Regular or Fat e-bike?

[minime]

Hello

I am thinking of buying a new e-bike but don't know which one of these two to choose from; regular bike or fat bike.

Both have a motor of about 1000w-1500w and the same battery, 48v 17amp.

The fat bike is slightly more expensive so what are its advantages over its regular-sized brethren?

Thank you

 

[Woosh]

They are very different in feel.
You have to test ride them to know which one you prefer.

 

[D8ve]

They have a gearless hub motor so not the best for steep hills and slow climbs. Makes the back heavier too.

 

[minime]

I'll use it mostly on flat roads (paved with ashalt).

 

[RobF]

I'll use it mostly on flat roads (paved with ashalt).

A fat bike is not suitable for that use, although you can, of course, ride your bike wherever you like.

 

[minime]

What is a fat bike suitable for? I thought maybe the bike feels steadier because of the larger surface area of the tyres.

 

[RobF]

Fat bikes are good for soft trails, sand, snow, mud, and also perfectly suitable for harder trails.

What they are not suitable for is asphalt.

The wide, soft tyres will be hard to push at any speed, even with a motor, and will wear at an alarming rate.

I imagine they might also 'track' on road imperfections.

All-in-all, not good for the road.

 

[Woosh]

on made roads, it does feel steadier and copes better with potholes.
BTW, you can fit 3" road tyres to them instead of 4" fat tyres.

 

[minime]

Thank you all for your replies.

I have a choice between then 4" fat bike and a regular one so I guess I'll go with the regular one.

 

[falmouthtony]

Thank you all for your replies.

I have a choice between then 4" fat bike and a regular one so I guess I'll go with the regular one.

I think you'd be best to do that, particularly bearing in mind that a high powered (technically illegal) fat bike, by it's nature, would attract more attention. I gather from the other thread you agree it's best to avoid that.

 

[Deere John]

I have a Fatsix, wonderful bike, but I use it mostly in terrain, it has amazing traction and comfort in all sorts of terrain. Not only soft but good trails also. You can build custom wheels with 29'ers on if you like. They have though larger Q-factor, so if you ride with SPD pedals you might not like that at all.

But if I would ride mostly asphalt I wouldn't go for a fatbike, I would have bought a 27.5" plus bike then many options there, slim fast tires or kind of fat 3" ones.

 

[minime]

@foulmouthtony

Haha, you know it! The less attention, the better!

 

[Crockers]

Mnime....Do you drive a car?

If so is it taxed and insured?

If so why are you risking your driving license riding a motorcycle which isn't taxed or insured??

Here endeth the lecture

 

[minime]

I don't own a car yet though I've been driving for 10+ years. I use the e-bike to travel short distances 3-4 miles or go for longer rides downtown.

Also I don't plan to maintain 30mph for long periods all the time, just on few occasions and briefly (mainly for fun). I just want the bike to have decent acceleration.

 

[Steve A]

Not a fan of fat bikes, unless i was near a beach or in a cold / snowy environment etc. I've ridden one on the road and the tyres were very noisy. As said, great for certain conditions, but not ideal for majority road riding.

 

[STEVEMANFA]

Just like Steve said
They are ok in the snow and on the sand, stick with the standard size and when the battery is flat it will be better to ride and trust me you will be out at some point and get a flat battery.