Fat Tire Musings

Following up on an earlier test ride of a friend's fat tire bike, I've done some looking around at these weird beasts of burden.  With no real mountain biking nearby but plenty of bikeable beaches, one might make sense.  First question: 4.8" wide tires, or will 3.8" tires suffice?  It took a few searches, but this forum discussion at Mountain Bike Review sums it up nicely: you can get by with 4", but when the tide's in and you can't ride down on the hard damp sand, something in the 5" range is the way to go.  

Next up, can I get by with a cheap big-box store-grade bike for $500, or do I have to shell out 5x bucks for the real deal?  I mean, sure, for something I'm going to ride all the time it's a no-brainer.  On the other hand, if it's  something I'm going to take on the beach a half-dozen times a year, maybe cheap is the way to go.  Hopefully "cheap but serviceable" and not "cheap disposable junk."  Here's a video comparison close to what would be my options.  Unfortunately they've both gone up about 25% in price since that video was made, but that is the way things go these days.

Other significant considerations are how much would I actually use the thing, and do I already have a bike that can do the job well enough?  Looking around, I was able to identify eight nearby areas where a fat bike would be useful, of which perhaps half are terrain where nothing else will serve.  So maybe that's justification enough.  Maybe.  Frankly, I need to do some exploring when the weather cools.

And finally, where to keep the thing?  I live upstairs in a fairly small place, and hauling 35 lbs+ of steel each way while tripping over an idle bike when it's not in use, well, it's just not all that appealing.  But it could be, given good enough reason.

Will mull on this one some more, and with data from some exploratory trips once the weather cools.  Not a decision to be made lightly.  Still though, the idea of doing some more beach-centric yet still hardcore biking has a lot going for it.