I am looking to purchase a fat bike to ride to work during the winter. Important factors when comparing fat bikes include the following:

• Frame material (e.g. aluminium, carbon, titanium)
• Front suspension
• Q Factor (or stance width) which is the distance between the outside of one crank arm to the outside of the opposite crank arm
• Rim width (e.g. 60-100mm), where 80mm seems to be the de facto standard
• Tire width (e.g. 4”, 5”, and everything in between)
• Support for standard 27.5” or 29” mountain bike wheels
• Wheel size of 27.5” vs 26”

Manufacturers include Salsa, Otso, Pivot, Canyon, Specialized, Trek, 907 Bikes, Borealis, Felt, Cannondale, Fatback, Scott.

Local bike shops

The local bike shops in Portland primarily carry Specialized, Trek and Norco, a Canadian company. They each sell a 1x bike with an aluminum frame and carbon fork.

Model	Price	Tire size	Groupset	Cassette
Trek Farley 5	$1900	27.5x4.5	Shimano Deore	11-41 10 speed
Specialized Fatboy	$1920	26x4.6	SRAM NX	11-42 11 speed
Norco Sasquatch 1	$2100	26x4.8	SRAM NX Eagle	11-50 12 speed

Feature	Farley	Fatboy	Norco
Horizontal dropouts	✓	✗	✗
Rack mounts	✓	✗	✓
Dropper post	✗	✗	✓

Similarities

They all appear to have 80mm rims, tapered head tubes (which should account for front suspension) and also have hydraulic brakes.

It is also worth considering if the BB shell is press fit or threaded. I know the Norco is threaded. It also seems to have the narrowest bottom bracket, which I assume is a good indicator of the stance width.

Other new options

The Osto Cycles Votek starts at $3,100. The Pivot LES Fat seems to start at $4,310, but fits 27.5x4.5 tires.

Model	Price	Tire size	Groupset	Cassette
Canyon Dude CF 8.0	$2,000	26x4.8	SRAM NX	11-42 11 speed
9:ZERO:7 Tundra	$2,000	26x4.0	SRAM NX	X-Horizon 12 speed
Borealis Crestone	$2,750	26x4.8	SRAM NX Eagle	10-50 12 speed
Salsa Beargrease	$2,300	27.5x4.0	Shimano Deore	11-42 11 speed

The Canyon Dude and Borealis Crestone are carbon fiber framesets. The Crestone is available with a 27.5x3.0 tire.

The Heller Bloodhound fits 27.5x4.0 is carbon and costs $2,600 or $1,250 for the frame. The Rocky Mountain Suzi Q Alloy 3 is $1,800 and fits 27.5x3.8. The Growler Nitro Stout comes with 27.5x4.0 studded tires, Bluto front suspension, SRAM NX Eagle 1x12, and custom paint for $3,000.

Tires

As recommended by a guy working at Allspeed, studded tires are certainly worth the extra few hundred dollars. And going tubeless is also a good idea more for the added tire flex than any weight savings.