Author Topic: Fat bike project underway  (Read 24737 times)

rvc

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #30 on: September 30, 2015, 10:23:47 AM »
CMH: any update on the fatbike experience? I'm tempted to pull the trigger as well on a Lurch Bluto and do the chiner frame/wheel upgrade.

BTW, really loved the photo gallery with the individual weights-- it has be super helpful for me.

-R

cmh

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #31 on: October 11, 2015, 08:52:11 AM »
CMH: any update on the fatbike experience? I'm tempted to pull the trigger as well on a Lurch Bluto and do the chiner frame/wheel upgrade.

Nothing much to report. Fat bike sits in the shop, almost completely unused. I got a Specialized Epic a couple weeks ago, and have been spending all my riding time on that, but even before that, it was the Rumblefish that was getting all the attention. I have nothing against the fat bike, but comparing it to the 29er FS bikes, it's quite a bit slower. I think for this winter I'm going to go with 5" tires and see if that's any better in the snow, but as it stands right now, the fat bike is a "meh" on my part.

I've even been eyeballing the better weight weenie parts on it that will transfer to the Epic, too. Those Formula brakes would have been swapped over except for the internal frame routing on the Specialized which makes it a little less trivial for the swap.

BTW, really loved the photo gallery with the individual weights-- it has be super helpful for me.

Glad it helped!

rvc

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #32 on: October 12, 2015, 05:05:59 PM »
Thanks for the post update.
I hear what you're saying about the Epic and Rumblefish--they're just plain fast rigs. I was very tempted to instead upgrade the frame on my Salsa Mamasita 29er build with a Chiner 29'er FS, especially after watching my racer friends rip up the trail on Epics in front of me, leaving me hopelessly in the dust. However, I ended up going for an all new bike, an IP-N019 fatty with carbon rims and an XT/RaceFace build (will start a build thread shortly). Since my first FS mtb in 2004, I never thought I'd be back on nothing but hardtails, but the trails I like here in New England have never really seemed to work well with my FS rig. Granted it was a older, heavier bike with 6" travel in front&rear...

Question for you on the rim replacement: You built the wheels up with the new carbon rims yourself, correct? Any issues I should be aware about when lacing and truing chinese carbon wheels? I suppose it depends on the rim model and hardware you have... but I just want to quell worry that I'll screw something up and crack a nipple seat. I'm a novice wheel builder, and plan on building the front wheel as slowly and as carefully as I can. The rear wheel will come built already from Peter, so minimal worries there.

Cheers.

cmh

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #33 on: October 12, 2015, 05:22:06 PM »
Thanks for the post update.
I hear what you're saying about the Epic and Rumblefish--they're just plain fast rigs. I was very tempted to instead upgrade the frame on my Salsa Mamasita 29er build with a Chiner 29'er FS, especially after watching my racer friends rip up the trail on Epics in front of me, leaving me hopelessly in the dust. However, I ended up going for an all new bike, an IP-N019 fatty with carbon rims and an XT/RaceFace build (will start a build thread shortly). Since my first FS mtb in 2004, I never thought I'd be back on nothing but hardtails, but the trails I like here in New England have never really seemed to work well with my FS rig. Granted it was a older, heavier bike with 6" travel in front&rear...

I freely admit I'm REALLY curious about your N019 build, and hope you post frequent updates because I will be following them carefully. One of my initial possibilities was that I would get the Motobecane and then ultimately swap out the frame with the N019. I'd still like to do it, but bike funds were diverted elsewhere. ^_^

I've heard not much good about the Vee Snowshoes, either, and a bad set of tires can pretty much destroy a bike. But, since new fat bike tires are pretty pricey, I haven't invested in anything new yet, either, and I might be one set of tires away from fat-bike nirvana. I don't rule that out either!

I should say that I rode with some guys on fat bikes in an early winter snowstorm last year and there was zero doubt they had an advantage there. My snow rides with the fat bike were in conditions that I don't think anyone could have ridden.

So, basically, my experiment hasn't been a resounding success - but by the same token, it hasn't been a failure and I haven't given up yet. :D

Question for you on the rim replacement: You built the wheels up with the new carbon rims yourself, correct? Any issues I should be aware about when lacing and truing chinese carbon wheels? I suppose it depends on the rim model and hardware you have... but I just want to quell worry that I'll screw something up and crack a nipple seat. I'm a novice wheel builder, and plan on building the front wheel as slowly and as carefully as I can. The rear wheel will come built already from Peter, so minimal worries there.

Yes, I built the wheels with carbon rims from Peter, and used the Novatec hubs from the wheelset that came with the Motobecane. Since the rims were so substantial, paired with such large tires, I guessed that I would not need heavy spokes, so went with Sapim Lasers (2.0/1.5mm, equivalent to the DT Revolution) and so far don't think that was a bad move. The rim has a whole bunch of inherent stiffness that puts less load on the spokes.

