Sweet! Congrats man, I'm envious.
That's awesome you found such a solid solution to the fork clearance issue. Something like that probably would've scared me from doing the build, but it was no big deal, really. Looking forward to hearing if it's functioning well, and other ride impressions, and also total bike weight.
Thanks for sharing.
Cheers Izzy, thanks!
Total bike, ride ready is
29.3lbs. Its a tad heavier than I originally estimated at ~27-28, but we all know that weight forecasts are notoriously underestimated.
I wouldn't say that it was "no big deal" to figure out a solution for the fork clearance issue. I worried about it for several days, and only with the help of CMH and Chris @ MTBtools did it get solved. I'm hoping that Chris will make a commercially available adapter for this to solve others' problems, because the end result worked out great.
A couple notes on the build an assembly:
Internally routed cabling. I knew this would be a little tough for me as I've never threaded a shift cable internally before. Well, it was. The sewing thread + vacuum cleaner trick just didnt work for me... the outlet holes were too small on the 019 frame to get enough suction. I ended up forcing the cabe into the down tube, then catching it with the bottom bracket off and precariously sliding it out of the correct outlet. The rear brake hose cable (on the left side of the frame) came with an inner liner, so pushing it through to the other side was easy. Why couldn't the shift cable have that too?
Seat tube paint cracking.Upon tightening the included seatpost clamp, I noticed a hairline crack at the collar. I think it is just in the paint, but still... it's a bummer. It's on monitor status now.
HeadsetThe MTBtools elevated race worked perfectly. It lifted the exact amount needed to clear the pressure cap of the fork: 11mm. The 45deg bevel that Chris machined centered perfectly on the lower headset sealed bearing (a chinese copy of the FSA 42/52 internal). The upper side of the headset was a disaster. No combination of spacers would get it to turn freely, and I ended up questioning my sanity on the assembly of the upper section. As it turns out--- the chinese FSA headset that I got for $25 was junk, at least for the upper section. The spliced centering collar sat about 2mm too low, causing the top dust cover to compress against the frame: making it turn like shit, and very quickly flake off the paint
I ended up finding another spliced collar from my parts bin that sat the dust cover high enough. In hindsight, I'd probably just order a new FSA 42/52 internal headset for $60 or whatever and have it done right from the beginning. Future builders: don't bother with the "included" chiner headset
TiresI've never seated tubeless fat tires before, so when I decided it was time to mount the tires (5:12pm on the day before Thanksgiving), I realized that to do this correctly you need an inner tube! And with holiday, all of the bike shops were closed.
Here's where REI came in for the win, for the second time actually. They had a fat inner tube, and were open late. Sweet. I was going to really lament not having the new bike rideable on a 4 day weekend with 60deg F outside!
HandlebarsOnce she was all put together and I was done just staring at the bike (mesmerized), I did some late night street riding to sort out the issues. Well, the stem+handlebar combo was the first issue I had to handle. After riding the bike 10 feet it was clear that the long stem (100mm) and narrowish handlebar (660mm) were just not gonna work with 4" fat tires. I had a spare chiner carbon handlebar (that hasn't broken off yet) that was marginally wider (680mm) and I salvaged the 70mm stem from my 29er. It's better but still not perfect. I will be ordering a 730mm Ti bar shortly...
And?! How does it ride!?I've ridden one other fatbike before, and only briefly. A Specialized Fatboy SE. Entry level rigid, and super slow, but enough of a hoot to greenlight this project.
In short, this ride is STUNNING!!!! I just can't believe it! It climbs, descends, accelerates and brakes really well. And it corners like SEX!
I have already gone on two rides on my usual loop. The first ride found myself laughing the whole way; I was goofing around on the thing, experimenting with different tire pressures, cornering positions and lines, and still managed to almost tie my PR set by my hardtail 29er. The second ride today was a little more sorted and focused, and I totally crushed my PR. 1h15m on the N019, versus 1h23m on my 29er. I just couldn't believe it!
Upon some reflection and a beer since the ride today, I've concluded that the time saved comes from the sheer cornering speed and resulting leg energy on reserve. There is so much traction, even when the bike is pitched over that it just becomes less necessary to touch the brakes. It's almost scary. The slightly raked front fork (resulting from 2" of lift, between the race adapter and the suss fork) means that sweeping twisty sections are confidence inspiring, and it doesn't get unsettled when pitched over and going over changing terrain. The tire absorbs a lot of the tiny bumps too, so you have the encouraging impression that the trail is smooth asphalt. So, higher cornering speed, higher exit speed, less gas burned on accelerating out of the corner.
The Fatboy SE that I rode had heaaaaavy wheels, and boy did you feel it. My legs were burning quickly out of tight cornering sections. The N019, however didn't really feel any slower than my 29er on acceleration--a miracle given the sheer size. The 135/197mm axles, 80mm carbon rims, and tubeless Husker Du's are a truly awesome combination. It tracks alarminlgy well overall and really doesnt seem to care how you pitch the bike.
A couple negative points:- At 0-2mph, the handling is... well, super sluggish and it takes some getting used to. I'm holding out until I get the 730mm bar really. But there was a moment in a technical rocky section where I slowed down to a crawl, bonked and couldnt twist the front wheel out of it (like I usually would). I ended up dropping the bike and scratching the seatstay on a rock. Oh well.
- No Lizard Skin that I've found fits the huge chainstays. I installed an adhesive chain smack guard, but it still clacks the frame pretty hard on rocky descents.
- The rear brake mounting bolts seem to be too far to the axle; my Hope brake only bite into 70-80% the 160mm rotor. I may go 185mm in the back and shim the caliper out later on.
Overall, I'm very pleased!! Yes, it ended up being more expensive and heavier than I planned ($2150, 29.3lbs), but good God is it fast and fun (I'll admit, it's gorgeous to me too!)
-RVC
