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First Look: Defiant Bicycles’ Big Easy Electric Fatbike

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defiant-bike-gun-rack_project-body

Love fatbikes, but want more speed? That’s exactly what the founder of Defiant Bicycles was thinking when their first fat e-bike prototype came to be. If fat bikes are fun, and e-bikes are fun, then a fat e-bike should be extra fun, right? More than just fun, the Defiant team thinks that the Big Easy has big potential for winter commuting, and even hunting.

Intrigued? Get the details after the break.


After taking up winter commuting in Minnesota, founder Keven Spreng wanted more speed out of his fatbike, so he put a motor on it. Spreng loved the result so much that he decided to produce the Big Easy so others could enjoy the extra speed afforded by the big tires and powerful motor. Teaming up with Jonathan Dombek and Greg Heinemann, they have created Defiant and their first product the Big Easy electric fatbike. Commute all winter, ride to your favorite deer stand, ride over anything, the e-Fat bike is extremely capable.

defiant-bike-fender-bags_project-body

The Big Easy while perfectly capable of every day use as a fatbike for fun, is also being marketed as a winter commuter and as a vehicle for hunters. The pedal assist 500 watt electric motor mounted in the rear hub along with the 36volt/11.6Ah battery mounted in the frame is good for a top speed of 20 MPH and a range of 20-56 miles. We’re guessing this won’t be the lightest eBike around. Charging of the battery should take about 5 hours for a complete charge.

In a world of overseas manufacturing, it’s interesting to see that the Big Easy is made in Portland, OR out of 6061 aluminum.

defiant-bike-angle_project-body

The stock Big Easy will look more like the one above which you can pick up for $4,495 through the CrowdSupply campaign which runs until August 9th, 2013. You can also pre-order the trim packages shown above like the Executive and Stealth on Defiant’s website. The Big Easy will ship with Surly Big Fat Larry 4.7″ tires, a 1×9 XT drivetrain, mechanical disc brakes, and 3″ wide rims. One of the more interesting designs of the bike is the 135mm offset rear end that still has room for 4.7 tires – likely a must to include the electric motor in the rear hub. This is of course as many fatbike manufacturers are apparently transitioning to 190mm rear ends to make room for the 4.7 tires and new drivetrains. Of course the tires are fairly low profile Larrys and mounted to 3″ wide rims.

Defiant Carbon Fatbike fork

In addition to the full bike, supporters will also have the opportunity to pledge for Defiant’s full carbon tapered fatbike fork. The Disc only fork weighs 575g with an uncut steerer, and surprisingly for a carbon fork includes both rack/pannier and fender mounts. The fork is a 135mm symmetrical design with a 465mm axle to crown measurement and 5.5″ inner tire clearance.

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27 Comments
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Ryan
Ryan
10 years ago

That would be a blast to noodle around on.

RyanC
RyanC
10 years ago

That BionX kit on there will make any 135mm spaced fatbike an easy pedaler. I’ve spent a lot of time on that kind of setup and it is so sweet. It makes you feel like you are riding on a buffed summer trail instead of slogging through the snow. check out the kits at http://www.bionxinternational.com. Finding a 36 hole fatbike rim is the hardest part of the conversion otherwise, it’s as easy to build up as it is to ride.

Pedals
Pedals
10 years ago

Looks like they stripped a Pugsley and slapped a BionX kit on it.

John
John
10 years ago

Sorry, the motor is a huge NO GO in my book. Are we going to see these things showing up at local trails that are designated non-motorized (which are a precious few here in CO)?

Jake
Jake
10 years ago

Heavy as hell I bet.

RickyBob
RickyBob
10 years ago

John- this is not the first electric bike ever produced. You seeing any other electrics on your non motorized trails? This is intended for commuting and hunting in the snow. The makers are not touting it as an electric trailbike.

emacdo
emacdo
10 years ago

Umm. You say this is for hunting but where are the rifle mounts? Are they a add-on extra? Will they be fixed or swivel? Also I’d expect some sort of sighting mech so that I can line up shots w/o letting go of the bars.

Nice idea but still has some work to do.

dale
dale
10 years ago

As much fun as that looks I can’t stand hunters or motorized vehicles of any kind. LAZY!

John
John
10 years ago

@ RickyBob,

No, I have not seen any electrics (yet). But how long until someone shows up and says, “Oh, I don’t use the motor, I just pedal, it’s just an MTB.” Yeah right….My other concern is that the electrics further blur the distinction between motos and mountain bikes, which is NOT GOOD as Forest Service and BLM managers already have problems differentiating the two. For example, during the initial stages of the formulation of a recent Travel Management Plan in a CO forest, the USFS managers tried to lump motos and mtbs together, potentially pitting other vocal and politically strong non-motorized user groups (hikers and horses) against mtbs when they might otherwise not have been.

