Proj. Golem Minor.

It might not have been apparent but each time when something of interest is going to turn into another endless wall of text article... I begin to think to myself if it's really worth the effort or if anyone would even be interested. Then again many things are really meant as a depository of sorts for myself on things biking and tinkering. At the same time there's much influence by people who choose to espouse long pieces like one of my favorite site, http://lovelybike.blogspot.sg/ .

Of course my scribbling is obviously lacking by a million miles both in terms of writing skills and depth of each topic (ok, on the latter I choose to be lazy sometimes in not putting  up all the relevant links and being more in-depth with history of things)....


3rd Jul 2014..... Time for another itchy mind itchy finger conversion on a bike that has been working well for its intended build.

Golem? Maybe its the whole sandy rootbeer-camo theme coupled with the change to a bigger footprint. and all the mecha-animes I've been watching recently like Broken Blade. Really, one of the better from the mecha genre out there in the last few seasons... Ok I digresss again...


Yea, back to a "not fat, not thin but a squishy perfection in-between". Once done, that would  allow singing the merits of how wider rims of a faux fat sussie is the best of both world between my regular 28-30mm mtb hoops and the Moonlander's  100mm steamrollers? Throw in a whole crock load of biking jargon from compression, rebound to float and confuse the hell out of all my riding but non bike-savvy friends.

All to make them drop a ton of money faster than their pants to convert theirs ;)

Oh..what are friends for huh!

Nope..I'm leaving my evil alter ego aside... truth is...

... this is a culmination of various other bike ideas over the years too.. a military theme bike that took roots long ago but never materialized...

So what happens to the usual  Zenvilogy of "FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION"? .. All that to blend in with some colored duct tape on the bike now ??? ...  frenzied screaming voices of  imaginary fans is reaching a crescendo within my grey matters as I type now.....
.

Actually,  it's been loads of "researching" before arriving at this decision.. Aesthetics is a bonus after all other things fall into place nicely.. Certainly not one being averse to larger tire volumes whenever possible on my bikes.

More importantly at this stage in life, I'm not after speed or podium finishes but fun, comfort plus lots and lots of bike related tinkering projects :) .... speaking of which, let's see how much bigger things get...

Left to right: 48mm Try-All Nowar K2 mounted up with 2.4 Onza Ibex. Measured smooth wall to wall
28mm Halo Freedom Disc with 2.4 Ardents measured wall to wall.
Same Halo with Ardent measured lug to lug at widest point.
6.5mm wider wall to wall.. but measured across the entire donut-- its probably a 6-9% increase in vol..
Definitely. gonna be a diff in the ride feel. and hopefully that should let me start running pressure in the lo 10s psi.
ALL mounted to smallish mtb tube-- if using those large DH ones-I reckon things will widen another couple mm.

Side to side comparison showing a visual difference on the wider setup. Plonk into the  rear to check for clearance.
Enough on the sides not to touch and might just fit a Surly Wizard 2.75.. so long as that tre isn't too tall.

Nothing new really. Folks have been experimenting with wide trials rims on normal mtb circa 2005-07. But it never really caught on somehow... that is until the Fatsunami came crashing in these 2 years... with it came the not-so-fat, mostly instigated by Surly like their Instigator and Krampus models.. Suddenly there is a revived interest in niche circles with ~50mm rims.. Then of course there are brands like Sandman banking on going big but not float-in-the-dead-of-winter-snowing-BIG type of builds and geometry.

Having climbed on the fat train since 09 with a Pugs and "upgraded" to a Moonlander last year, in between these and the EGs... I am beginning to toy with the idea of a "tweener medium" at a time when the world was lolli-sucking into the 27.5 wave.

Why? Well there are things that are just more fun with a full suspension bike. Then there are properties of fatties that cannot be understood if you have never rode them. Then there is always the idea of zipping all genres to come up with that ONE PERFECT BIKE.... it will probably never happen but it has never stopped people from wasting money trying to achieve it.

These demi fatness revolves around an obsession with the Surly Wizard  2.75" rubbers... well, there just aren't all that many tires that will fit the bill out there. First to fit this chimera and still be left with usable clearance is determining what's the biggest possible. Older 2.6-.27 DH tires have pretty much gone the way of the dodos in the DH circuit. Besides those are a little too heavy even for non weight weenie me.

