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Trek Farley Fat Bike Detail Photos

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2014 Trek Farley Fat Bike close up detail photos

The Trek Farley fat bike continues the Wisconsin brand’s strange 2014 product rollout of non announcements. Shown at Trek World, orders flooded in and the entire inventory was basically purchased before anything ever rolled off the factory floor. So, when we say it’s “available” as a complete bike or frameset, what we really mean is you better hope your local Trek dealer placed an order this past summer and is patiently waiting for it to arrive. And that you better call said dealer if you want one – and you will, if you’re into fat bikes.

The frame, made with Trek’s Alpha Platinum Aluminum, has virtually every option you’d want, all while remaining fairly lightweight and darn good looking. It’s built around the 170mm fat bike standard and made to accept any other standard component.

We first spotted this bike racing around the Pisgah Brewing/Asheville Cyclocross Series race under several Industry Nine folks, using it to test their new fat bike hubs and Endless‘ new single chainring (see those here). Thankfully, I9’s Ricky sent more pics of the bike our way once we realized it was such a rare bird. Roll down and see why this fatty earns some love…

2014 Trek Farley Fat Bike close up detail photos

Up front is their E2 tapered headtube with full internal, integrated bearings. Shift cables run internally, with the front cable running through the top tube for a top-pull derailleur, and the rear running through the downtube.

2014 Trek Farley Fat Bike close up detail photos

The fork (and geometry) is a suspension corrected affair, which tells you they’ve thought ahead. The unique dual crown looks good and likely keeps things stiff while still allowing the height necessary to eventually throw on a suspension fork. We’ve seen prototypes floating around from other brands, so it’s coming. Spacing on this is 135mm.

2014 Trek Farley Fat Bike close up detail photos

Post mount front brakes would be nice, but at least there are multiple rack mounts. A thru-axle would be nice, too, if only because there’s one on the rear.

2014 Trek Farley Fat Bike close up detail photos

The rear brake hose runs externally on the bottom of the downtube. The cable guides have dual grooves to accommodate stealth dropper post routing, just in case you plan on getting super rad.

2014 Trek Farley Fat Bike close up detail photos

Rear shift cable pops out and runs full housing from BB to mech.

2014 Trek Farley Fat Bike close up detail photos

Direct mount front derailleur tabs could easily hold a chain guide, too. The bike’s designed around a 2×10 drivetrain, and the complete bike ships with an X7/X9/X0 shifter/derailleur mix, Shimano cassette and Race Face Turbine cranks.

2014 Trek Farley Fat Bike close up detail photos

Stealth dropper post cable entry port.

2014 Trek Farley Fat Bike close up detail photos

A convertible rear thru axle design allows use of standard quick release hubs, too.

The low standover and a whopping five stock sizes (from 14.5″ to 21.5″) means there’s a Farley to fit anyone.

2014 Trek Farley Fat Bike close up detail photos

Post mount rear brakes and more rack mounts.

This lovely baby blue hue is only available on the frameset, which retails for $879.99. Complete bikes will come in a black with green color scheme (also available as a frameset) and MSRP at $2,629.99.

Rumor is the limited number of complete bikes (reportedly just 500 units) is largely due to the available stock of Surly rims and tires. We’ve heard they’re shipping way more framesets, but those are reportedly sold out, too. Going forward, we’ve heard they’re developing their own fat bike rims and tires under the Bontrager label that should not only ease supply concerns, but if things go the way we think they’re going, will help usher in tubeless rims and tires. They won’t confirm it, but our sources on this one are pretty good. Until then, you can just order up Hed’s carbon tubeless fatty rims!

Want more fatties? Check our Interbike Fat Bike Roundup.

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Brian
Brian
10 years ago

It is annoying that companies (especially one as big as Trek) continue to underproduce for the amount of demand. It sucks for those of us who don’t know our LBS shop owners personally or take a bit more time to make a decision. MAKE MORE!

Nick
Nick
10 years ago

Having ridden this bike around, the geo is way more “fun” than a Pugsley.

as for you, Brian, production number is low thanks to Surly, they have the industry by the balls at the moment, only their producers (I believe Innova) have the mold for the 5″ tires, and the other parts spec’d on this bike are “Surly” branded…which are the parts they need.

