Mechanics Musings

I am not much of a fan of riding in the snow. I don't mind it, but I certainly am not going to go out of my way to ride in it, and certainly not going to RACE through it. I have to admit that I am a little intrigued by fat tyre bikes, but they are just too expensive for me to have in the stable and not ride much at all.

For this reason, I don't follow much that is happening with the fat bike scene. I received an email a while back that a racer from out of state wanted to send their bike to our shop to build up for the upcoming Arrowhead 135. We worked out the logistics and I agreed to assemble it and set it up for him to pick it up this weekend. I wasn't really thinking about what type of bike I would be and ooooh was I surprised when the box showed up.

I knew that the complete bike wasn't in the first box that showed up (arrived over two days), but it turned out that everything was there except the front wheel. This is amazingly light for the tyres it carries.

That's a ti Fatback (hard to see but wicked twisted downtube!), full carbon fork (not a fan but it IS light), Fatback hubs and crankset, UMA rims, Hope brakes, XTR gorillas, Ritchey WCS carbon seatpost and bars. Fatback claims getting bikes down to 22 pounds and I believe they can do it. I didn't put it on the scale, but I am sure my Pake C'mute weighs more than this machine. It was fun to work on something so different. I wish the rider well on his trip across the north.