I had no issues building the wheels, it was really quite easy, if you've built any other wheels, this won't be much different, it'll just look like you're working on a motorcycle wheel. I do admit that I wasn't able to fit the rear wheel into the truing stand I have, so although I got the rim straight (on the frame) I didn't check to make sure it was perfectly centered. In retrospect, I'm wondering why I didn't just use the wheel alignment gauge to check it... and I don't know.

Anyhow, the wheel build was pretty easy, and if you're building with a tension meter (always a good idea) just aim for the target 100kgf tension and you'll be golden.

Oh, I may have mentioned it elsewhere, but Gorilla clear packing tape makes excellent rim tape, just one 2" wide strip down the center of the rim is the right combination of stretchy and strong to provide a great seal for running tubeless.

lemme know if you've got any other questions or maybe I missed something.

cmh

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #34 on: November 05, 2015, 05:41:56 PM »
Latest update. Winter is approaching, so I'll probably play with the fat bike again. The purchase of the Epic killed any chance this bike had of getting ridden this summer, but maybe crappy weather will improve that. First things first, though - I've decided to finally make good on my threat to plasti-dip the bike for hunting season.

I started with several coats of a base white in order to cover the frame's black paint and give a brighter base for the hunter's orange:



Shot the first coat of hunter's orange, and it's much brighter in person than it appears here:



On a more functional note, the Vee SnowShoes did not impress me, so I'm going big and am going to try the Bud/Lou combo for this winter. I'm a big guy so I'm gonna go with big tires. I consistently hear that they're the kings of traction, although they seem to roll about as quickly as a steamroller. Since I've got a bike that already rolls quickly, I'll see how these go for the winter riding.

trekcarbonboy

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #35 on: November 07, 2015, 07:21:53 AM »
WOW! Nice!

cmh

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #36 on: November 07, 2015, 08:50:24 AM »
WOW! Nice!

:) Thanks! Walked in the shop last night and the color really is pretty shocking. Definitely doesn't look like a deer or turkey. ^_^

Thinking of getting some vinyl labels made for it. Was thinking "NOTTADEER" or "PADO" - which fans of the "Despicable Me" movies may know is the Hindi word for "fart" :)


Molothi

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #37 on: November 09, 2015, 03:07:20 PM »
Quote
Definitely doesn't look like a deer or turkey. ^_^
;D ;D ;D
that's for sure  ;)

rvc

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #38 on: November 10, 2015, 11:20:30 AM »
Looks awesome! Love the punchy color!

I imagine that with the Bud+Lou, the orange paint, and general fatness... that you will be turning heads of more than just hunters and deer!

Cant wait to see her built back up.

cmh

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #39 on: November 10, 2015, 02:21:08 PM »
Looks awesome! Love the punchy color!

I imagine that with the Bud+Lou, the orange paint, and general fatness... that you will be turning heads of more than just hunters and deer!

Cant wait to see her built back up.

One thing I've considered and haven't done yet - but haven't decided against - is shooting the rims (80mm from Peter) hunter's orange as well. I think I'll just start with the frame, wheels can always come off and get shot at some point in the future. :D

cmh

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #40 on: November 10, 2015, 07:11:29 PM »
Got enough coats of the orange on there... it's not the fanciest job you'll see but hopefully it looks good enough as I ride by. Researching plasti-dip I saw someone suggesting to shoot a gold metal flake over the hunter's orange, and I've tried it, and it looks good. Also gives the otherwise matte finish plasti-dip a gloss, which is cool:



Reassembly comes soon.

cmh

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #41 on: November 12, 2015, 08:27:13 AM »
rvc's build really has me interested in the fat bike again, having some fun with it and the plasti-dip.

Nice thing about plasti-dip, you don't need to mask that carefully:



Over the orange coat I shot a coat of clear with a gold metal flake. Looks _awesome_ in direct light, but it's really grippy. Perfect for plasti-dip's original purpose - tool handles - but not great for a bike frame, so I shot a coat of clear enamel over that. Then I realized I have a reflective clear coat paint, so shot that on top. It's not hugely reflective but it's still kinda cool:



Should be pretty cool on a night ride - and should make this frame about as visible as it can get without adding LEDs or EL wire or something. (which makes me think...  ;D)

Started reassembly last night, think it's gonna look great!

Vipassana

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #42 on: November 25, 2015, 03:40:03 PM »
Looks great!  This makes me want to paint my road bike with glow-in-the-dark paint or something since I ride at night with it. 

I never would have guessed gold over orange would look that cool.

cmh

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #43 on: November 26, 2015, 01:09:50 AM »
Looks great!  This makes me want to paint my road bike with glow-in-the-dark paint or something since I ride at night with it. 

That'd be cool - looks like plasti dip is available in glow in the dark as well. The nice part of that is if I get tired of the orange, I can peel it off. In theory, at least, don't know how well it's going to come off of the hose guides and stuff like that.

Quote
I never would have guessed gold over orange would look that cool.

Yeah, I'm very pleasantly surprised with the results. we'll see how it stands up to actual use.

rvc

Re: Fat bike project underway
« Reply #44 on: November 27, 2015, 09:07:14 AM »
Looks great! Let's see some daylight pics!