At Interbike this year I stopped by the Borealis booth and talked to one of the owners about the new frame. I looked at the new carbon fatbike frames from 9zero7, Salsa, and Borealis, and the Borealis were the nicest looking to my eye. The quality of each company's frame is going to be very high at this price point and, despite what they may claim otherwise, the weights are probably within a few ounces of one another so I think choose a frame boils down to looks and color. Some framemakers, like 9zero7, have a bend in the top tube near the seat tube and the rationale is that if you fall off the bike in snow the little bend drops the top tube just a bit so it is easier to hop on the bike and get going again. I don't know how effective it is because all I know is that when I fell off my fatbike in snow, I had to look for a rock, tree stump, or wide bit in the trail to get mounted on the bike and rolling again and no dip in the top tube would have made a difference. Also, I just don't care for the look of the bent top tube. Anyway, the main reason I favor the Borealis frame is that it doesn't have this bend but instead it has a traditional top tube:
Just gorgeous. And look at the weight for a complete bike: 21 pounds (actually 21 pounds, 6 oz to be exact). Only my carbon cross and road bikes are less.
One of the principals of Borealis said they would be happy to extend EP pricing to me for a frame, fork, hubs, and carbon rims, and they took the time to send an email thanking me for coming by the booth. A few weeks ago I emailed the company asked about the EP but no response. Ordinarily I would be concerned but it is the busiest time of the year for fatbike companies with winter coming on and the stresses of signing up new dealers and fulfilling dealer orders for frames, bikes, parts, and all those goodies so I am not surprised they haven't responded. I'll give it a few more weeks and try again.