44 Bikes

[fortyfour]

[Rusty Mac]

That is a lot of welding in a little space, all of it looks amazing.

Going back a couple of your posts, your new fat bike... What BB shell and BB did you use for the frame? I know you had hinted previously you like the design of the new race face cinch cranks so I am not massvely suprised to see them but did the 30mm spindle influence the design at all?

[fortyfour]

That is a lot of welding in a little space, all of it looks amazing.

Going back a couple of your posts, your new fat bike... What BB shell and BB did you use for the frame? I know you had hinted previously you like the design of the new race face cinch cranks so I am not massvely suprised to see them but did the 30mm spindle influence the design at all?

Thanks for the kind words. A lot of welding but then again, about the same amount of welding in the head tube/top tube/down tube junction too. Maybe even slightly less if stretched out in one long bead?

BB Shell width is 100mm English Threaded by Paragon Machine Works (they come in at 100.5mm to be faced/chased down to 100mm post weld). I used the Race Face 30mm english threaded bottom bracket with those cranks. The cinch spindle did not effect the design really, but the 190mm version of this set of cranks is much longer than the 170mm version I had on hand. So I really could have given it a heck of a lot more tire clearance - and most likely would have made the bends a little different on this one. All of which is good reference for the next one.

I will most likely upgrade to a RWS Bottom Bracket which is compatible with 30mm spindles in the future. We'll see how the race face bottom bracket holds up over a winter. I do know previous race face bottom brackets would eventually develop a creak - so far so good on the set i have on my 1x10 29er.

[fortyfour]

[fortyfour]

A while back, someone asked about my photo set up. It's pretty simple and bare bones - last night I was shooting a new fat bike and figured I'd take a few shots of my single speed and use that time to take a few shots of the process too. So here is the set up. You'll all note it's right next to the Bridgeport, tool chest is locked up and rolled to the far left out of view, seamless is hung on permanent hooks on an adjustable pole, rolled out and 3 lights are used with umbrella's (one to the left, one to the right and one overhead):



To give you an idea of how things start to come together in post, I use Photoshop CS5 (I'm on a Mac Pro tower for all things design oriented - I have a PC tower for Solidworks). A little bit of clean up and some tricks I have developed over the years to get things looking juicy (sorry, those I keep close!). Here's where that sits on the background:



My lights are on the older side (Lowe Pro's) and I'd say perhaps a little under powered. I'd like to upgrade them sometime in the future to something just a little more powerful and get a good set of hoods for them. But I know the setup and with a little bit of elbow grease I can get the shots looking ok. Sometimes I get some dark spots or parts that are a little bit too hot, but I try and work that to good effect. Sometimes it works, other times it does not - naturally you're your own worst critic! But here is the final shot with the background erased and things flattened / juiced up:

[fortyfour]

This is it. The last installment. I have other ideas, so there will be other articles. Till then, enjoy...

PART 1

PART 2

[Rusty Mac]

Just read the two parts of your fat bike build. It is a fantastic write up of both why you do what you do and how you do it.

I never really got the whole fat bike thing till reading your articles. A lot of the riding I read about with fat bikes over here in Scotland is beach bashing, riding dunes and riding coastal trails (Google Forth Fat 14 for a big event that took place where I grew up earlier on in the year). This side of the fat bike scene just doesn't do it for me.

I am now based in a somewhat unique location in the North East of Scotland, on the coast but not too far from the mountains. Now seeing more snow in the winters than when I lived in 150 miles further South and although the snow is not exactly in comparison to what you get in New England I can finally begin to picture how a fat bike would not only work with the types of riding l enjoy but help make those cheeky forest trails an absolute blast to ride in the snow. Typically when the snow falls the trails are out of bounds until it clears a little and the trail freezes and you can blast along the hard frozen ground like it summertime for a brief period until it turns gloopy and boggy or the snow coves them again.

Epic article, keep up the good work.

[Jussi Kettunen]

Just read the two parts of your fat bike build. It is a fantastic write up of both why you do what you do and how you do it.

I second this!

Kris, care to share the HT angle and the fork rake?

[fortyfour]

I second this!

Kris, care to share the HT angle and the fork rake?

Unfortunately, that's some of the secret sauce. Let's just say it's nothing out of the ordinary really, but it's not super slack nor is it super steep. It's rake, head angle IN ADDITION to bottom bracket height, rider center of gravity, wheelbase and chain stay length. All those factors add up to the sum total of how the bike handles in snow. No one factor really dominates the other (but i can say that one of the important ones is really bottom bracket height).

[Jussi Kettunen]

Unfortunately, that's some of the secret sauce. Let's just say it's nothing out of the ordinary really, but it's not super slack nor is it super steep. It's rake, head angle IN ADDITION to bottom bracket height, rider center of gravity, wheelbase and chain stay length. All those factors add up to the sum total of how the bike handles in snow. No one factor really dominates the other (but i can say that one of the important ones is really bottom bracket height).

I knew that would be your answer, but I had to try. ;)

[fortyfour]

I knew that would be your answer, but I had to try. ;)

So my suggestion of course is to do this: Build. Ride. Repeat. Often. You'll figure it out and build a really good recipe for handling doing this.

[wasfast]

Just a note of supreme thanks to Kris for taking time to answer my questions about Industrial Design etc. Nothing in it for him yet he sent several VERY lengthy and detailed replies. Greatly appreciate the time you spent to help me out.

