I've put a fair number of miles on an original Sondors fat bike, over 1,600 miles, and I find them overrated. Don't get me wrong, I loved riding it, until I bought a Haibike XDURO F SX with bigger Schwalbe Super Moto tires. Now the fat bike is relegated to winter riding when salt is used. It's my winter beater bike. The Haibike is nimble, and can climb steep grades. Neither of those apply to a fat bike. I also get the speed I like with the Haibike. More than 20mph on a fat bike and it feels about like a run away train. If you like attention when you ride, that's the big factor for fat bikes. EVERYONE notices you. I've had people yell out what a cool bike I have while they drive down the street. I find riding in the snow over rated. About 10% of the time, in Central Illinois, it's perfect and a blast. The rest of the time the snow can be frozen and incredibly difficult to ride in. Then it can be too deep and slushy. I rode in one heavy wet snow, and had to stop every 3 minutes to clean my glasses. You have to buy some great wet gear riding in that kind of condition. It's also very easy to take a spill! It's a very narrow window of conditions that make riding in the snow a fun time. I've not ridden a full suspension fat bike, but it might be rough to tune the suspension. If you lower the tire pressure for better traction, you'll get bounce in the tires and the suspension. Might be fun, might be annoying. Now to your direct question. Based on my feelings about fat bikes, I would recommend a used Sondors. Price is right, hard to build one at that price, and it will scratch your itch. Pretty easy to find one for less than $700. Incredible owner support group on Facebook, and lots of aftermarket suppliers to upgrade if you like the ride. Don't like the ride, easy to resell at that price.
