My iPhone Tried to Kill This Blog

A new job, a new baby, and a smartphone all combined to try and kill this blog (but mostly it was the phone.)

But I still ride bikes, and I'm hoping to even write a few words and post a few pictures every now and again on this here blog.
So if anybody out there is still interested here's just a little something:

My wife's Christmas gift to me was one simple thing.  A fat, aggressive tire named after me, even though I am neither fat, nor terribly aggressive.  The yin to my yang I suppose.

It seems I change my brake pads even less often than I update my blog.
Stopping power was greatly improved when I switched to some pads that weren't worn down to next to nothing.

Pink

Spring is most definitely in the air (you can smell 6 months worth of dog waste melting out of the snowbanks) and we have been blessed with a good long stretch of beautiful cloudless days.  The trails have remained in fantastic condition, freezing firmly on the cold clear nights and staying firm almost all day long, and I have been fortunate enough to get some excellent riding in on a new (to me) bike.

That pink fatbike you see is now legally mine.  The previous owner was kind enough to allow me a good long window to test ride and think about the purchase.  Mrs. was in love with it the minute she saw it and has no qualms about being married to a man who rides around on an XL pink bike.  Getting her stamp of approval was not insignificant.

The bike fit me amazingly well as soon as I threw a leg over it.  It's not often I hop on another person's bike and don't feel the urge to fiddle with one thing or another.
The story is that the bike was originally built up by a local shop/fatbike company employee.  He put in the special request for a XL frame in pink and then decked it out in the parts you might expect from guy who gets a shop discount:  XTR rear derailleur, SLX front, Mr. Whirly crank, cut out Speedway 70mm rims,  Thomson stem, etc.
Apparently he moved out of state not too long after finishing the build and a casual friend of mine scooped it up for a steal.  However, it seems that for my friend the lure of 800cc snowmachines trumped pedal power and the bike saw almost no action for the past two winters.

Long story short, he was happy to let the bike go to someone who would ride it, the bike fit me and Mrs. approved.  I initially hesitated, but encouragement and sound advice from a couple of fellow bike junkies pushed me over the edge.

It may be pink, but it rides like the darkest black of a moonless night.

I'm secure enough to enjoy the obvious jokes that will ensue. My favorite so far was the woman on horseback asking if I had borrowed my wife's bike.
I've actually had a thing for pink frames ever since I first saw Pat Irwin's pink 1x1 eight or nine years ago.
I figure with one kid and another on the way my manhood is adequately accounted for and I shouldn't let a good deal pass me by.

Changes thus far:
The bike came with a horribly narrow carbon bar, so I swapped it for an On-One Mary bar before I rode it for the first time.  The Mary bar is nice, but I think I'll ultimately change it out for something with a little less back sweep.  I was thinking a Salsa Whammy bar would be nice, but it seems no one is selling them these days.  On-One Fleegle perhaps.  To be determined.

It also had Endomorph tires front and rear, which had amazingly awkward handling characteristics.  I've since swapped those for (27tpi) Larrys.  I picked one Larry up cheap at the local bike swap and acquired the other from a guy on craigslist who wanted to trade a Larry for an Endomorph, don't ask me why.  Handling was noticeably improved by the tire swap.





Down the road I'll likely get the MWOD rings for the Mr. Whirly crank.  I have absolutely no need for the big ring, and wouldn't mind moving the chain out from the rear tire a bit.

The little ski hill in town has closed for the season so I snuck over there one evening this week after a quick singletrack ride and goofed around on the groomed slopes.
Good times.

Fatbacking

I have had the pleasure of having the opportunity to spend some time aboard a couple different Fatbacks recently.
Cousin Rye N was out of state for a while for work, so Biermag, Little and I made the most of his absence.
The icing on the fat cake is that March is one of the finest months to be in Alaska:  snow, bluebird days, warmer temperatures, no bugs, no bears, no brush.  Take it from me, this is the good life.

I had to bribe that little face in the trailer with some tortilla chips to get him in there.  After that he was good to go for a two hour ride.

The Pistenbully rolled through heading the other direction during our ride, smoothing out the 5+ inches of heavy wet snow that fell the night before.

