I'm just wondering how many of you use a fat bike for bike packing?
I'd love to hear what you and your fatty have been up to and what gear you have.
Photos would be great too.
Thanks in advance

i am 21 stone, so you decide..................

FFS dont list all the gear you have tried - it will be a LONG LONG list

FFS dont list all the gear you have tried - it will be a LONG LONG list

well we dont have much else to do.........

I've a Singular Puffin (bought off Ian B of this parish) and have used it on several bikepacking trips including one BB winter event.

Came with a custom Wildcat full frame bag but also use Wildcat Lion bar harness and Tiger seat harness.

Here 'tis on last year's winter bivy



And on another bivy in the Dales



A bit of touring on Jura - OK camping by the pub!



An Cladach bothy on Islay



Setup for the Rovaniemi 150 race

I have done in the past once up to speed is was pretty good on tarmac, I do miss my old Genesis Caribou, these days I just use a 27 plus, I can see full fat happening again in the future.

Untitled by Simon Kirk, on Flickr

Have a look through the Bivvy a Month thread and you'll find loads. I tend to use the fatbike more in the winter. It doesn't mind being loaded up and I'm unlikely to be going as far as some summer trips.

Hands up, I have a love hate relationship with my fat bike. They are brilliant when they are loaded up and are off road. Nice and stable to ride and in some respects, make great bikepacking bikes. I’ve had many a great trip on the far bike and have done some trips that I couldn’t do on a non-fat bike (see above - 2 day trip around Anglesey taking in most of the beaches )

The hate part comes into play when I’m on a road on a fat bike, dear god but I just want to commit suicide then (or wish I had my 29er!). I find them slow but more to the point, frustrating to get anywhere (although I’m not fast on a bike, I like to get to places quickly and find it difficult to chill on a bike).

Would I have one as my sole bike? No, would I have one as N+1, yes, definitely.

On a Salsa Mukluk 2013 with 80mm rims with 3.8” mates for a brief gear spec

Below Ogwen valley heading to Coed Y Brenin bothy from Bangor

Oh, forgot about fatbike law! If it’s been in snow, you must publish the picture, so here goes...

Finland some years ago

Either on the bouncer with a small rucksack
20190622_074626 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

or most of the time on this classic..
20180825_192213 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

Yep I go Fat from time to time

I will only use mine (Mukluk) on beach bivy's as the front triangle is so small it won't fit a frame bag that contains anything more than tools and a pump.

I hate using rucksacks hence sticking with the Longitude which has a nice big framebag

I use a Pugsley for all my bikepacking or offroad touring stuff. I really like it. I use a frame bag and small rear panniers as I really don't like a load on the bars. I don't find it slow. Off road, on gravel tracks and sand it flies along. If I hit a long Tarmac stretch I do like to pump the tyres as hard as I can and then it rolls along just fine. We rode from Oban to Arran one day loaded with rafts and camping stuff. We were in a hurry to get back for the train and I wasn't looking forward to the road ride - but it was no bother at all.

I really like the ability to incorporate beaches into a trip and the way the bike just rolls over all kinds of rocks and stuff. The Pugsley is also really comfortable - not just because of the tyres; I think it's frame geometry and skinny tubes.

I know many will disagree with me and I should really try something else... But I often end up looking at the Pugsley 2.0

Here's an old one of my 9ZERO7 on the way to Glen Kinglass.

2020-04-18_12-41-53 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr


and here's a much more recent one of the Cube Nutrail that replaced it.

DSC_0991 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

+1 for a Cube Nutrail (and for Utsi's Hut )

I've got a fully rigid 29er that takes 3" tyres and it seems like a good compromise - enough bounce and grip for flinty tracks and muddy forest trails etc round here and not too slow on the roads. Probably not relevant to the OP, but about as fat as I'm ever likely to go.

A bit of fat-beach-packing in 2018


I wee trip I did in 2015

Max Effort wrote: ↑Sat Apr 18, 2020 12:14 pm I'm just wondering how many of you use a fat bike for bike packing?
I'd love to hear what you and your fatty have been up to and what gear you have.
Photos would be great too.
Thanks in advance

I do, yet only on snow or sand.
Some short rides in winter in the Prealps under the week and regular 2 - 5 day trips into the Alps, where I sometimes stick to the valley floor and sometimes I push the sheer capabilities of the fatbike by taking it to places people go skitouring and snowshoeing.

From the beginning onwards of owning a fatbike I've always dreamt of taking it a bit further, so I followed my heart and loaded it up for an expedition across and to the tops of the puna de atacama. All went really well and I had a lovely time, so it's just a question of time 'till I sit on the heavily loaded bike full of food again, starting the gps to follow the line I sketched out at home, eager to find those places google doesn't know about.