tbt 2015: Stu’s fatbike/29+

Stu wanted a fatbike for winter riding but also a frameset that would work with a second 29×3 wheelset for summer riding and to use as a bikepacking rig. The look with the bent top tube and arched wishbone seatstays was a design I did a lot of in the early years and works well for fat tires. It’s also the only way I could figure out how to get the vertical bend to match the top tube bend with the benders (and knowledge) I had at the time. The powdercoat color is still one of my favorites, lollipop tangelo I think it was called. The main issue with this frame design was the standover. Dropper posts were somewhat new at this time and it was harder to find their specs online to know insertion length and such so the Reverb he had at the time was almost too short for his saddle height. Now with the dominance of longer travel droppers it is ok but it was a mishap and the seat tube length and standover could have been much higher than it is. The straight steerer segmented fork has a ton of bosses and is powdercoated black. This was one of the first forks using a 150×15 through axle, being a new fatbike fork standard (previously was 135×9 QR). Fatbike standards had some growing pains, hah. I’ve attached the drawing to show how different the geometry was just 7 years ago.