Experimented with my sunglasses as a filter in the bright sunshine, no instagram action here.

GSC took off for a little spring break and was kind enough to invite me to take his new steed out for a ride.

That steel fork looks (and rides) awesome if you ask me.

 I dashed up to a permit only winter trail and spent about an hour climbing in a t-shirt.

Trail was in great shape, I had a huge grin on my face the whole ride down.

Both bikes were a treat to ride.  I most definitely concur with Gypsy Nicholas and Sheldon Brown that the fatbike revolution we are seeing is the biggest thing to hit the cycling world since the early days of mountain bikes.

Q & A

First there was a question and I had an answer:

From rootsradicals@yahoo.com cargo bike listserve,

"I'd like a tire that can handle some off-road/gravel/hard-pack/maybe some mud, but which will also be fairly low rolling resistance on the the street. Right now I think my Xtracycle will see mostly street duty, but I'd like to have tires on it that will serve for those times that I might ride on the rough stuff. Also, after seeing some blog posts by a guy who uses his Big Dummy to carry equipment out to his research sites, I've been inspired by the idea of maybe using my Xtracycle to get out to do camping, birding, carrying my boat, etc."

So replied with this,

As a guy who has written "some blog posts by a guy who uses his Big Dummy to carry equipment out to his research sites"  I'll throw my two cents out there. 

(I don't know for sure if it was my posts that you read or not, but if there is somebody else hauling research equipment with a Dummy I'd love to have the link and the chance to pick his brain.)

First off I see you bought the Kendas.  Looked like a great deal on a quality tire, I hope you enjoy them and report back when you've got some miles and an opinion on them.

As for my set up, I am a tire tinkerer.  I enjoy experimenting with different tire/rim combos just to see what happens.  On the BigDonkey I've tried a number of things including:  2.4 Maxxis Holy Rollers, 3.7 Surly Endomorph (up front only), 3.0 Nokian Gazzaloddi, 2.1 Bontrager 'generic style mountainbike tires', 29x2.35 Schwalbe Big Apples, and my favorite set up 26x2.35 Big Apples.

All of these tires were run on a widish (~44mm) Alex DM24 rim, and a couple also spent time on a modified Sun Ringle Double wide.

If you were posing this question regarding a non-longtail setup, I would hands down recommend the Holy Rollers (which I've run in the summer on couple different bikes, including my Surly 1x1), but a cargobike is a different beast.
This spring a gypsy I crossed path with traded me some Holy Rollers he had for the Big Apples I'd been running on my Dummy.  A few thousand miles later he was switching to full on fat tires and offered to mail my Big Apples back to me, to which I enthusiastically said 'yes'.  I swapped the Holy Rollers off and slapped the Big Apples back on and everything was again right with the world.  Not that the Holy Rollers were bad or lacking, but I just find the Big Apples to be a little nicer, a little quieter, a little smoother and a little more pleasant to ride.

The Big Apples plenty of traction for almost all of the trail riding I do on the Dummy.  The long, stable cargo bike isn't getting rallied through corners quite the same way a regular bike would so cornering traction isn't a huge issue.
The flat protection from the tires is fantastic and the ride quality is super plush.  I think Gypsy Nick rode something like 3,000 flat free,  loaded, touring miles on my well used Big Apples before mailing them back. 

A flat tire on a loaded cargobike could be particularly inconvenient.
Knock on wood, but in the past 3 years I've had no flats on the Big Donkey that I can recall.
I have however shifted the chain off the top of the cassette a couple of times and learned how annoying rear wheel repairs in the field can be.

I've had more than one instance of slamming hard into an unavoidable rock and feeling my rim make contact with the rim.  Not only have I escaped without pinch flats, but I've also not had to true the rims.
It looks like the Schwalbe Fat Franks would also be a excellent option and perhaps provide a hair more traction.

Just my thoughts, no more right or wrong than anyone else's, but I'll put them out there for what they're worth.




Then I had a question I sent out to Allman and Gypsy Nick that went something like this:

Subject:  Thoughts?

6 miles through the woods to school. 

4 miles on paths home.

