The new campfire thread...ooooh purrrrty!!!!!!

[Fenlason]

The weather today did improve.. we had some sun.. and just a few little sprinkles.

I got my second door finished, and installed. I also got the latches installed on each. I add a hook and eye "lock" for the inside of the far end door. I also built and installed the second ramp.. this one will fold up. I need to yet find a way to hold it in the folded up position.

We then went for a group mountain bike ride.

[mikeschn]

Hey Fen,

Sorry for dusting off this old post, but I had a question about your Fuze... Does it have the suspension fork? Why would you need that on a fat bike? You have the 3.0 tires?

I just got the Fatboy. I can't believe how much fun that one is to ride! I seem to float over everything! I got the 4.6 tires. Wow! I was gonna switch them out for more of a summer tire, https://www.veetireco.com/listings/fat-speedster/ , but now I'm wondering if that's even necessary. Plus the speedster doesn't come in a 4.6" size.

Mike...

The getting up real early two days in a row is getting to me.. I am starting to get pretty groggy.

I did work on some bikes today. I got new tires mounted on each of our newer Fuzes… a little more aggressive tires.

I then switch out the wheels on the Ice Cream Truck. I put the original 5 wheels back on. I put on the different tires.. and set the wheels up tubeless. I did let some more air out of the fork to soften it up a bit. This should be a fun set up. The tires should be a bit faster than the originals. They are still pretty knobby.. but the originals were Setting them up tubeless should help also. Less weight.. and less rolling resistance… and this will be the first time with a suspension fork on a fat bike. I think that is the one I will use for tonights ride.

[Fenlason]

Hey Mike.. Congratulations on the Fat Boy.. they are a blast.

Fatter tires do add comfort [and it might be all the comfort you need].. but they don't make up for suspension, or at least in rougher stuff. Right now I have 3 Fat bikes.. and 2 plus bikes. Fat bikes are bikes that have at least a 3.8 inch tire.. [which generally have rims that are 65mm -100mm]. Plus bikes have 3" tires on narrower rims.

My Krampus is 29er plus, and it is fully rigid. It is a blast.. I like the challenge of riding it without suspension.. but in rough east coast rooty and rocky stuff, it can be a handful. The Fuze is a 27.5 plus bike.. I don't have a lot of time on yet.. but is equally fun. I can go MUCH faster on it in the rough ruff.

I did purchase a Bluto suspension fork for my Ice Cream Truck.. a 5" tired fat bike. Again... I can go much faster with it and with more control. A 5" tire goes cushion things.. but it also gets wicked bouncy hitting the big stuff.. There is no rebound damping to a big tire filled with air... you start bouncing down the trail like a pinball.

I did purchase the 4.6 Ground control tires to try on the ICT... and love them. They roll a quite a bit better than the Lou and Bud tires it came stock with. I love the Lou and Bud when you need them... [maximum traction and float] but much of the time, I don't need that much.

I did also purchase another set of wheels so I could run 29 plus on it also. [if I had known I was getting the Fuze.. I might not have done that..but it did add to my education]

There are more efficient tires out there.. although I can't say I have ridden any of the new ones. The original Fat bike tires.. Endomorph and Big Fat Larry... had minimal tread.. and were faster, but I am not sure that either is still made. They do have more road worthy tires.. something that would be faster / more efficient, than your ground controls. Your Ground Controls would wear out fairly quickly on a lot of pavement. [meaning the knobs would wear down] which I guess would only be a problem if you were riding where you needed that traction.

You don't need to stay with the same width tire as what your bike came with... and tires do vary.. the Lou and Bud for example are listed as a 4.8... just .2 inches wider than your ground controls.. but there is a big difference in them.

I am not sure how those 3.5's would fit your bike. The issue being the rim width [you have ... if I remember correctly 82mm rims] They may work great.. I just don't have any experience with them.

Enjoy... if you have any other questions.. feel free...

I just looked at the rim spec.. they list inside width now vs outside.. but they are listed as an 86mm [so maybe they were a 92 outside] I have 65mm, 82, and 100's

[Fenlason]

Woo hoo The sun came out yesterday.. and we have sun today

Although it is supposed to pour tomorrow and be showery Monday.. then we are supposed to have a decent rest of the week.

I did some work on my addition yesterday. I have my Snowdog moved into it now, and I have it elevated off it's track. I build rests on the wall for one side of it, and built jack stand like supports for the other side. It might have been easier to just use two pulleys and some rope.

For summer storage I rotate the handbags and stem, so I can move it over closer to the wall. For winter use I will just drive it in and out, with out the handlebar switch or jacking it up.

I did hang some tools on part of the exposed wall [inside barn side] the inside other wall will have some more significant storage built in.

Laurie was home for the day at lunch time.. she helped me with the soffit.. then we headed out for some trail work. In the areas we went, we had a LOT more downed trees than I thought. I am hoping it was just in that area.

We plan to do more work on the shed today, as well as more trail work.

[toypusher]

Rained all night and is still a light rain out there. might hit 60 today for the first time in 3 days or so. And they are calling for near 90 degrees by mid week!

Work not going so good. We still do not have a good and reliable person to be my helper and that just makes things really a pain in the butt. Boss's brother is really good, but a bit slow and is not physically fit enough to last a whole day. The other guy is faster and more reliable, but does not do near as good a job.

Laundry today and then later this afternoon we are going to take "prom pictures" of our 16 year old great niece!

[Fenlason]

We had decent sun most of the day. It has clouded up.. for rain tonight [?] and tomorrow. We had a good and productive day today. We got more done on the "dog house".. and lots of trail work done... then we had a nice trail ride with Angela.

