Salsa Mukluk Fat Bike with Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 XL

A couple in Maine contacted us to build up a his-and-hers set of fat bikes, both with Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 XL internal gear hubs. Living on the East Coast, they deal with with lots of snow and wanted bikes ready to handle the winter riding conditions they face every year. Both wanted a comfortable ride that would need very little maintenance. He chose a Ventana El Gordo, and she picked this Salsa Mukluk, which is a great platform for building a Rohloff bike.

Expedition / Adventure / Backcountry Touring: Lynskey Fatskey Fat Bike with Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 XL

A customer from Hickory, NC called us to discuss building up a new bikepacking rig. He wanted to use 29+ wheels with a maintenance-free and dependable Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 and Gates Carbon Drive belt drivetrain to take on the Great Divide and other adventure touring routes. 

There are limited options available for dedicated 29+ bikes to begin with, and he wanted something lighter than the popular Surly Krampus and ECR steel options. Fortunately, most fat bike frames will accept 29+ wheels, so he was able to use the lightweight titanium Fatskey frame from Lynskey. He sent us the frame and Carver O’Beast carbon fork that he had already picked up, and we worked with him to pick the rest of the components for the build and put everything together.

Jones Plus Bikepacking Bike with Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 and Gates Carbon Drive

This customized Jones Plus bike went to a customer in Sunset, South Carolina. He originally contacted us about building a bikepacking/offroad adventure bike with plus size tires, Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14, and Gates Carbon Drive belt for riding dirt routes that he had picked out across the US. The bike would be used for serious back country riding and needed to be built to stand up to anything he might encounter off the grid. For these types of adventures, where every piece of equipment needs to work without fail over various terrain weather conditions for hundreds or even thousands of miles, the Rohloff/Gates drivetrain is a perfect fit. He was interested in the "Plus" model from Jones Bicycles based on reviews he had read, and a test ride on our demo bike coordinated with a business trip to San Francisco confirmed that this was the right choice.

Ventana El Gordo Fat Bike with Rohloff Internal Gear Hub, Gates Belt, and Rock Shox Bluto Fork

Meet the Ventana Mountain Bikes USA El Gordo fat bike in Team Blue Sparkle that we built for a customer in New Zealand. This customer came to us looking for an adventure bike to take him off the beaten path, far beyond the limits of where traditional mountain bikes can go. Because the large tires on a fat bike would allow him to pedal through terrain and riding conditions that push the limits of where bikes can be ridden, he needed a drivetrain that was up to the task as well. He came across our Ventana El Gordo fat bike packages built around Rohloff's fat bike-specific SPEEDHUB XL 500/14 internal gear hub and Gate's Carbon Drive belt system, which are well suited for the adventures he had in mind. He got in touch with us to discuss a build tailored to his needs. He customized his build with a suspension fork, dropper post, and the largest tires available for the best all-terrain performance. As outfitted, his new fat bike is ready to ride through anything, will require little to no maintenance, and will keep him free from worry over mechanical setbacks. 

Ventana El Gordo Fatbike with Rohloff SPEEDHUB and Gates Belt Drive

El Gordo hardtail build in Orange

This sharp looking orange Ventana El Gordo went to a happy customer in Delafield, WI. He had been running a Gates Carbon Drive belt system on a Trek Sawyer set up single speed and loved the low maintenance aspects of the belt but wanted additional gears. He had considered putting a Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 on the Sawyer to get more gears, but he really wanted to run wider tires than the Sawyer would allow. He was excited when Rohloff introduced the SPEEDHUB XL - the fat bike version of their gear hub - last fall and contacted us to put together a no-fuss fat bike for year round trail riding including his snowy Midwest winters.

Ventana's rocking dropouts provide solid wheel positioning for tensioning the belt

REVIEW: Soma Sandworm Fatbike with Rohloff SPEEDHUB and Gates Carbon Drive Belt

Soma Fabrications called us recently and told us they were designing their first fatbike frame named the Sandworm; they wanted us to test out the prototype and give it the Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 internal gear hub and Gates Carbon Drive belt drive treatment that we are known for. We were glad to hear they had decided to expand into fatbikes with this frame and potentially bring the fun of fatbiking to more people by filling a hole in the market for an affordable Rohloff/belt drive frame. Once we received the frame, we began mapping out a build kit suitable for this project.

Ventana El Gordo Fatbike with Rohloff SPEEDHUB XL and Gates CarbonDrive belt

We were very excited when Rohloff called at the start of the summer to tell us they were sending us a pre-production sample of their new fat bike-specific SPEEDHUB XL. We had learned they were considering producing this 170mm wide hub only a few months prior, and now prototypes had already been built and tested and they were on to a pre-production run. Our sample hub showed up a week later and we marveled at how it dwarfed the standard SPEEDHUB 500/14.

The only problem on our end was finding a frame to use to build the new hub into a bike. Since we don't get snow in the San Francisco Bay Area, we planned to set the bike up for trail riding, which has become an increasingly popular use for fat bikes. This meant that the bike would be getting a suspension fork and dropper seatpost. It also needed to be belt drive compatible since we prefer the maintenance-free aspect of belts.

Surly Pugsley with Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 and belt drive

Surly's Pugsley is the bike that brought fatbiking to the masses. Although not the original fatbike, it was the first fatbike that was widely available and offered at a price that many riders could afford. Since then, it has been updated with different frame colors and build kits each year while sticking to the same basic design centered around four inch wide tires. Surly's complete Pugsley "Special Ops" build has one of the most unique colorways yet, featuring a maroon frame, gumwall tires, and chrome rims, seatpost, stem, and handlebars. We converted this stock Puglsey to a Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 and Gates Carbon Drive-equipped demo bike for Wheel Life Cyclery bike shop near Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They will have the bike available for customers to test ride both the Rohloff and belt drive systems.

Twenty2 Cycles Belt Drive Rohloff 29+

This eye-catching Twenty2 Cycles 29+ is custom-built for adventure touring but is also well suited for fast singletrack.

This gorgeous Twenty2 Cycles frame is the latest in a handful of builds we have put together using the new “29+” platform. These bikes use three inch wide 29er tires mounted to 50mm rims, which provide ample float and traction like a fatbike, yet roll fast like a standard 29er. The “29+” bike designation was invented by Surly Bikes with their release of the Krampus model last year, and it has proven popular for bikepacking as well as fast singletrack riding.

Our customer for this bike had owned a Rohloff hub for years, and it has been serving him reliably on his Surly Long Haul Trucker touring bike. When he decided he was ready to start exploring off road, he knew a Rohloff was in the cards for a new mountain bike build as well.