20 January 2013

The fat bikes have arrived!

On Saturday the 19th January 2013 to complete my birthday week Amanda and I received our new bikes.  :)
New bikes
Here are a couple of facts about the bikes, the tyres (tires if you are American) are 4" wide and run at low pressure to allow you to float over the snow or dirt, they recommend 5-10psi.  As most people who know my wife know she likes the colour purple a lot.  Since we were finding it difficult to find a purple bike we went with a silver frame and purple accents (cables, nipples, seat clamp) it looks amazing.

Next extra is the reflective tape you can see in the above pictures, since the wheel rims we bought have cut outs in them for weight saving purposes, you get the opportunity to add something a little different to the wheels. (I've seen a photo of one guy who installed lights in his cutouts, here)  We sourced some retro reflective tape from http://www.identi-tape.com/ which allows any light to be reflected back towards the source, hence the reason the flash from the iphone photo above can't cope with the picture so well.

All that was left to do was take them out for a short spin, here is Amanda heading out for a short ride.
Amanda out for a ride
This is me heading out in the snow that arrived later in the day.

Me out for a ride
Finally a shot of my bike in the woods.

Bike in the woods
This week there was also a story on NPR about Fat Bikes here is the link

The next couple of projects will be adding some skis to the wheels on the trailer so we can all get out together.  Some thing like this will be completed in the not to distant future, just waiting on our things from Bogota to arrive so I can make some measurements.  And making some stands for the bikes like this

Well that is all from me for now more riding stories and manufacturing stories to follow probably. 

4 comments:

  1. How did you apply the tape? I assume you took the inner tube out and applied pieces or a strip?

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    1. Hi Nils, The tape was backed so didn't have a sticky side showing. Process is as follows, remove tyre, tube and old rim strip, measure and cut tape so it wraps around the rim. Use a small piece of tape to secure ends of tape. Reinstall tyre and tube with new tape in place.

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  2. Which type of tape did you use from the linked site? I really love the effect but they have so many types of tape. Want to make sure I get the right kind.

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    Replies
    1. I used this one, 2" width. It worked for the rims I was using at the time.
      http://www.identi-tape.com/hi-intensity2.htm

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