Mat Long
Mat Long
10 years ago

Who at Trek is colorblind? Ugly and a Trek 0 for 2.

Dyno-mite!
Dyno-mite!
10 years ago

I heard that baby blue is Lemond’s favorite colour

Zap?
Zap?
10 years ago

I have an insider at Trek that told me that this is going to be called the LeMond Bus Special, as a tribute to how Trek threw Greg LeMond under the bus during the Armstrong years.

It’s a really nice tribute. Thanks Trek.

Chris McGrath
Chris McGrath
10 years ago

And now that TREK is making one, fat-bikes are no longer cool & or niche. Game over.

jaas
jaas
10 years ago

yes…let the hate flow….Lemond…Trek…blue….tires…..ANGRY TYPING!!!!

wako29
wako29
10 years ago

@jaas:
I want to be your friend

Zap?
Zap?
10 years ago

Trek and only Trek is responsible for their tarnished reputation as a brand.

2finger
2finger
10 years ago

alex – 11/04/13 – 10:53am

I’m so sick of hearing about how Greg Lemond is such a victim and Trek is evil. Lemond was talking sh*t, and business is business, so Trek dropped his dumb *ss. Lemond was probably a doper himself. This is why I am not a racer, because most of the racers I know are whiny, egomaniac, backstabbing little b*tches who will do anything to win, and I don’t want to be around any of these people. Trek makes great bikes, get over it.

Pure awesomeness, Greg Lemond=pathetic little b*tch, except for the awesome come from behind victory in 1989 🙂

JasonK
JasonK
10 years ago

The name of this bike is kind of interesting. Trek is based just outside Madison, WI. Madison is the hometown of Chris Farley, the famously fat (and deceased) comedian. It’s generally known around Madison that Chris Farley was from there, that he used to eat at State Street Brats, etc., so I have a hard time believing that Trek decided Farley was the right name for its fat bike in a vacuum.

I can’t decide whether it’s in poor taste or it’s kind of clever and locally hip…

Zach
Zach
10 years ago

@jaas

Thank you, that needed to be said.

@Mat Long

Would you rather see it say Specialized written on it 187 times? Powder blue is a classic and understated color, it never goes out of style. Props to Trek for the simple paint scheme too.

@Nick

Agree, I rode them side by side last weekend and liked the geo of the Farley a lot more than the Pug. I’ve never ridden a Beargrease or Krampus, so I can’t attest to those frames.

Robo
Robo
10 years ago

there’s a lot of reasons I don’t like this bike (or at least, wouldn’t buy it) but I have to give them an internet high-five for the name choice. I think it’s brilliant.

filibuster cash
filibuster cash
10 years ago

Brian- it was stated in the post why trek was unable to produce more complete bikes, but otherwise, you are correct. This trend has been been around for a long time, but the ’08 mess made it more pronounced. It makes life as a small to mid range IBD very difficult. Most companies make preseason ordering almost a demand. Some allow for split ship dates, and maybe some better terms, but some (Scott, specifically), will hold single orders hostage until you do a preseason order. They expect each shop to forecast their needs for the following year in the late summer, when you are full-on busy and need to be with customers. this is fine if you are River City or someone similarly sized and have the payroll dollars to spend on someone to study trends and the space to warehouse tons of inventory, but if you are a small shop with only enough employees to help customers and fix bikes and only enough space for a couple months’ inventory, you get the bend-over. Trek is actually better for my size dealer than a lot of companies. Norco is making some of the best mountain bikes right now, but good luck getting one. Scott usually runs out of inventory in early May, right when we’re finally seeing what the summer will hold.

rgeniec
rgeniec
10 years ago

QR front and 15mm rear…reverse logic. Amazing

Padrote
Padrote
10 years ago

That cable routing is dumb. especially the stealth post part. I don’t see the point unless you’re going to be able to conceal all of them.

