Which fat bike for an amateur rider?

[tgreening]

Which fat bike for a forever amateur.

Amateur biker, that's me. No down hill races, or trips to Alaska to check out the frozen trails up there, or coast to coast expedition trips. I'm just a dabbler so I don't need pro level gear. High quality gear will far far outstrip my ability to make use of it. With that said...

I've got an urge to play in the fat bike world and I'm looking for opinions on the best of the lower end market. Specifically I've been checking out the Motobecane line and the Minnesota line from Framed. I can live with a bike budget up to the $1k line, though I don't mind spending less if the extra is just wasted on my skill/usage level.

Anyway, opinions on which models I should be looking at between these two, or other makes/models within this price range? I know the Minnesota 2.0 has a deal going right now where it comes with a 2nd set of rims/tires in the 2" more street friendly range.

Willing to listen...

 

[Gooseberry]

Pugsly would be good to get your feet wet and its cheap

I have a med that is for sale in the $1500 range. It has up sized brakes rotors because I like down hills and if you want I can make it tubeless.

 

[Two-Wheeled Explorer]

Check out the Framed Bikes Minnesota 2.0. Good components (actually a bit better than the Pugsley that I have), getting good reviews on the fat bike sites, and under $900.00! http://www.framedbikes.com/v2/minnesota2-blk-wht.html The Surly and Salsa entries are great expedition bikes, with braze-ons all over for racks, bottle racks, etc., but you said that's not your goal, so check out Framed Bikes.

 

[Gooseberry]

Check out the Framed Bikes Minnesota 2.0. Good components (actually a bit better than the Pugsley that I have), getting good reviews on the fat bike sites, and under $900.00! http://www.framedbikes.com/v2/minnesota2-blk-wht.html The Surly and Salsa entries are great expedition bikes, with braze-ons all over for racks, bottle racks, etc., but you said that's not your goal, so check out Framed Bikes.

Yes go with this it's a great start with good components


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tgreening]

Thanks for the input. I'm kind of leaning towards the Minnesota, but thoughts from anyone about the Motobecane lineup?

 

[Flagster]

I'll assume you are talking bikesdirect.com...
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/fat-bikes.htm
I don't have direct experience with the company...they have quite a few fat tire bikes under 900.00...from quickly looking at the builds and frames they look pretty nice...even some with avid bb5 brakes/sram drivetrains...usually decent brakes are one of the first things to get deleted from lower price builds...
A guy I work with recently bought a bike from bikesdirect to get into mountain biking...the bike came with multiple broken parts/rusty cables...The company was pretty good about quickly sending out replacement parts to him and I helped him replace what was necessary but the build quality/parts spec/etc was mediocre IMO...