Specialized Fatboy makes it to retail (fat bike post/porn)

hobbot

Hi All,

This post is a quick summary of fat-bike related information we have collected while working on our team blog. Perhaps it could be of interest to someone who observes the fat bike boom. We are going to attach some bike porn not to make the article too dry. If anyone has fresh "fat" news to share, it would be nice to hear.

Observed facts:
1) Cannondale recently acquired UK-based Charge Bikes, targeting specifically fat-tire Cooker Maxi, marketed mostly as a “sand” and “trail” bike. “The Maxi is designed to take you anywhere.” – but there is no claim of All-Terrain. The bike appears in retail via Cannondale US dealers in December 2013.

2) December 2013 - we spot an Alaskan-made Fatback ATB (all-terrain bike) here on East Coast US. January 2014 – Fatbacks are available for sale via a local bike dealer.

3) January 2014 – Specialized’s Fatboy hits retail stores. It is officially marketed as an ATB and exceeds Fatback’s 170mm rear end width by another 20mm.

Web articles:
Fat Components :
Borealis bikes and Wolf Tooth components teamed up to produce new front derailleur adapter for fat bikes. The goal is to better accommodate chain line between the bottom bracket and wide(r) the rear forks. The counter argument would be that there are adapters by Problem Solvers, but quote: "Wolf Tooth and Borealis state that the 49mm offset of their adapter is better suited to 2x drivetrains than the 55mm offset of the Problem Solver’s adapter".
In any case, this could be viewed as some signs of a competition. Article on BikeRumor

Fat Boutique:

Titanium Fat bike by Budnitz - limited edition, running belt drive on Rohloff Speedhub. Built to order and cost around $7,000. Another Article on BikeRumor

Alternative use of Fat - at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market Expo, David Bach tries to present strapping front ski to a fat bike and to convince retailers that it will sell hot. Quote: "As for Bach, founder of BikeBoards.Net, he figures with fat bikes surging in popularity, getting more mileage out of them during winter is a no brainer. Bach had several bikes on display—a Surly and a Trek—to show off his ski system at Tuesday's Outdoor Demo at Solitude Ski Resort." The kit will retail for $375. Article on Bike Retailer, Action Video

Fat Regulations - there is actually an annual Fat Bike Summit, that took place in Ogden, Utah.
"Fat bikes have the potential of creating a sizable user group, too, and we need to talk about how to head off those potential user conflicts," - said Mike Van Abel, IMBA's executive director. What user conflict? Sharing the trails between snowmobilers, snowshoe users and Nordic skiers.
Also on Bike Retailer

So those are the facts. As far as we can say it is really picking up.
Now to the bike porn that we have collected:

Fatback






Fatboy




Cooker Maxi




If there is an interest in more pictures, the galleries on the team blog:
Fatback
Fatboy
Cooker Maxi

Kowalski675

Fatboy? I forsee some strongly worded letters from Harley Davidson's lawyers landing on Specialized's doormat in the imminent future...

hobbot

not really..Specialized had BMX Fatboys in 1990s or so..

RevellRider

Where did you hear Cannondale had acquired Charge? I know they both come through the same distributor in the UK, but I've heard nothing of this on the grapevine

rockmonkeysc

That looks horrible. Harley Davidsons lawyers will be on the phone about that name. Best change it to Fat Bastard.

YellaBelly

It would be a shame if Harley Davidson kicked up a fuss, considering how Spesh are so laid back about others using their product names, just ask Cafe Roubaix

hobbot

RevellRider wrote:

Where did you hear Cannondale had acquired Charge? I know they both come through the same distributor in the UK, but I've heard nothing of this on the grapevine

Well, here is what we found. There is a parent company called Dorel. It is not even a cycling company. They owned Pacific Cycle and subsequently GT, Mongoose, Schwinn, Cannondale and Sugoi . The distributor that you have mentioned seesm to be Hot Wheels -

..By buying Hot Wheels, it now owns the UK distributor for many of its bike brands – all part of a global expansion scheme. This also means that Dorel now also own Charge bikes (the company behind Charge is Circle Bikes).

at least as of 2008.

In May 2013 one of Dorel's Divisions gets, "Recreation/Leisure" gets renamed into "Cannondale Sports Unlimited".

Quote:

Cannondale Sports Unlimited is a segment of Dorel Industries, Inc., with three operating divisions: Cycling Sports Group, Pacific Cycle Group and the Apparel Footwear Group. Dorel’s products include Safety 1st, Quinny, Cosco, Maxi-Cosi and Bébé Confort in Juvenile, as well as the Cannondale Sports Unlimited brands. Dorel has annual sales of over $2.5 billion and employs close to 5,400 people at facilities in twenty-four countries worldwide. With a comprehensive range of brands including Cannondale, Schwinn, GT, Mongoose, SUGOI, Charge Bikes, IronHorse, InSTEP, KidTrax, Cannondale Sports and the GURU Experience, Cannondale Sports Unlimited is motivated by our passion for creating inspired experiences for a fun, healthy world.

That looks like Cannondale moved up in Dorel's hierarchy and took control over certain assets, so technically it could be that they took over Charge ownership from Dorel and few months later started importing the bikes in the US.

Finally, one of the local Cannondale dealers that sells Cooker Maxis just told us that Cannondale bought Charge bikes. So that gives us enough reason to speculate about Cannondale/Charge.

hobbot

YellaBelly wrote:

It would be a shame if Harley Davidson kicked up a fuss, considering how Spesh are so laid back about others using their product names, just ask Cafe Roubaix

here is a happy ending of that story

RevellRider

Thanks for that Hobbot, I always thought that Charge were separate to CSG and they were just the distributor

Kowalski675

YellaBelly wrote:

It would be a shame if Harley Davidson kicked up a fuss,

Hardly Dangerous are rabid about trademark infringmements (they make more money from their clothing and accessories sales than they do from selling their tractors). Their trademarked name is Fat Boy, rather than Fatboy, but you can bet that their lawyers will be on it. They even (unsuccessfully) tried to trademark the words "potato potato" as a description of their characteristic exhaust note (I sh*t you not).

cooldad

Potato is what should be stuffed up the exhausts of all pretend motorcycles like HD.

Kowalski675

cooldad wrote:

Potato is what should be stuffed up the exhausts of all pretend motorcycles like HD.

Harley don't pretend to actually make motorcycles. They don't need to - they sell for what they are. The people who buy them either have at least one proper bike already (and therefore don't care that Harleys are sh*t) or have never ridden a proper bike (and therefore don't know that Harleys are sh*t). When they made a proper(ish) bike, all the Harley diehards hated it, said it wasn't a Harley (because it went fast, had brakes and would even go round corners) and wouldn't buy it... :roll:

homers_double

cooldad wrote:

Potato is what should be stuffed up the exhausts of all pretend motorcycles like HD.

Leave me out of this...

cooldad

homers double wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Potato is what should be stuffed up the exhausts of all pretend motorcycles like HD.

Leave me out of this...

That would be limes in your case.