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Topics - cmh

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Fat Bikes / Fat bike project underway

« on: February 03, 2015, 12:25:38 PM »

So I'm jumping in on this fat bike bandwagon to see if it's all that. My point of entry was a Motobecane Boris the Evil Brute Sprung - and yes, that's actually the name. I considered going with a Chiner, but since a fat bike has many parts that I don't already have on hand, (frame/fork/wheels/tires/etc) I decided to go with a complete bike, especially since the purchase price of a Bluto fork is half of the total purchase price of the Boris. A Bluto plus a set of Chiner fat bike wheels would almost equal the purchase price of the Boris! Plus, I've always been curious about bikesdirect bikes, so this was an opportunity to get some info, get a bike, and try out the fat bike thing all at once.

In the pursuit of information, first thing I did was not assemble it - but tear it down completely and weigh everything:

Fatty McBlorp's weight loss program

Got it all built up and gonna ride it stock for a little while - about as long as it takes the shipment from XMIPlay of rims, handlebar, and seatpost to arrive.

Fat Bikes / 18.7lb fatty

« on: January 28, 2015, 02:14:09 PM »

https://fairwheelbikes.com/c/worlds-lightest-fat-bike-18-7-pounds/

Of course it's all high end parts, but as they point out, they didn't go with all the _VERY_ lightest stuff out there - notably the rims.

Waiting for my fatty to be delivered, expecting it'll be double that bike's weight.

Fat Bikes / New IP-N019 fatty

« on: December 28, 2014, 10:32:08 PM »

Surprised no mention, it just mysteriously showed up on the XMIPlay site one day with the 010 and 018 fatties:

http://www.xmiplay.com/ProductDetails1693

Looks pretty good. Available in either 190mm QR or 197mm TA (not that that should be a hard decision, I'd think) and with a front fork with the new 150mm hub width used by the RockShox Bluto. The only thing is the chart doesn't show the axle-to-crown of the FK-019 fork. The other two fatties have fork lengths of 470 and 485mm - which is shorter than the shortest Bluto, with 491mm at 80mm of travel. I'd really rather see it be around the 511mm of the Bluto at 100mm. So, I'm curious if the N019 has a longer rigid fork - and since the fork is listed as 770g vs. 550g for the other two frames, I'd think it might just be - but questions to Peter we either not understood or just ignored.

I've got a fatbike on order that is coming with the Bluto, so this frame looks particularly interesting as I could potentially swap out the frame for a nice upgrade from the stock aluminum frame. Of course, wheels would be upgraded first, but then going with the frame might result in a pretty nice drop in weight. We'll see, I plan on doing a tear-down and weigh-in for all the parts before I build it up to ride.

Looks like my plans for an 057 might be indefinitely postponed.

29er / Color thoughts for 057

« on: November 11, 2014, 04:50:15 PM »

So I'm selling off my old junk to raise the funds for an 057. In the mean time, I'm debating colors. Our primary trails around here have hunting, especially this time of the year, so it's a really good idea to have blaze orange stuff. Got a jersey which is a pretty bright orange, and Mechanix hi-vis orange gloves, but had the idea that maybe I'd get the frame painted hi-viz orange. What would be best is florescent orange - I saw an Intense recently that would be _PERFECT_. It'd be a cool color, it'd look a little different than the normal Chiner (matte black was what I wanted but I think maybe now something else would be cool too) and it'd be perfect for riding near hunters.

Thing is, I'm not 100% sure if there's anything special about florescent orange vs. a normal bright orange. Looking it up, it doesn't sound like it. Sounds like the basic #FF6700 color is what I'm looking for, Pantone #165. I just don't know if a frame painted #165 will be quite as eye-searingly bright as that florescent orange Intense I saw.

There's always the option of getting the frame painted white (which enhances the brightness of a paint applied over it) and then rattle-can it myself with any number of "florescent orange" paints I've seen available at the hardware store, but it seems wrong to pay for a frame to be painted - and then paint over the brand new paint.

Thoughts? Dunno if anyone here has experience with paint to speak intelligently on the subject, I sure don't.

What would also be cool is if/when I get a fatbike, get the frame, fork, and even rims shot the same ridiculous color. Not that I'm really that worried about getting shot at, I just think it'd be pretty cool.

Sales & Classifieds / SOLD! Tubular 50mm road rims, 24/28h

« on: November 04, 2014, 06:16:56 AM »

These rims are sold!

I bought a set of Gigantex tubular 50mm deep road rims a while back with plans to build myself a wheelset, but never did, and decided I wasn't likely to. So, this set of rims is completely new and unused. Not Chinese, but Taiwanese, sourced from http://bikehubstore.com/ and were something like $220 each when I got them. (not affiliated with BHS, but I have bought a bunch of stuff from there and have been really happy with them)

https://plus.google.com/photos/118048517346415993560/albums/6077658058463149761?banner=pwa

At this point, just looking to get rid of them to help fund my Chiner project, so thinking $100 for the set + shipping. If you supplied the hubs and spokes, I could do the build for you as well, I've been building wheels for myself and others since the early 90s.

As you can see in the photos, it's a 3K weave under the tire and at the spoke bed, but a UD weave on the sidewalls.

I should also note that these are narrow, not the new trend towards wider rims such as 25mm. I think they measure about 21mm at the brake track.