Satisfaction at Rocky Mountain
Rocky Mountain supplier Chris Sports can look back on a successful 2014/15 sales season: "As a distributor, we have no more fatbikes in stock and were expecting a third of the sales volume before the season," says Christoph Noser from Bike Marketing at Chris Sports. Chris Sports sold 75% of the fatbikes on reassignment, i.e. through repeat orders from dealers, which indicates active consumer demand from specialist retailers.

Further development
In January 2015, Chris Sports put all its eggs in the event basket. With the Snow Epic in Engelberg, fat bikes in general and the fat bikes from Canada in particular were in the media spotlight. However, Noser explains that fatbikes will never be exclusively a winter affair, "they are an 'all-year-round' category that can be used in many ways and are perfect in many conditions such as snow, rain, mud, but also as fun equipment on the home trail".

Noser expects demand to increase in 2016, as the fat bike trend is only slowly gaining a foothold in Switzerland. "We are convinced that the trend has substance and that fat bikes will continue to develop, differentiate themselves further and continue to sell well in the future," says Noser, giving an outlook.

Satisfaction at Trek
Anatol Sostmann from Trek is also optimistic: "The fatbike is doing great and is certainly more than just a trend for biking in winter." And the marketing man from the US manufacturer also gives a type description: "The fatbike is a special category with special types of riders. The attraction here is not necessarily the higher, faster, further, but the alternative. Many discover completely new facets of cycling on the extra-wide tires."

Trek will be doubling down for the 2016 model year with new models from the Farley fat bike range; carbon frames should help to reduce the weight. Trek's so-called mid-fat bike, the Stache model, also plays into this theme.

How are things looking for the fat bike pioneers?
Jann Alder, Managing Director of Frame of Mind GmbH, draws a mixed balance: "We had better fatbike sales in the 2013/14 season". With the Salsa and Surly brands, Alder has absolute fat bike pioneers in his portfolio, but these manufacturers have felt the effects of the fat bike's arrival in the mainstream in the 2014/15 season. As almost every major manufacturer has jumped on the fat bike trend at breakneck speed, sales in this area are falling slightly for the pioneers.

Alder also has an assessment of the situation in specialist retail: "I get feedback from my dealers that rental is going well. It usually depends on the personal commitment and enthusiasm of the store staff as to whether the individual fatbike stays in the shop window or whether there are several repeat sales."

Furthermore, nothing fat
Norco supplier Indian Summer had already refrained from including fat bikes in its range in the 2013/14 season - and this remains the case. Fritz Pfister from Indian Summer has a pointed opinion: "We don't want to be the hundredth brand/distributor to jump on this wave. According to our information, the market is already well oversaturated".

When asked how Pfister assesses the summer business for fat bikes, he adds a punch line: "Whether fat bikes can also become an issue in Switzerland in the summer depends, in our opinion, on whether Sardinia can join Switzerland as the 27th canton (Canton Marittimo) in the near future. Then we would have almost 1850 kilometers of coastline with thousands of sandy beaches in one fell swoop."More reports from ride.ch on the subject of fat bikes:
An experience report: Fatbike - Top or Flop?
Specialist dealers who report on their experiences with fat bikes and assess the trend: The fat bike: trend with substance?