Sunday, November 27, 2011

The Monster Lives

Definitely. Most definitely.

The build process has been even less kind than the photo quality, if you can believe that. (Nothing like a good garage door shot.)


But it's hereby ride-able, and hereby it shall be ridden.


Requisite drivetrain shot. I have no clue why it's requisite, but here it is . . .


Surly ad shot. I have no clue why. Period. But here it is . . .


Last thing to get mounted was the headlight . . .


Reason being, so I could take my resident alien down to the park to chase the flying saucer.

Don't stare too long, lest you be assimilated.

In summary of my fatbike-building experience: HUNDREDS of hours and dollars. Priceless. For everything else, there's VISA.

Just to give you some idea of how twisted your mind gets, I've been looking at the image on the left for so long that the one on the right ("normal" MTB tire) looks anemic to me.


I'm obviously a little rummy from a long day in the shop breathing kerosene fumes and trying to focus on the world's smallest instruction text font. In seven distinct languages. But I have crossed the finish line. No one has ever been more ready for winter than me. At this five minutes.

6 comments:

Bryan B said...

Sweet mother of carp.

I hadn't seen this company before. I just assumed you were going the Surly/Salsa route. Need to check them out!

Anonymous said...

What kind of headlight is that? Do you like it?

rory said...

Thats a great build! my fat bike is on hold at the moment, as an impulse buy on a camera ate up my spending dough.

Pat S said...

Bryan, there are two different bike shops in Anchorage that sub out fabrication of frames to their spec and then brand them. Speedway Cycles sells the Fatback brand and Chain Reaction Cycles sells the 9:Zero:7 brand.  Along with the Surly and Salsa, they make up the four main mass-produced fatbikes. All four also offer some of their own branded fatbike specific components - Surly offers the most. There are some other smaller, more custom-type shops building small quantities of hand-built frames.

Anon, the light is this one.  My budget is blown, so I went with it for now, until I can afford this one.  Or maybe it will end up being adequate for this (slower) bike and I won't need to upgrade. I've only used it for one short ride so far, so it's too early to say.

Rory, thanks. That's funny - I've got camera fever (again) that's currently on hold because I spent all my cash on the bike.

rory said...

just out of curiosity, what does the tire bead say? there should be some off camber comment imprinted in the tire along the tire bead...

Pat S said...

Rory, I checked before I mounted them and was bummed to find nothing. Mine are the 27 TPI version - maybe that perk only comes with the high-zoot 120 TPI models.