Drilling a Fat Sheba

The rear wheel on the snow/sand phattie bike is made up of a Salsa 170mm hub and a Fat Sheba rim (gottsta' love that name) that is 80mm wide.  The 170mm spacing for the rear hub is 35mm wider than a regular 135mm rear hub.  The 9:zero:7 frame is built specifically to be able to handle the wider hub without having to offset the rim such that the wheel rubs along the drive train.  The 170mm spacing allows for a symmetrical wheel build for wide rims/tires.

The wider the rim, the more float on soft surfaces and the better the ability to be able to ride on top of that stuff based on the contact area of the tire.  The penalty for wide rims, hubs, tires, tubes is that there is more material and you pay the price with a significant weight penalty.

The work around to lighten wheelsets up has been to drill out the rims between the spokes in order to shave some weight.  The 80mm aluminum rim and spoke spacing/lacing allows for 1.5 inch holes between spokes.

The plan was to use a hole saw to cut out the holes and then debur the hole's sharp edges with a deburring tool.  Before doing that, I created a template that would fit between the nipples on the rim so that the holes would be drilled in the same place each time - sorta kinda wanted to make sure the holes were spaced equally, etc...

so the process ended up a little like this:
Measure the width between channel and length between the spokes and cutout a template and marked the center with an X.  This gave me the centerpoint for each hole.

 I then used a hole punch to mark the spot that would later be drilled out with a hole saw and pilot bit.

 If you look carefully, you can see the hole punch mark:

 Once the wheel was marked, it was time to drill 30 holes....1/2 way there...no turning back - no testing the waters - jump right in, the water is warm!

 It was rather messy with lots of aluminum shavings everywhere:

 All holes drilled - I did not drill the section where the seam was and obviously did not drill where the valve hole is

 about 300 grams worth of rim....I have not weighed the wheel or the parts yet but most people seem to have saved a little over 300 grams worth of weight

 Once everything was drilled, I used a deburring tool to smooth out the sharp edges on the holes.  It took a while as there are 30 holes and the holes needed deburring on both sides of the rim (inside where the tube will sit and also outside as shown here)

 voila - the Graceful Fat Sheba rim after her gastric bypass....

 peeeeekaaaaaboooo

 phewwwww....doing something new on a new purchase is always a little on the anxious side but fortunately it turned out well and it was an easy thing to do - messy, a little time consuming, but easy once you had it all set up with the right tools.
Next step....need to get some ribbon or reflective tape to place as rim liner/strip in order to contain the tube when inflated.

The big unknown is whether it can be ghetto'd for a tubeless set up (especially with the new drilled out rims) - more experimentation at a later date....

McPhattie Parts

Yesterday was a banner day for starting the flow of parts for the McPhattie build.  With the frame having arrived Monday, it meant that it was sitting all by its lonesome waiting for the rest of its identity to arrive.  Fortunately it started to feel a little less lonely yesterday as Mr Brown was busy delivering packages yesterday.  Brown might have just been my favorite person yesterday.

Before we move to the goodies that arrived, there was a question that was bouncing around in my head that was begging to be answered....what is the frame weight?

I took the frame out to weigh it and was surprised that it came in at 4 1/2 pounds.  It might be marginally lighter once I remove (will stay on there for now as they are holding the dropout, bolts for cages, etc) all the bubble wrap on the rear stays but at best, I would imagine it would come in at around 4.4 pounds including all the hardware mentioned above.  That is a pretty reasonable weight considering how burly the frame looks.  I can't imagine how heavy the steel versions of this bike are...talk about an anchor!

When I opened up the front door I saw 3 packages looking like they meant business!  Wednesday's booty included the bottom bracket, brake levers, tires, tubes, rear wheel and skewer for the rear wheel.

What Brown did for me yesterday:

 Rolling Rear Phattie with the skewer attached

 80mm wide rim just begging for some rubber....

for reference on just how wide Phattie is (rubber in the background)....

