Putting accessories on a fat bike is more than just for aesthetic purposes. Sure, it looks rad—and looking rad is a perfectly good reason to pimp out your fat bike—but much of them, particularly the accessories we’ve listed below, are also very practical.
Since fat bikes are the best bikes to use over snow, a lot of accessories have come out in recent years to improve fat bike performance when snow-biking over iced-out trails. So in that regard, we’re doing a roundup of the best fat bike accessories to improve your riding this winter season.
Mud Fenders
Fat bikes are meant to be ridden over tough and inhumanely dirty trails, after all, so clearly, a mudguard will be a necessary accessory to mitigate the mess, right? Of course! And we’d recommend that fat bike owners take a gander at the Mud Shovel by Portland Design Works. The installation for these will be a breeze. Trust us, we just installed one on our fat bike.
You’ll notice they are wider than normal Mountain Bike fenders, and of course, that is to accommodate much fatter tires. These bad boys are made from a lightweight and sturdy material and will block out snow, sand, dirt, and basically anything you can throw at it. It will give your fatty a sort of motocross look, too, which we thought was pretty awesome. In fact, even if you are the most boring individual who only rides his fat tire bike over tarmac, we’d still recommend you get this for the aesthetic quality it will add to your bike alone.
Fat Bike Pedals
One thing you never want to experience while riding your fat bike over an uncompromising trail is to have your feet slip at the most inopportune of moments. Losing grip of a pedal, or worse, breaking it, will not just be annoying as hell but can also be very dangerous. And because most fat tire bikes will come with an entry-level pedal that does the job less efficiently than one might want, it might be a good idea to swap them out for something better.
And, for your fat tire bike, we’d suggest you check out RockBros Mountain Bike Pedals. They can be mistaken for any garden-variety pedal, to be sure, but trust us, these provide very efficient grip. Your foot ain’t sliding out of this one! They are really affordable, too.
They are made of quality nylon fiber, offering shock absorption, corrosion resistance, and a lot more else. They also just come in at 0.8 pounds, so the additional weight will definitely be negligible.
If you’d rather have something other than engineered plastic for pedals, then go for RockBros Bike Pedals, which provide just about the same amount of awesome grip, but are made from an aluminum alloy. To be sure, it costs a little more, but it’s stronger, more durable, and will support a little more weight.
Fat Tire Light Set
Or just, you know, a bike light set, as there aren’t really light sets specifically made for fat-tire bikes. But yes, go get your fat tire bike a good light set. It won’t just look great on your bike, it will be very practical too, especially in snowy, low-light conditions.
Many fantastic light set options are available on the market, but what we have right now on our fatty is the TeamObsidian Bike light set. We think it’s not just great, but spectacularly durable too. Indeed, the torch itself is made from aluminum, so you can be sure it will neither rust nor corrode, while the reflector is made from ABS plastic. It also literally takes a second to attach or detach, so it’s easy to remove quickly or attach to another bike when needed.
Bike Commuter Bag
You might not need a commuter bag every single time you take your fatty out, but trust us, there will be times when you wish you had one. And we suggest you check out Ibera’s Bike Trunk Bag because it’s the one we have and it’s easy to mount on your bike. Indeed, the quick-release bag mounting system will allow you to install or release the bag within 3 seconds.
It’s also got multiple compartments to put everything you need. Hell, fit a drone in that thing, it’ll certainly be big enough to accommodate. Many of the compartments within the bag are also padded, so you can carry fragile items, no problem—items like a camera, a drone (yeah we mentioned this already), or, really, whatever gadgetry you can think of that you’d rather not break as you trail.
You might think the bag has got some heft to it from the pictures, but no, it is very lightweight and aerodynamic. And we also appreciate the reflective trim, which has the added benefit of making you more visible to oncoming traffic from behind.