A.
A.
10 years ago

Trek is on this? I guess that means that the fad is nearly over…

Elk
Elk
10 years ago

My buddy ordered one in the 21.5″ size. It’s sitting in his basement ready to build. While I am not a Trek fanboy, the build quality is particularly nice. Interestingly, while the head tube is tapered, the fork is 1-1/8 and runs an adapter headset. The thru axle/QR dropout is a cool touch and the dropper post routing just makes sense on this type of bike. Tire size is limited to the “racing” 4 or 4.2″ size, so forget super fatties.

Elk
Elk
10 years ago

Padrote, the rear is a QR, not a thru axle.

William
William
10 years ago

Wow, where’s the ANT+ chainstay cutout? For nearly $900 I can’t order an aluminum frame without a million hooks, holes, nubs and bosses for crap I’ll never use?

Ryan
Ryan
10 years ago

A lot of the options look like a working prototype or afterthought. Not that it’s a bad bike, but it doesn’t look clean at all.

Pedals
Pedals
10 years ago

@Nick

None of their production issues are Surly’s fault. The reason why there’s a limited number of Farleys is because Trek didn’t order enough from Surly.

Surly has to preorder their parts from their factory same as everyone else. If Trek doesn’t ask Surly for enough then how is it Surly’s fault? Would you prefer that Surly reroutes product that was earmarked for after market sales to Trek? Now that would be a real brand nightmare.

The reality is this: no one knows where the ceiling is on fat bike sales. If you don’t know how many the market can support then you run the risk of building too few or too many bikes. Build too few and you lose out on some sales which you may be able to recapture later. Build too many and you’ve flooded the market, destroying product value, and weighing down you and your retailers with product they can’t move. Easy choice.

Kevin
Kevin
10 years ago

So the giant trek company is being held to random by tiny surly. Surly who invested a huge amount in a trend that didn’t yet exist to design and get manufactured rims and tyres in order to make a sub-niche idea reality. And now that trend is getting big and a killing is to be made by huge companies who weren’t interested until it was big enough for them to be interested, they are being held to ransom ? Stop whining. Even tiny on-one could manage to get their own rims and tyres made.

Kevin
Kevin
10 years ago

Oh. And BTW the bike looks awful and the spec makes little sense.

jose espinoz
jose espinoz
10 years ago

because regular 26 or 29 even 27.5 mtb bikes are toooo mainstream , let’s build 10000000 fat bikes to create a new trend 🙁

Pedals
Pedals
10 years ago

No wonder BR likes to turn off comments. The amount of ignorance here makes MTBR look reputable.

SmooveP
SmooveP
10 years ago

Kevin, right on about Surly. Even big ol’ Specialized can’t seem to get their single fat tire out the door in a timely fashion. They dragged their fatbike around to all the shows with Surly tires with the logos blacked out (deleted).

Jose Espinoz: Unlike the 29/27.5 thing, the fatbike “trend” is driven by demand. Also unlike 26/27.5/29 tires, on a fatbike you can actually tell the difference when you’re riding one.

Jogan
Jogan
10 years ago

This is not even the color of the complete bike. It is black with green accents (race face crank etc) http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/mountain/singletrack_trail/farley/farley/# They are not so hard to find – my shop in Geneva NY got a 17, 19 and 21 into open stock.

Gazoo
Gazoo
10 years ago

Surley ain’t small… its QBP. Trek should have been on this a year ago. My guess is fatty sales will level in 2015. Then maintain level as people replace old fatties w/ new fatties. Overall I the fatty is a great tool and industry segment.

Ty
Ty
10 years ago

@Pedals

So if company A preorders 500 items from company B, then company B only ships 250 items to company A; you think its company A’s fault for not ordering enough? Trek is not the only company that had their order chopped in half from Surly for rims and tires.

BikerinHutch
BikerinHutch
10 years ago

To call Surly small is being quite ignorant. QBP is way bigger than Trek. No need to trash this bike. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. Plain and simple. Both Q and Trek donate millions of dollars to advocacy efforts to propel our sport. To trash them as evil giants is short sighted. Without them, we would have a lot less opportunities to ride.

Surly Shawn
Surly Shawn
10 years ago

Fail on the hydraulic disc brakes, geographically speaking. If a true adventurer buys this and rides year round, and if it gets as cold in Madison as it does in Chicago (it does), they are going to have a bad time.

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