Show us what you did today, thread

[zigzag]

I'm sure you'll fit right in Shagger.

Keith's pal Gary staved his wrist at GT at Pennels Vennel, so that was a bit of a pisser, then up at Spooky Woods, first set of drops after all the berms at the top, another of his pals (was it Marcus? Terrible with names so I am) came a cropper. Either broken collarbone or dislocated shoulder, but he managed to walk out with his arm in a sling. Front wheel of his bike was totally taco'd, so we took the wheels off and carried it down in bits.

 

[RobMac]

Jeezo - an I'm possibly moving to Falkirk. Dunno if I can take the pace of life there :shock:

More like is Falkirk ready for you.

Shagger

 

[Mr Panda]

FFS - not here too :facepalm:

As I say elsewhere - Falkirk can now stand down :xmas-wink:

Callendar Park had looked so respectable too, I'll kinda miss the place already ......

 

[zigzag]

Velo very kindly offered a loan of a couple of bits 'n' bobs on Saturday... So down to my luxuriously appointed (that'd be a manky broon rug) basement where I went and had at the Haro Mary:

Off with the leaky Reba's, and on with...

A Surly fork, Phat Albert wheel with a 3.7 Surly Endomorph. I believe the chubby chasers call this a 'half fat'?

First impressions? Steering is slooooooow. I've bumped up the height of the stem and bars by an extra 25mm, since it felt very low initially. I'm not sure if the slowness is down to the 26" fork on a 29er frame, or the wide tyre, or a combination of both. Possibly a shorter stem might help?

Also what's up with the disk mount? IS standard, but it looks like it's one size of rotor smaller than 'normal', ie. On the Reba's I was running an Avid 185mm front, but using the same adapter on the Surly fork, it only fits a 160mm disk. The 185mm rotor is too big. Velo also had a 140mm rotor fitted to the wheel originally, I think he mentioned that he needed that to work with his disk caliper, but I'm wondering if it's the 'one size down' thing I'm seeing? Anyway, I'm ordering a 203mm IS to post adapter and I'll see what happens.

Proper pics tomorrow when it's not dark (not that it'll win any beauty contests).

 

[Jamiedyer]

Looks good ZZ
Singlespeed the other day, now half Fat, you'll be fully crossed over to the FULL fat singlespeed soon
You know you want to
By the way the Endo is best suited to a rear wheel partnered to a Larry up front. The Endo does well used like a paddle type action on wet, boogy type stuff or sand, but usually for a rear as its a bit 'squared' in shape I find for a front. Great tyre though.

Jamie

 

[keithyr]

bout time you took the bounce off the SS and bought a rigid mans fork lol.

fatties def not for me though, oh no sir!

 

[velomaniac]

I have both a Larry and a Nate tyre if the Endo is no good ZZ. Only gave you the endo as it was quickest to lay my hand on at the time.

 

[zigzag]

Cheers V, you are too generous. I'll give the endo a wee go and take it from there. If I like how it feels and decide half fat is for me, then I'd probably invest in something like an on-one floater for a bit more grip.

 

[clubby]

ZZ, a few points I've picked up on in the past year of going fat.

It won't steer like you think it should. It just takes some adaptation. Have you ever ridden a motorbike? You don't steer in the conventional sense, you have to counter steer. We do it subconsciously on a normal mtb but to a lesser extent. In simple terms push the bars in the opposite direction you want to go. Sounds wrong but the gyroscopic force tilts the wheel in the direction you want to turn. Practice by riding one handed and pushing the bars away from you. If you want to see a good example then google some slo- mo Moto GP footage of Marques or Lorenzo.

Forks shouldn't be too much of an issue, check axle to crown measurements on both to see how much difference there is. Brake problem may be down to another fatbike peculiarity. Front forks are often designed for a rear hub and calliper. Are the forks offset or straight legs?

I'd be wary of going too short on the stem, it might take weight off the front. I'd go wider on the bars. I went from the original 650 bars to 685, but after now running 750's on my Mojo I'm going to get another set of those. They do feel way too wide at first but the extra leverage is amazing, really helping with the counter steering.

As mentioned by others (although I've never ridden one) the Endo is a better rear tyre. I found the Larry a bit washy on normal trails but great on the beach. Nate is a great tyre on the front, but not as good as a Bud (4.8 though). Not ridden a Floater but heard its good on normal trails but wears faster then Nate and isn't much cheaper than a non folding Nate. With all the tyres forget everything you know about pressures. With your light weight 10 psi would be a good starting point for trail riding.

I've ever been under the impression that fat/half fat is the answer to everything but give it some time and I'm sure you'll like it.

 

[velomaniac]

Today I realized I'm really not fit enough for beach riding fat biking. Yesterday I rode the beach with the fatbikers, had another major mechanical, did lots of walking/lugging bike. Today been ill with ME for last 24 hours. The whole business is just too tiring for someone with my illness. Thus ZZ I wish you luck with half fatting and you can get a loan of any of my tyres, wide...ish rims while you experiment. Think I'll just have to stay retro :roll: