The, also known electric bikes with fat or wide wheels, are designed for you to cross all kinds of terrain, no matter how difficult it may seem. Dirt, mud, sand, rocks, mud, and even snow itself.
And it is that its popularity has not stopped growing in recent years, and it is increasingly common to see cyclists with this peculiar model of bicycle. Even on the same mountain we can see many fans of fat-wheel electric bikes riding every day.
What is an electric Fat Bike and what is it for?
In essence, it is a mountain bike, which was designed for special terrain which requires great traction. To do this, they have tires much wider than usual, between 3.8 and 5 inches (compared to between 2 and 2.4 inches for mountain bikes).
Their wide tires make e Fat Bikes the true masters of the snow and the desert. And it is that no other model of electric bicycle is going to be able to cross these types of inhospitable terrain, in which the electric fat bike is the true queen of the category.
Such has been the increase in popularity in the last decade, that even at times it was thought that it could dethrone the mountain bike. It was rare to see a manufacturer that did not have this category in their catalogs and within their marketing campaigns.
The story
The fat tire bicycle itself, that is to say without being electric yet, has its origin around the 80s in several places at the same time. And, on the one hand, the French cyclist Jean Naud designed a three-wheeled bicycle, with tires that were thicker than usual, with the mission of being able to travel through the desert. The milestone finally achieved, traveling from Nigeria to Algeria. To later repeat something similar, but this time through the Sahara desert.
Meanwhile, in another corner of the world, manufacturers in Alaska began to design components that were capable of obtaining a greater contact surface with the snow, in order to be able to roll through it without sinking. In this way, Steve Baker would build a bicycle with a totally differentiating feature, its wheels. And it is that he had been able to design a model, with a frame and fork capable of housing wheels that had been achieved by welding up to three rings of the previous ones.
Simultaneously, in New Mexico, a “certain” Ray Molina would order 3.1-inch (79mm) tires, 3.5-inch (89mm) tires and frames to adapt them. His object was to be able to take guided tours of the Mexican desert, full of dunes and streams. It would not be until 1999, when he would meet the Alaskan manufacturer, Marc Gronewald, at an exhibition in Las Vegas. Gronewald would be the one who finally coined the “Fat Bike” brand, beginning to manufacture this model of bicycle with wheels designed by Molina. And in this way he started fat wheel bikes.
But, what advantages does the fat wheel electric bike have?
No terrain resists him:
Its great advantage is that you can roll on any type of terrain with an All Terrain Electric Bike. Unlike other models of electric bikes, even the same emtb included, with an electric fat bike you can cross even the desert itself. These ebikes are specifically designed to roll on snow and desert sand. Its extreme grip means that you can advance without problems, while other models would end up nailing their wheels on these terrains.
Greater stability:
It is one of the most stable ebike models on the market. You will be able to overcome obstacles and descend with great ease. This provides the cyclist with a great sense of security when riding.
Suspension:
One of the main characteristics of these electric bicycles is the low pressure they carry on their wheels. And it is something very common and that draws attention to these bikes, which brings with it the advantage of not being obliged to include any suspension in their designs.
Electric assistance:
If a wide-wheel ebike such as the Himiway e-bike already tends to eat any type of terrain, imagine adding assistance to pedaling. This added bonus will allow you to further stretch your possibilities on any terrain. Seeing true adventurers in this category of bicycles is something more common every day, and the fact is that the electric assistance will give you that little push when you need it most.
Autonomy:
This, in addition to the type of battery that the model you want to buy incorporates, will depend on other factors such as the weight of the cyclist, the level of assistance you use, and the type of terrain and incline it has.
Although all this can vary the autonomy that your fat ebike gives you, generally you will have pedaling assistance for several tens of kilometers. Generally, the models that provide the least assistance on the market are folding electric bikes that provide about 45 km of autonomy, compared to mountain models that in many cases exceed 100 km.
Types of fat wheel electric bikes:
Depending on the type of cushioning that they bring with them, we can divide them into three classes:
– Rigid:
They are the ones that best fulfill the task for which these bicycles were designed, that is to say to cross the snow or the desert. And it is that really in neither of these two areas would we need the presence of any kind of suspension. This has the advantage of being able to save us any kind of mechanical failure, which will mean savings in the maintenance of these parts in the medium or long term.
– Front suspension:
They have a fork with either spring or air suspension. After the rigid Fat ebike, they would be the models that would best adapt to sand and snow. They are also perfect for other Trail or Cross Country terrain.
– Double suspension:
Ideal option for those who are going to practice quite steep descents. And it is that for the rest of situations, with the suspension that in case these bikes have, a double suspension would not be necessary.
We hope this information was helpful. Are you now ready to buy one?