2012 9:zero:7 frame

Kermit is green with envy this morning!  The bike part parade started yesterday with the arrival of the 9:zero:7 frame....ooohhhh laaaa laaaa, she so purdy....

exciting looking box with goodies in it!!!

 side profile of big bertha

 comparison of a normal width rear triangle versus the big green machine

 nice detail and curves on the top tube - should provide more clearance if having to step into the snow and post-holing without some dire consequences from getting racked on the top tube!

 anudder view of the purdyyyy lines and curves

 phattie goodliness

 wonder how nice and clean she will stay?

 not only is she big, burly, and curvy, but she is surprisingly light - will weight it later today

 wide load coming through!  chooo choooo

 dogs are non-plussed....

Cold Temps means....

it is back to the indoor trainer again!  Most bikers will tell you that indoor training can be akin to having as much fun as getting your leg hairs pulled one at a time.  The inevitable switch to indoor training has meant less time on a bike for me.  I have decided to ease back on hrs on a bike for the near term in an attempt to clear the head and not get too burned out on this riding thing for now.

The plan is to try to maintain some level of base fitness so when it comes time to ramp up, the body won't revolt too much.  It is a good time to switch up the training a little and incorporate some other activities for the time being.  I suppose there is always a chance of a random warm weekend but given the recent temps and snowfall chances are probably slim to none, with slim being out to lunch - hence the recent obsession with the phattie snow bikes!

speaking of, the parts should start to flow in this week so it will be fun to open up what Brown Can Do for me...actually it will probably be a combination of Brown and the USPS bringing the goods...Bring it!  ohh yeah...  

Slow Spec Phattie

Old man winter seems to be warning us of what is to come....The last 3 mornings have been downright cold with temps dipping into the single digits - precariously close to zero farenheit.  We have been a little spoiled up until about a week ago with warmer than normal temps so I suppose we were due, or over-due.

As the cold temps roll in, the perceived urgency of building the phattie has gone into fast forward.  The frame is on the way and so far, the specs look a little sumn sumn like:

Frame;  9:zero:7
fork:  Fatback steel fork
front wheel: Rolling Darryl rim laced to 135mm surly hub
rear wheel: Vicous Cycle Fat Sheba rim laced to a salsa 170mm hub
bottom bracket: Truvativ Howizter
Crankset: Truvativ Ruktion double with bashguard and 36/24 w/ 175mm cranks
headset: origin8 - white threadless 1 1/8
front rubber - Surly Larry
rear rubber - Surly Nate
the remaining parts will be appropriated from parts that need to be put back on a bike...including SRAM shifters/der and avid brakes...

The above specs should start to roll in over the next couple of weeks and it will be a fun process to build it up (with pix to follow as the parts arrive)

Doggie Style Surround Sound

Those of us who are dog owners realize just how much joy dogs bring us.  They are the epitome of unconditional love and their personalities often provide moments of hilarity, curiosity, tenderness, protection, etc....

When we moved to Butte we were struck at the number of feral dogs roaming the streets and having an extended back yard to sniff, mark, explore.  Our yard did not have a fence and subsequently became a target of the packs that would roam the hood.  They would often cruise by, take a dip in the little fountain/pond and then proceed to leave us a gift or two.  This was ever more prevalent when they figured out that a new dog was in the house/yard.  I would do my best to chase them off but unfortunately they did not exactly have a regular schedule when they would swing by and the randomness of their visits meant we did not catch them every time - not to mention poor Moby would be beside himself when he was in the house and saw dogs in his yard.

The fix was relatively easy - we needed to put up a fence.  That was one of the very first projects upon moving in so that Moby could have the yard back to himself and we did not have stray dogs roaming and not only marking the yard, but also marking the house!  yup - the little goofballs took it upon themselves to actually mark our house...this was about the time I realized the stains on the siding were from dogs marking.  Fortunately Moby would always alert me when dogs started to get close to his home.  Over the past couple of years the feral visits have declined but the one thing we can't seem to address is the barking of our neighbor dogs.