From the info by Surly on the dimensions on Wizards-- taking the 50mm readings which is close enough to my recent rim purchase. But as luck would have it, the most important piece of info needed is missing... the tire height from top of rim to the outermost of the tire-- determines whether it will clear the yoke of the main pivot on the rear tri is not available ;(
update: Dumb ass me.. .just realize the measurements are all there after all..

Ok time to trawl the usual forums and see if anyone has some info to offer..
In the worse case, just stick with the Onza Ibex 2.4-- which by far seems to be the biggest 2.4" currently in my possession...

To be continued...


...
17 Jul 2014...
Couple of real world measurements of Velocity's 26" Dually rims @ 45mm wide mounted with Dirt Wizard puts the overall diameter @ 700mm. My 48mm is not gonna make too much difference to the tire height...

Looks like center of axle to yoke on the EG is gonna come up maybe 1/2 a centi short  DAMN! But let's leave this to mull for later...

Anyway wheels are back tonight.. Looks good despite a lot of earlier worries.. Haven't talked about it earlier but when the rims arrived - there's considerable gaps in each of them. That is why I always bring my hula hoops to trusted builders.. if they dare lace it up and hand it back-- they are good to go. Otherwise they won't even touch it.

Moreover this time, with these kind of rim-- the knowledge of how to build them up is a little beyond me to attempt a home build.

It's weird how the pinning is right across the hole and not even centered. Had to take a chance. Finding and ordering trials stuff was a totally different ball game from regular mtb/roadie bits. Was reluctant to send back if it can be used... I know most of these trial rims are just a clone of one another and each factory will just try to push it a little more.. still this whole pinning is not really my cuppa for how a rim should be made in all honesty.

Then again this wouldn't be something I'm gonna take for those head on bashing 10' drop-in FR rides from the start go...so will let it pass for now.

The rims seem a little too light for my taste at this width... My gravity oriented bombproof still-be-rolling-when-I'm-long-gone-and-dead CK/Hope + 30mm Spank Subrosa are heavier! Overall the build now is not too much different from when the same Hope EVOs were laced to those WTB 480gm i23 (incl. rim tapes) @ 1,92kg.

Since these weigh ~570gm a piece and was necessary to use those big ass 16mm nipples...they took a 230gm hit and end up with at a grand total of  2.154kg now.

Getting those camo duct tapes nice and smooth isn't a straight forward process. Gotta stretch the Surly rim strips underneath just enough. Too little and parts of of the rim strip will be exposed as there isn't sufficient tape on the outside. Too much and there is going be all kind of crease and folds.
Trial-and-error and half a wasted roll later... DONE.

Here... all pumped up hard to let the bead sit in tight overnight...

These 'bloons here were blown up with big 280-300gm tubbies The extra 230gm of the build  and another ~260 due to the tubbies  (over my usual 160gm ones) + those Surly rim tapes-

DAMN its a WHOOPING 1/2 Kg of rotating mass. OK got to ponder whether to go back with lighter weight tubes eventually. Ggrrrhhhhhhh.....


Why not tubeless....
For one-- I have never gone tubeless, UST or ghetto.
With proper UST tires, sealants and all-- doubt there is much saving if not increase the weight further.
Ghetto with these softer 120 TPI sidewall tires and a split tube--I feel a little uneasy and not sure if these trials rim can be properly converted. The rim design is just not meant for tubeless.

Anyway I'm just not a tubeless person... Been on tubes with 19-23 psi over the last 5-6 yrs with nary an issue.. we got rocks but hardly thorns so I don't really get the kind of pinch flat woes like my heavier friends....

19 Jul 2014
Ok all done up and even gave it a spit shine tire polish my former regimental sergeant major would approve..

Ride around a bit and I would say it has characteristics that falls in between my regular suspension setup and a fat bike. Maybe leaning a little towards a regular mtb and that is why I'm still adamant to stick some 2.75" rubbers on it. Exhibiting the magic carpet float over finger roots on my short test ride this morning with  12-14 psi but certainly can use whatever extra volume that can be squeezed into it.


Tomorrow is the trail test-- so will come up with all the techie "review" bits like how the wheels roll or push and how's the float over an extended run in relation to the suspension settings..

Update: 30 Jul
>>>>>> Enough of the boring stuff..here's how it rides<<<<<<