2 hours later, in the garage, rear tire is flat . . . tear at the valve stem (presta).

2 nights in a row.

Additional information available upon request.

I have a theory or two, but would be curious if you had any additional insight.


After all the holiday thankfulness I have to say I'm thankful to be able find answers to bike questions on the internet.  Not too long ago things were a lot different. 
Resources and answers were quite limited by today's standards, I try not to take it for granted.

Fat Tire and Slammed Saddle

Rode around the hood with Little wRider for a bit before heading to school to be productive (AKA: update the blog).

Passed this guy going the other way on my ride in.  Realized I was almost the antithesis of his set up on my fat-fronted singlespeed with the seatpost slammed.

Why?  Because it's fun.

I like the cushy tire, and the slammed seatpost let me goof off, manual, hop over roots and curbs and simply changes up the pace of riding bikes. 

Try doing things differently sometime.  You might enjoy it.

Nate Was Here

This is the only evidence that remains of Cousin Rye N's visit earlier this week.

He swapped his Fargo for a nicely decked out fatbike.  Shod with Surly Nate tires the bike has more traction than you can shake a stick at.

I think Cousin Rye N is going to be pleased with his new ride.

Dummy, Donkey Day

I had some science to get done this weekend.
I thought I had help lined up, but it fell through at the last minute.
Allman had plans to go fishing, but those fell apart so I invited him and his Dummy to come help with my field work.

He was game, and a pleasant day of off-road cargo biking ensued.

Donkey and Dummy

Fat fronted Donkey

A few puddles, but mostly dry trails

You never know what might happen in the mountains so it's good to be prepared.  Allman chose to bring a spare helmet and an extra set of wheels.

A few snowy sections, but not as bad as I had anticipated

We had day of variable weather: Wind and snow, followed by sun and blue skies

Springtime in Alaska

What's Another Word for Pirate Treasure?

I think it's booty . . .


. . . That's what it is.


The annual bike swap was today. Had a good time met up with LO'L and Allman and saw GSC briefly. My quick interaction with GSC resulted in my searching the interwebs for 48 hole rims to pair with a Phil hub he graced me with.

To paraphrase Allman, the swap was basically the same group of people that sell parts to each other via craigslist all getting together in one place and selling parts to each other.

Tires.
EVERYBODY had tires to sell.
I actually bought a pair. 2 for $1. Going on Mrs.' cruiser.

Little wrider had a fine time running amok and testing any pumps people had for sale.

Assessing the days booty back at the car.

All in all a fun day, and 7 bikes in the household benefited from the swap for less than $100.

Recent Bits and Pieces

Feel The Rythm

We have been blessed with a string of warm spring like days, and I have been fortunate enough to get out and ride my bike in the sunshine. Life has been a little crazy lately. I laid an old dog friend to rest the beginning of last week, the Big Dummy frame has arrived, and then the in-laws blew into town for a whirlwind visit/baby shower. I indulged in a fantastic long nap Sunday afternoon to recover, and then was back to work today.

On sunny ride Saturday I noticed a very subtle, but persistent rhythm from the back of my cross bike. Told myself I should check it out, and then promptly forgot about it. I didn't it notice it yesterday on a brief ride, but then felt it again today on my commute to work. Didn't have time to diagnosis on my in to work, so I finally checked it out on my ride home. Figure out the rhythm was due to irregularity in the tread where my tire sloped from right to left. The sidewall had a pretty nasty tear in it and was barely holding together.

I was impressed that it was still holding air. I called my wife and asked for a ride at the next bike path-road junction. Probably could have made it home, but I figured I would rather catch a ride home with my lovely wife than destroy a perfectly good tube. No shame here.

The tire was a Ritchey Speedmax that came with the bike when I bought it. Had a spare WTB cross tire in my shop that I was able to throw on and keep things rolling.

Savered the frame.

Big Dummy hubs and rims have been ordered, and the frame has been Frame Saver-ed, faced and reamed. I'm really looking forward to the wheel build. More Dummy pics will be posted soon. Ride safe.

Put a few coats of varnish on the Snapdeck to give it little added protection.

-bike wrider