ThinksTooMuch
ThinksTooMuch
10 years ago

Or, you could spend about $300-$600 on a Hill Topper front E-motor, built it into any 36H rim and throw it on any fatbike… and you’ll have all wheel drive to boot.
http://www.electric-bike-kit.com/propacklithium.aspx

topmounter
topmounter
10 years ago

I’d prefer a forward firing shotgun mount.

Luiggi
Luiggi
10 years ago

Bike+guns= no good. Let’s leave the wildlife alone, leaving nothing but the track marks from our tires behind…

Andy
Andy
10 years ago

That’s what I was thinking. I minute I saw the gun on it I was like, I already hate this bike and I will never buy a bike from a company associating itself with something like this. Also, why would a redneck hunter ride around on a bike? How would they get their bloody moose head or whatever back to put on the hood of their truck?

g
g
10 years ago

fat bike…fat owner.

Mindless
Mindless
10 years ago

Awesome.

rider
rider
10 years ago

Seriously, a gun?
Please tell me you get how screwed up this is.

Defiant Bicycles can go take a hike.

Ced G
Ced G
10 years ago

Honestly the gun doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t, but people in the world DO hunt, it’s not only a legitimate pastime but a source of food for many around the world. ‘OMG, But Guns kill people!’, yeah and they are used for other things too. There are no skulls, flames, blood spatters, or anything like that on the bike, and the gun is a forest camo’ed hunting shotgun not a black military assault rifle. I think we all need to take a step back from the knee-jerking and see what is a good, if not niche attempt to broaden the lifestyle we love; no one here is in a position to judge what type of person rides a bike.

Bob A.
Bob A.
10 years ago

Anti hunters? How intolerant of you.

MulletRacer
MulletRacer
10 years ago

Needs more camo. Mossy oak preferred.

MulletRacer
MulletRacer
10 years ago

OMG, gun so scary. They bikes be trippin.

Jake L
Jake L
10 years ago

Hunting – the only ethically responsible way anyone should ever eat meat. Potential for no waste, taking 100% responsibility for the life you have taken away. The only irresponsible people are the ones that create a market by shopping at a store or eating at a restaurant. Two to three animals were killed, no meat consumed, no part of the animal used, just so that you could have a package that has a long enough expiration date for you to be happy.
The real issue is that this is a super dangerous bike, I would never ride one to hunt. No one should be riding a bike during hunting season on open hunting land. The go anywhere feature of this bike is even worse. There are a few idiots out there hunting, like any sport. Put a quiet bike moving along over open ground, with a silhouetted size of a large game animal on land that hunters are going to be on,..this is a recipe for a loss of human life. This bike is only useful, as equipped, on very large remote private land, and that is still a measured risk.
To all the suburbia freaks – if you have not tried and experienced something yourself, save your opinion until you do. If you have not and yet still feel an uncontrollable need to speak out, seek help from a mental health professional.

MulletRacer
MulletRacer
10 years ago

Jake L hit the nail on the head. Most people that talk crap about killing animals are still meat eaters. They dont have it in them to commit the violence of killing and prepping the carcass, but they still support that kind of behavior by consuming meat.

Typical hypocrites.

Pants and Jacket
10 years ago

I would just like to point out that every single person that has made a comment here is a complete and total hypocrite.

FYI.

Mike C
Mike C
10 years ago

This is a bike blog — there’s a good chance the people knocking hunting are vegetarians…

But let’s talk hypocrite for a moment: Anyone I’ve ever come across who defends hunting the way people are doing above usually also eat meat from industrial farm sources…

Dax Xanos
Dax Xanos
10 years ago

There’s another player coming out with an electric fat bike that will absolutely destroy that thing… Scorpiobikes.com also from Oregon.

JimmyZ
JimmyZ
10 years ago

I think that if a front hub motor could be made light enough, it would be preferable for assistance type applications, where the rider is the primary source of propulsion. That way, they have a two wheel drive bike. With the rear hub motor, the front end is easier to manual over obstacles, but only the most powerful input is actually working to move the bike, be it rider or motor. It would also make for an easier conversion.

KiteBike
10 years ago

To all you want to be purist. A bike is a mechanized transport.

Walking or running is only pure transport, and i bet none of you do that 100%.

Whine all you want, but electric is here and going no where.

Taking back the trails I created on my dirt bike with an electric fatty.

Coming soon to a trail near you.

Our Hunter Version in Oregon will be Bright Orange, comes with bright orange hat and a vial of dear piss.

Vegetarian is an ancient word for poor hunter.

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