XMIplay 650B Carbon Hard Tail

[Andy]

SN just gotta tell you.  I highly recommend riding a fat bike before you order one.  We got one in our shop the other day.  Granted it was aluminum frame.  The brand was "Framed" and it had nice componentry.  I thought it was gonna be a hoot to ride.  Dude I hated it.  It was just awful.  Played with all kinds of psi and everything.  It took at least 30% more effort to propel.  Climbed horribly and with no suspension bounced you all over the place,  But the worst part was the handling.  It had so much rolling gyroscopic effect it didn't want to corner so you really have to manhandle it to turn.  Then the squishiness of the tire kinda felt like you were riding on flat tires in the corners.  I was to say the least completely unimpressed. 

I am kinda interested in the mid-fat concept.  Using 27.5 wide rims with 2.8 tires in a 29er frame.   But gotta ride one first before investing any money into converting my fully rigid LTK 023.  Learned that by riding the fat bike....yuck! 

[cmh]

SN just gotta tell you.  I highly recommend riding a fat bike before you order one.  We got one in our shop the other day.  Granted it was aluminum frame.  The brand was "Framed" and it had nice componentry.  I thought it was gonna be a hoot to ride.  Dude I hated it.  It was just awful.  Played with all kinds of psi and everything.  It took at least 30% more effort to propel.  Climbed horribly and with no suspension bounced you all over the place,  But the worst part was the handling.  It had so much rolling gyroscopic effect it didn't want to corner so you really have to manhandle it to turn.  Then the squishiness of the tire kinda felt like you were riding on flat tires in the corners.  I was to say the least completely unimpressed. 

Wow, good to hear. I'm deciding between an IP-057 and a fat bike, and leaning towards the 057 because I have almost all the parts already, and the fatbike build would get pricey with frameset, wheels, and tires. Would suck to spend the money, build it up and then have the same experience as you!

[Carbon_Dude]

I rode an Origin 8 fat bike back back in February.  It was a unique experience, that's for sure.  Yes, slow to turn, bouncy tires, but not as heavy feeling as I would have expected.  You would need to be in really good shape to pedal one of those through the trails I ride on, however, if you want to ride in snow or sand, I suppose it would be a better option over skinny wheel bikes.

For me the fat bike is a novelty, not a bike for covering serious ground.  I enjoy getting on a fat bike and riding it for a short time, it's a real hoot, but my 29ers are king right now.

[Andy]

Wow, good to hear. I'm deciding between an IP-057 and a fat bike, and leaning towards the 057 because I have almost all the parts already, and the fatbike build would get pricey with frameset, wheels, and tires. Would suck to spend the money, build it up and then have the same experience as you!
[/quote]

Yes, that's another thing I don't like about the fat bikes, everything is proprietary requiring wider bottom brackets, wider hubs, forks, rims, etc.  So can't use any of the piles of parts I've accumulated over the years.  Get the 057 or if you can get up the scratch go for the Ip 036 full squish....awesome bike!

[cmh]

Yes, that's another thing I don't like about the fat bikes, everything is proprietary requiring wider bottom brackets, wider hubs, forks, rims, etc.  So can't use any of the piles of parts I've accumulated over the years.  Get the 057 or if you can get up the scratch go for the Ip 036 full squish....awesome bike!

Well I already have the three year old Rumblefish for the full squish, so thinking hardtail, at least to start. Have thought about the FS bike in 650b for my wife, she's decided that 26" is "dead like Elvis" and it'd be nice to have a better backup bike than her now maligned 26er. But first, a backup bike for me that is slightly more versatile than my 26er singlespeed.

[cmh]

To gently steer this topic back on track, the IP-136 is actually an excellent candidate for her as well - she's on a Scott Scale 29er right now, and is basically done with her 26er, so even if I don't go with the FS 650b bike for her backup, I couldn't help but think that an IP-136 would be a perfect "B" bike to the Scale, especially for the local trails where the 29er isn't quite as necessary.  At a glance it looks like the geometry is close to the Scale, too, so the lighter frame and the mid-scale wheels might be perfect.