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.
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.
