Take one part UCI World Cup Trials Rider, one part UCI 4x World Champ, and sprinkle with MX, Trials, and 4x bikes. Then insert mixture in a Dutch Recycling Plant for maximum radness.
Specialized hits the slopes to test out Fatboy on an all Powder diet.
Cam McCaul and Kyle Straight will make you cringe as they dress and ride the part of a Joey.
Rounding off this weeks compilation of shredits is this user submitted gem – Rock Lobster.
RE: Fatboy vid…saw no powder, but did see a downhill bike with them at Kelly Canyon – a relatively flat ski area that isn’t open on Sundays. It sounds a bit like Specialized invented the fat bike and found the first ski area to allow bikes on their lifts… a decade after the Pugsley, and longer since there have been downhill races on snow at ski areas.
I love my fat bikes, but find this “Big S” horn tooting is misleading and quite anti-climactic.
@Skeeter “It sounds a bit like Specialized invented the fat bike and found the first ski area to allow bikes on their lifts”
Really? Think you’re reflecting your Big S hatred onto the video, seeing and hearing what you want to see and hear. I simply saw their engineers being excited at getting to build–and ride– a fat bike. I doubt that they’re that stupid as to think they invented the thing. So if they make a video next year touting their new Stumpjumper or whatever, then you’ll say the same thing?
Fat Bike Video – yeah, I kind of agree with Chuck. The first thing the guy says is that they’ve grown in popularity over the last 4 -5 years.
My impression is that they are testing the business climate of building and marketing these bikes to a wider audience. That seems kind of natural for a large big box brand.
I’m a S-sponsored rider, and I agree that they’re tooting their own horn:
“About 4 or 5 years ago, I had this vision…”
“Secret mission…we didn’t know if it would fail on the first run or be a success”
They then go on about how they solved all of the challenges of fitting fat tires on a bike by doing what others have done for years.
@kurti sc, i agree with you.
@skeeter, chuck dick, and vengerider – y’all are wrong, i think the video is more geared toward people that have very limited to no knowledge of the fat bike category. i frankly don’t like or dislike specialized, they are just another main stream company.
As far as fatbikes, i really dislike them. sorry.
FTR, I think Specialized makes nice bikes, including the Fatboy.. VengeRider shared a couple of the quotes that made me knee-jerk into the WTF mind-frame.
C. D. – If Specialized makes a video next year touting their evolutionary introduction of the 650b without mention that others have been making them for a while… yeah, I’ll call that misleading too. Really. Especially if they talk about how it can do more than the old bikes that came before it while showing one of the old bikes along with the new ones doing those ‘more’ things.
kurti_sc – they had grown in popularity over the 4-5 years before Surly started making the Pugsley…. this generic statement doesn’t mean that other companies have been making them.
K11 – I agree that the vid is geared toward fat bike noobs, which is why I bother to mention that it’s misleading at all.
I think it’s cool that they’re working to expand the potential places that the fatties can be used. Watching some fat bike play time does make me want to get out and ride; always welcomed.
@K11, I never understand the “I don’t like fatbikes” statement, as if there is something inherently wrong with them. It’s like saying “I don’t like road bikes” or “I don’t like BMX bikes” when you don’t participate in either activity. Fatbikes are great at what they are designed for, having fun in conditions like snow. If you don’t like that kind of riding, fine, but it’s not that the bikes are bad. Rant over.
@AlanM. just my opinion. i have participated in a ride, i think i kind of get the attraction, but my personal opinion was not a fan. i guess i prefer my snowboarding as my winter sport. i just really have zero desire to ride year round. i look forward to snowboarding and biking when the seasons change, and feels good to make the switch at the end of each season.
the whole fat bike culture when i am around it seems kind of lack of a better word, lame. other bike disciplines i have zero issues with. has nothing to do with thats its “relatively” new. on the positive side it is good for the bike industry, product development, tech, and design cross over from one bicycle category to another.