We have 3 sets of neighbors that have loud yappy, barking dogs that seem to telepathically tell each other when to bark such that there is more or less a constant drone of WOOF WOOF throughout the day.  It is not an occasional woof, but incessant barking for long periods of time.  They seem to hand off that relay bark baton as they take turns throughout the day.  At first glance it is funny but being woken up every day (yes every day) to pups barking at 6 a.m. is not my preferred way to wake up. Worse yet is that the neighbors across the street have 3 dogs in their small yard who never get taken for walks (or taken to the vet for that matter).   As a result the poor dogs are bored and subsequently bark at just about anything - like a leaf blowing in the wind, a bird fluttering, etc  Why people like this feel the need to have dogs is beyond me since they never get any attention and are stuck in the yard every day of the year - even those days where it is in the negative temps.

I have tried calling the city to complain about the constant barking and we were subsequently treated to our house getting egged and chicken bones dropped in our yard.  Fortunately I found the chicken bones before the dogs did or else it really could have been disastrous for dogs - chicken bones splinter and can cause dogs some serious damage.  After calling the city again and trying an anonymous complaint, the city pretty much absolved themselves from anything by saying there is nothing they can do (or more precisely, there is nothing they were willing to do).

So after a few attempts at peaceful resolution, it was time to just suck it up and try an approach of acceptance - so here I am writing about the surround sound of the dogs and trying to laugh about the absurdity of it all.
The surround Woof starts across the street in the early a.m. then works over to the neighbors behind us mid morning and then moves over to the other side of the street later in the day and then back over to the first group in the afternoon after they have woken up from their slumber.  At about quitting time all the dogs are active again as the neighborhood becomes more active with people returning from work and letting their dogs out to roam the hood.  The cycle ends in the evening as the dogs continue their serenades into the dark chasing phantoms of the night and then starts right back up again in the a.m.

I think I hear them now....

Phatty Specs

I have spent the last few weeks stalking the MTBR Fat Bikes forum and boning up on specs and the different options in the land of the Phat!

I decided to spec the build out with a frame that will allow for a 170mm rear hub and 135 mm front hub.  This will make for symmetrical wheels in the front and back (as opposed to the offset wheels that are on the slimmer 135mm rear hubs).  I figured it will be easier to work on a centered and symmetrical wheel as opposed to trying to work on a wheel that has the spokes off center on the rim with a dish to boot.  Not to mention the weirdness of looking at an offset wheel.

The downside is fewer options for the rear hubs but with each choice there are pros and cons.  As someone state...you can't really go wrong with either because either way you will be riding PHAT!

I ended up going with the 9:zero:7 frame in a kermit the frog green with envy choice (my own naming convention as I don't think the frame manufacturer cares less about stooopid names).  I am guessing it will probably take a couple of weeks to ship but little kermit will be ready to be built up a la Phattie.

Next on the agenda...wheel choice....I decided on a rear set up of a Fat Reba rim (80mm wide) with the 180mm Salsa hub and then switched it up just a tad on the front and went with the Surly Rolling Darryl rim on a Surly 135mm hub.  The rims should look pretty much the same (black and both are 80 mm) so aesthetically it should not be noticeable at all.  Why the phattie switcharoo?  100% supply and demand...I found killer deals for each wheel and so it made more sense to by each separately.  I had even toyed with the idea of buying the hubs and rim and lcaing it up myself but then quickly figured out the nominal difference in price was not worth the hassle of trying to lace up a wheelset.

Next up will be getting a bottom bracket and crankset...this will be the last item required for purchase for the build - since the phatties rock a wider bottom bracket (excuse the pun),my bottom bracket from my old bike will not fit.   Everything else should be usable from the old bike so that will be sweet.

It is now time to 'wait patiently' until the goodies arrive...It is becoming a little more addicting mostly because the weather has officially turned cold - single digits on the thermo this a.m.

pictures forthcoming at some point in the future when the parts arrive.