I thought purchasing another fat bike would be easy. It was not. Yes, I’d more or less decided what I wanted, a Trek Farley 9.6 and had determined that they were available. I’d even visited the local Trek dealer and was much surprised to find they would match any online price for the same model of bike. List price was showing at £3200 and they would do it for £2560.00 That’s a whopping £660.00 less. Just goes to show it’s worth shopping around.
Then, just before making the final decision to go, I started double-checking the Trek Farley 9.6 would fulfil all my requirements, for example, a lightweight frame, hydraulic disc brakes, rack mounts front and rear and the ability to take tyres up to 4.60″ in width. The Surly Pugsley fat bike I had would only take up to 3.80″ tyres and I wanted to overcome that limitation. However, digging deeper, I discovered the Trek Farley 9.6 is more of a race orientated bike and does not come with mounts on the frame for a rear rack, something I really wanted the option to use. So that threw a spanner in the works.
Now I was back to square one again and had to do a re-think and possibly change my requirements. The next bike I looked at was the Trek Farley 5, shown above, a fat bike similar to the Trek Farley 9.6 but with an aluminium frame rather than carbon fibre, giving it a weight increase from 13Kg of the Trek Farley 9.6 to 16Kg. However, it does have rack mounts front and rear and is around £1100 less expensive as well. Again, the local Trek dealer would match any online price with £1465.00 against the retail price of £1850.00.
And to add another spanner in the works, I looked at another fat bike, the Surly Wednesday. This one is similar to the Trek Farley 5 but with a steel frame and a similar weight around 16Kg. However, it comes with mechanical disc brakes and while it will take tyres up to 4.60″ it comes supplied with 3.80″ tyres. So, two items I’d need to change to begin with and adding another £300.00 or so to the cost. Mutts Cycles, my local Surly dealer was able supply the Wednesday at a decent price within my budget.
Now I face a quandary and a decision to make. Should I go with the lighter weight of the Trek Farley 9.6, forget about racks and use a rucksack, or go for either the heavier Trek Farley 5 or Surly Wednesday, both which will take racks and put up with the increase in weight? In my mind, I’m leaning still leaning towards the Trek Farley 9.6 and will make a decision in the next few days. The local dealers open again for business at the end of the week. And then another spanner clangs in and confuses things.
Went out for a spin the Brompton C Line Explore, that’s a small-wheeled folding bike for those who haven’t heard of it. I wanted to try it out as a single speed, so shoved it into a middle gear and left it there for the duration. Love it. So simple and you get a much better workout than when using gears. Of course, this now has me thinking of that other Brompton in the line up, the T Line One, a single speed, lightweight 7.45Kg of titanium and carbon fibre, and a hefty price tag of £4500.00. Oh, I so much want one. But can I afford it? Can I afford it and the fat bike? Will I be allowed to buy both? Back soon.
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