We did ride trails we had not cleaned up yet. There is a lot of work yet to do, but much of what we saw wasn't too bad. We do have a big tree down.. about the furthest from a dual track as we can get... so I will have to hike in with a saw.

We are supposed to have some heavy rain tomorrow.... but we could use a day off from the physical stuff. So taking it easy and catching up on house work.. might be it.

[mikeschn]

Wow, there just isn't much out there... I did find this, https://xtremebikeandsport.com/products ... bk-wire-30
which would work on the el oso that I have at my dad's house, but I'm not sure it'll work on the Fatboy. I'll have to stop by the LBS and see what they say.

Your bikes sound like a lot of fun. The IceCreamTruck must be getting close to 50 pounds with all that steel.

This article says some bikes are hitting sub 22 pounds... https://magazine.bikesoup.com/buyers-gu ... fat-bikes/

Mike...

[Fenlason]

Wow, there just isn't much out there... I did find this, https://xtremebikeandsport.com/products ... bk-wire-30
which would work on the el oso that I have at my dad's house, but I'm not sure it'll work on the Fatboy. I'll have to stop by the LBS and see what they say.

Your bikes sound like a lot of fun. The IceCreamTruck must be getting close to 50 pounds with all that steel.

This article says some bikes are hitting sub 22 pounds... https://magazine.bikesoup.com/buyers-gu ... fat-bikes/

Mike...

The Ice Cream Truck isn't exactly light... no. It's a little over 40 pounds, with the suspension fork on it. I do have it set up so I can easily go back to the rigid fork, for snow riding. This is their stoutest frame. They say it will handle any terrain..that you can still hang on for. I seemed to be riding it alone most of the time, so heavier isn't as much of a problem, I would love a lighter Fat Boy at some point though.

That V tire you first mentioned will probably work fine, I just have never seen it, or seen it on a rim.. to see what it does to the profile.

[mikeschn]

Here's what is on the el oso

IMG_2644.JPG (266.66 KiB) Viewed 946 times

Mike...

[Fenlason]

That looks like a relatively fast tire.

I forgot to comment on the rest of your earlier post. Sub 22 is doable.. but is maybe more on the delicate side. They generally use pretty fragile tires to do that. Although if all you are looking for is a snow racer... riding groomed snow... isn't all that tough on equipment.

Just a few pounds can make a difference. I have a friend that has one around 25 pounds. I would be ok with something around 27-28 pounds.

[Fenlason]

Mike I was skimming through the article you linked.. they talked about 120 PSI for a black floyd tire...

You would have a bomb on your hands. The pressure range for this tire is 18-25.. a tire that size.. 25 PSI.. is pretty hard.

The tires casing has 120 Threads per inch.. that is not a good thing to mix up!!! The higher the thread count.. generally the lighter the tire is.. and the more supple the casing. Many of Surly's tires come in 2 versions.. a higher and lower thread counts. {a higher thread count is also more expensive.}

Most often the higher thread count is a better tire... although I have heard on their dirt wizard tire.. "everyone" seems to prefer the lower thread count in that tire.

[toypusher]

Happy Mother's day to all you mothers!

Been grocery shopping and now working on meals for the inlaws to put in their freezer. We will be going over there later today. Wanted to get the lawn mowed again, but it is pretty wet and after all it is mother's day and I don't want to make all that noise for a hour or so.

[mikeschn]

It looks like someone confused psi with tpi. 'They really should fix that.

The LBS told me to keep my ground control tires between 8 and 19 psi.

Mike...

Mike I was skimming through the article you linked.. they talked about 120 PSI for a black floyd tire...

You would have a bomb on your hands. The pressure range for this tire is 18-25.. a tire that size.. 25 PSI.. is pretty hard.

The tires casing has 120 Threads per inch.. that is not a good thing to mix up!!! The higher the thread count.. generally the lighter the tire is.. and the more supple the casing. Many of Surly's tires come in 2 versions.. a higher and lower thread counts. {a higher thread count is also more expensive.}

Most often the higher thread count is a better tire... although I have heard on their dirt wizard tire.. "everyone" seems to prefer the lower thread count in that tire.

[Fenlason]

It looks like someone confused psi with tpi. 'They really should fix that.

The LBS told me to keep my ground control tires between 8 and 19 psi.

Mike...

Mike I was skimming through the article you linked.. they talked about 120 PSI for a black floyd tire...

You would have a bomb on your hands. The pressure range for this tire is 18-25.. a tire that size.. 25 PSI.. is pretty hard.

The tires casing has 120 Threads per inch.. that is not a good thing to mix up!!! The higher the thread count.. generally the lighter the tire is.. and the more supple the casing. Many of Surly's tires come in 2 versions.. a higher and lower thread counts. {a higher thread count is also more expensive.}

Most often the higher thread count is a better tire... although I have heard on their dirt wizard tire.. "everyone" seems to prefer the lower thread count in that tire.

We often use even less than 8psi.. especially in snow.

[Fenlason]

Early this morning our rain hadn't started yet.. so Laurie decides we could get some trail work done. By the time we finished breakfast it had started... although it was pretty light. We did head out for a little work.

It has gotten heavier through the day, and is pretty heavy now.. rain and 40's... although further north.. they had snow. A friend west of here [in NH] got 5" of snow over night.

We otherwise had a semi lazy day. We did some house work, and were out in the barn.. looking at projects. I had though about building storage in the new addition for all my power hand tools, but now I am thinking of a spot in the main area of the barn. Where I have moved my bicycle repair area to the new shop, I have that area.. or I have another bench near that.

I have a few more non-powered hand tools for the need addition. I will also built a spot for a couple of chainsaws.. and fuels and oil for the saws and the Snowdog.