Soma Sandworm fatbike discontinued

[craneplaneguy]

After ordering, and paying, for one (bare frame) on the 21st. of December, in MEDIUM size, I had yet to get a shipping date, so today I made the call. The New Jersey based business (first problem, I'm in Idaho, but their website had the best price and what I wanted in stock, so what the heck). I was told that I had ordered a LARGE size, BUT it had not been shipped yet. After going around with customer service, I finally got out of them that the Worm is no longer being offered, produced anyway, and that their distributor only had a few large sizes left. This got me to thinking, as I'm absolutely positive I ordered a medium, that they tried to sell me a large as the medium, though their site said it was in stock at the time I ordered, was no longer available. It was like pulling teeth to get this info out of them, but it looks like I have been issued a credit on my card. It had better be a direct credit to my card, and not an in store credit, I'm done with them.

So now I'm back to looking for another bare frame fatbike with horizontal sliding dropouts, with 170 mm spacing. AND, as big a triangle as possible, to fit the battery in of course. And, a lower frame (100 mm BB) that doesn't make mounting a BBSHD too awkward. The Worm was perfect all around, it met all these requirements better then anything else I've seen. My XL Rohloff hub will be here anyday, and I just need to scare up a frame. Cycle Monkey has one, perfect for the Rohloff, but in other ways not a good candidate for an e conversion, plus pretty pricey. I already have a new Manitou Mastodon front shock, and planned to use my 26" tires and wheels of my current fat ride, (Motobecanne Sturgis Bullet), plus the handle bars, stem, sus seat, and brakes. I have almost everything needed for what would be my 5 th build, except a bare frame to start with.

 

[MadRhino]

Fatbike hype is over. They will keep selling, but many manufacturers will stop making them because they can't sell enough. In a few years there won't be middle market for them anymore. Major manufacturers will offer expansive models, and the Chinese crap will feed the cheap market.

 

[craneplaneguy]

Looks like a Surly Wednesday frame may fill the bill, and I just now found one in Utah about a 2 hour drive away. I'll know more tomorrow.

On the whole fatbike thing: when I ride in town on the established bike trails there, (where ebikes are riden hassle free) I am always the only fat bike I see! The two guys I ride with there are both on factory built rides, Haibikes, plus sized 27.5", but not FAT. While long time mtb. bike riders, they are relative latecomers to the e bike scene. Meanwhile, at my home and when out exploring, I like, or at least seem to end up on, very rocky and steep trails that are not used by any bike riders, only horses (few) but mostly dirt bikers, and few of them. It's very rare to see anyone else where I ride, that's Idaho for you....and I like it that way. My only other trail riding is on my e Montague, and it suffers as compared to my fatbike, those big squishy tires just have so much traction and soften the ride up so much. I have never ridden a modern plus sized, full sus, factory built bike, ebike or not. I don't go fast, but do like going far, and on NOT regular bike trails. If I only could have ONE bike, it wouldn't be a fattie probably, as they do kind of suck on pavement. I've been riding every day lately, not far, and just on the unplowed road that runs behind my house, and it kicks ass on that. Same with the rocky dirt bike trail that runs around the range above my place, in 3 years I have yet to see a single bike on that, they all ride on the established trails in town. So I'm going to stay fat for a while, but I get what your saying, the market is always changing. It just caught me by surprise that it was discontinued but still being presented as for sale, (who would have thought that could happen on the internet, HA HA HA) live and learn. This pic is of today's ride, no kickstand, so that says something about the snow depth.

 

[MadRhino]

A do it all bike is not practical. My first 2 builds were meant for do it all, mountain sport and city commuting. They proved deficient on both terrain. Since then I build them specific and use 2 bikes. I use DH frames for both, only building and tuning them very different (geometry, wheels, suspension, speed).

It is only in bad winter conditions that I ride my dirt bike on the street. In the summer, my dirt bike does feel like a mule on the street, and my city commuter is a mad bucking horse in mountain trails.

 

[markz]

Winter riding is on its own when it comes to ebiking. I find that in some circumstances I would really love a fat front tire so it can float over the soft underbelly yet hard packed top snow from vehicles, also the hard packed even iced foot steps of pathways. The rear is not much of an issue, regular mountain bike 26"x2.00 (+/- 0.10) with knobbies, nothing extreme. Its really just a matter of buying a fat fork, which I keep my eyes peeled for, but I've made a decision to weld up my own from an old suspension fork.

As for other aspects of riding in the winter, in Canada there is the factor of the nut sack massage on a rigid frame. Sure I can loosen my arms and stand up on the pedals slightly, but on the frozen to ice foot steps, and small mounds of snow turned to a mound of ice, full suspension is preferred. So a full suspension bicycle is on my list.

Residential roads and pathways are all I ride, rarely do I ride single track, except in the summer while cruising around. Ebiking is my primary mode of transportation, but I do still rent Car2Go every now and then.

Fat bikes are a specialty, not good for commuting yet only good for mud bogging, sand and powder.... yet people still buy them and ride them on pavement and I would bet their tires have never seen pow/sand/mud.

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[MadRhino]

...Its really just a matter of buying a fat fork, which I keep my eyes peeled for, but I've made a decision to weld up my own from an old suspension fork...

An old Monster T dh fork, and most inverted dh forks like Shiver dc, Dorado and such, would let you fit a 4 inch fatbike tire without any mod. Can be found cheap, and much better than a brand new fat bike fork.