here either. There are still plenty of fat bikes on the market, and I bet they sell just fine in regions where it snows enough to justify owning one. You are right that you heard a lot more about them when they were new. The new has worn off so they aren't on the hype train as much, but fat bikes absolutely paved the way for boost hubs and plus wheels. Trends tend to overshoot, then regress to the mean. I think that's what will happen with eMTB, and the SL line from Specialized is a prime example. Smaller motor, lighter weight, looks a lot more like a regular bike, just a little cheat mode.

Fat bikes. Remember when that was all the rage? Every manufacturer got into them. Fat bike advocates told you this was the only way to ride. Fat bikes would be the future. Everyone would have a fat bike and a regular bike. Then regular bikes got boost and plus wheels. Fat bikes became a niche for snow areas only. Probably lots of rental opportunities from resorts, but how many fat bikes to you really see any more?

1/4 and DD are GTG, aside from a few deceptively slick spots... started my ride by throwing it hard into Rainy Day Berm expecting hero traction, but RDB instead threw me down HARD... so fast that all I heard was "VVVVVVVVVVT!" from my back tire, and my bad shoulder was instantly augered into the ground, the same shoulder that kept me off the bike for the past year. Oddly enough, it's my right shoulder, but I also somehow gouged up my left knee and bruised my left heal, left palm and my right thigh... lol. Like I said, it happened fast, and I'm still trying to figure out the geometry of my impact... something like Seinfeld's "magic loogie"...

im all about the trough of disillusionment 😁

I've really enjoyed reading the various opinions, speculation, wagers, etc on this thread. I really loved the Use Cases laid out by @notyal and the personal perspective shared by @El Gringo. A couple of years ago I was adamantly opposed to eMTB altogether, but I've grown to accept that there will ultimately be a place for them. The question now is where they will settle in and when. If we apply Gartner's hype cycle, we are likely near the Peak of Inflated Expectations. So it will be interesting to see how many players climb out of the Trough of Disillusionment. I saw that Haibike is focusing solely on eBikes now and leaving the non-eBikes to its sister company Ghost. Given some of the intricacies mentioned on this thread, maybe that is the best approach, i.e. carve out a niche and truly cater to it vs. dabbling in something that is significantly different from your core competency.

I've separated both shoulders and cracked a rib (at different times), so maybe the G-Form shirt just happens to have the protection where I wish I had it.

Kinda. But tire OD stays similar because of tire widths. My fat bike works great with 26x4.8, or 27.5x3 or 29x2.5. Otherwise the bbh is way too low and the cs is longer than necessary. Track ends help the csl, but there is no help for a bbh when running 26x2.3s on a bike designed for 29s.

Actually that works for me. That bike has killer geometry and it looks like a good price point. Now I wish I was short.

I love my fat bike. For its intended purpose, it's a blast, and I miss 10 degree regular rides in the snow. And it's even kinda fun to screw around with it at Walnut or SATN or even Goodwater about once or twice a year. But it's silly and not terribly fun to ride it as a primary bike. And it's absolutely absurd to consider riding to the trail with one. The tire pressures that work on the trail are super goofy on the road.

The problem with the idea that bike shops will get new revenue from servicing e-bikes is with the nature of what makes an ebike an ebike. You don’t just bust out a wrench and tune up an electric motor. Electronics are a PITA to troubleshoot and you generally end up just replacing an entire board or motor. Anything more specialized and your paying for electrical engineer skills to do bike maintenance? Tough sell. Same thing happening with electric cars. How many private shops can service a Prius or Leaf or Tesla? Not many. When it takes custom software to access the bike ECU, my manufacturer will have me over a barrel for the cost of the service. Shit...it might be cheaper to buy a new bike? What a coincidence. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Got it. Size L fits me well and all in all, pretty comfy. Would NOT use this for std trail riding unless they make a SS one.

I have been a fan since seeing them live 4 years ago.

PM me if you want me to show you around.

sold

The industry is not even close to trying to market just the dying and decrepit...like me. They are focused on everyone that want's to put in minimal work for the maximum amount of thrill...like me. Let's face it, there's and untapped market of couch dwelling, beer drinking, ice cream addicts with massive amounts of disposable cash that if romanced with the thought, that by just laying down cash for and eMTB they can go straight from the fridge, charge up their magical electron biased miracle machine and turn Walnut Creek into Whistler downhill bike park. Like me 🙂