[fortyfour]

This is Yuri Eliashevsky's build. Lucky No. 13. Yuri's the only factory rider for 44 Bikes. He built this sucker up as a single speed for Double Dare this weekend (A grueling 2 day event put on by Pisgah Productions which is a check point style stage race in Pisgah National Forest in NC). He finished 1st overall in Singlespeed. Over 100 miles on a single speed in Pisgah, NC. That's something.

Put that name into your head: YURI ELIASHEVSKY

Super proud of my friend and the only factory rider for 44 Bikes. Nice work this weekend buddy.

More information about this race here.

[saltz]

can you share geometry and other details of that build? As someone who rides (and falls) at Pisgah frequently, interested in everything from angles and chainstay length to stem length to tubing choices. how much travel does he have in the front and how wide are those tires?

[fortyfour]

can you share geometry and other details of that build? As someone who rides (and falls) at Pisgah frequently, interested in everything from angles and chainstay length to stem length to tubing choices. how much travel does he have in the front and how wide are those tires?

Sure no problem. For reference sake, here is his full build set from start to finish.

His build came together before Fox offered the Float in a 120mm fork. So we had to build around a 100mm fork which is fine as he also races a lot in all the events in Pisgah/NC. However, if I were to build the bike today, we'd have the option of a Float in a 120mm version and I think that is the route we'd go. He and I are very similar in height and measurements with the exception of inseam and weight (We're both 6'1", but he has a 32" inseam while I have a 34" inseam, and I go about 185 while he's more in the 145 lb range).

I build the rider compartment with a setback post and a specific stem length in mind. So his cockpit is specific to his measurements, but the stem length was 90mm with 0 deg. rise. Head angle and seat angle are "70ish" / 73 deg. (those are sagged numbers - parking lot numbers are a lot different - in combination with bottom bracket drop secret sauce, that's where the magic happens). If I recall correctly he also likes to run a little more sag too. Chainstay length is 16.5". I've found when you want something playful but still have all day comfort, 16.5" chain stays on a 29er are kind of a magic number where you have a best of both world scenario. 16.75-17" is where handling start to get sluggish (good all day comfort still) but when you are in the 16-16.375" range, you begin to pay for it on longer rides. Yes that is really short for a 29er and 16" is really really playful - but you can really get broken off on long rides - you lose some of that resiliency with that short of stays. I can build as short as 16" chain stays with room for 2.5" tires with plenty of clearance all the way around. So his is 16.5" chain stays with room for 2.5" tires. He's running a different set of tires now I believe and I'd have to ask him what he's running next time we speak. I do know he said first ride out that the rear tire had to go (which it did - I believe he wanted to try it out in a race).

Drivetrain is a bit different now too: He's running a Wolftooth dropstop 34t chainring up front (no more guide) and he's got their 40t hop up cog too. I just converted my own Sram 12/36t cassette with this and on long rides where you just want to kick back and pedal up an ascent, that 40t is great to help with rest/recovery mid ride where you don't necessarily want to push.

Tubing choices a mix of True Temper and are 1.375" O.D. top tube / 1.5" O.D. down tube. Fork is tapered and 15mm TA. That in combination with a 1.375" TT translates to a real surefooted feel when braking hard through turns or taking on tech at speed - the front end goes where you point it.

Here's another shot:



Another thing we did differently was the amount of drop on his Top Tube - it's really low. Lower than I typically go, but he wanted a lot of stand over. I don't think that much is necessary, but he requested it and I made it happen.

If I were to rebuild the entire bike, I'd build it a little differently geo wise as that recipe has been since further refined. Frame would look a little different too.

Parts spec is a mix of I9/Stan's rims, Shimano M988 Trail Brakes, ENVE cockpit, bars/post/stem, Race Face Next cranks, Sram 12/36t 10spd cassette and X9 shifter/rear derailleur and cane creek 110 headset.

Having ridden in Pisgah a number of times, I have to say NH and NC are similar in terrain. Pisgah has these REALLY long climbs as you know where the grade isn't terribly bad, but it goes on for miles. Where we'll have a short steep punchy climbs. We have long ones too, but not many trails around here are like that. I'd say if I had to compare the two trails, NH has a lot more rock which kind of defines NH a bit (it's not called the Granite State for nothing). Both are techy though. So it was good for me to ride in both spots and see how they compare and are similar but what their differences are so I can better build his bike for his terrain. Basically I found that what I was building for Nh was a good fit for Pisgah. He's loving his bike. Maybe I can get him on here finally to chime in!

[fortyfour]

[fortyfour]

A client of mine in Switzerland was kind enough to give me permission to share these photos. I had built him a fat bike a few years back and he's been riding the heck out of it. At the time, I did not have the tooling necessary to build custom forks yet, so we settled on a White Brothers Snowpack fork. Well-I can make forks now so I was on the hook for building a matching fork for his fat build! Also wanted to upgrade his wheels, and cranks along with converting the front/rear to thru axle configuration. DT Swiss handles the thru axle while the parts to make this all happen come from Paragon Machine Works. Here's the digs...












[

For more shots here is his completed bike set on Flickr.

For the entire build from start to finish as it was originally commissioned, here's the set on Flickr.

[Rusty Mac]

Oh me oh my that blue is stunning. Bike's is not bad either ;-)

[G-reg]

Wow, a stunning bike...All the better without that WB wart of a fork installed. They had to have sold tons of the things as the only non QBP/Fatback/9zero7 option for years, but man they aren't up to par.

I've seen the WB-SP on your builds Kris, so you may have a higher opinion of them than I do. That said, how does a tapered steerer T/A 44 fork ride compared to the snowpack? (loaded question acknowledged!)

[Amaro Bikes]

A client of mine in Switzerland....

Hey Kris, that black clolour looks kind of blueish! :o