By Adam Newman

Isn’t this a sight? These two little guys are just waiting to get good and dirty. Most of us here in the Dirt Rag office are still fairly new to fat bikes and haven’t been able to get much time on them. Well that’s about to change. 

Six 1 Six

First up is this custom frame and fork from Six 1 Six (not to be confused with Six Six One) a new brand that is building its own bikes and parts in Western Michigan, hence the name taking the local zip code. The frames are hand-built there from rider-specific tubing, in four stock sizes with plenty of custom touches. 

 

The standard frame retails for $1,600 with the matching custom fork an extra $220. Built around a 170mm rear hub, other standard features include a 44mm headtube and custom customer touches. Options that can be had for an additional charge include sliding dropouts, custom geometry, custom paint, and more. It weighs in at 33.18 lbs.

Salsa

Salsa, on the other hand, has been in the fat bike game for a while now, beginning with its popular Mukluk model and adding this Beargrease for 2013. While it shares the geometry of its brother, it drops the steel fork in favor of an aluminum one, the aluminum tubing gets a radical reshaping, and all the rack and extra braze-ons are left off in favor of a clean look and lighter weight. It clocks in at just 5.2 lbs. for the frameset and 28.96 lbs. complete.

 

While both bikes spec the 45North Husker Du 26×4.0 tires, it’s remarkable how much larger they are when mounted to the Salsa’s 82mm rims, while the Six 1 Six uses Snowcat rims at just 44mm wide. 

Keep an eye out for more of these two in the pages of a future issue of the mag. Subscribe today and you’ll be sure not to miss them!