The Bauer Family

So Sunday came around and after church, lunch and some chores I put on some bike gear and took the Fat Bike (dubbed: Green Machine) out for it's first ride.  I managed to make it out the icy driveway without crashing and to the road.  The tires had a little self steer but not as much as I had anticipated.  I had reversed the tire direction to see if I could get more traction on the tires for snow.  Snow tires will definitely be an upcoming investment (at least before the next winter sets in).  There was a strong wind coming out of the west and when I got to Burt Road with the wind at my back I made good time.  I arrived at the Taymouth Township Park which is only about a half mile from the house.  The main area of the park is closed, however my scouting on the way home from church told me that some of the parking lot had been plowed.  I rode around and found that snowmobiles had been all over the park.  So I went off road and started riding t...

I got the bike back from the shop on Thursday.  They had to break the head of the pinch bolt to remove the crank arm.  This bolt was way over torqued and Greg at The Stable thought the bolts were pretty soft and cheap.  So he replaced the bolt that was left and I will be running it for now with only one bolt.  Should be ok and at some point the crank will be upgraded.  So I stripped the bike down the rest of the way and started to build it back up.  I am glad I tore it down as it needed grease in the headset and I also greased all the bolts when I put it back together.     The Samox crank that came on the bike does not appear to be bad.  The chainrings on it were very heavy.  I changed them out and put on a 22 tooth small ring that I had, 36 tooth Blackspire and then added a bash guard.  I may remove the bash guard and add some of the tabs to cleanup the look.  The bike went back together smoothly.  I did decide to ...

So I woke up early this morning and could not fall back to sleep.  I got up and started a fire, had a cup of coffee and surged the internet.  After an hour I stacked the wood burner and headed for the bike shop.  I built up the fat bike named, "Green Machine".  It took me all of 23 minutes.   Drive Side. Brake Side.   I did not do any adjustments on it as this was only to set up and weigh so I could compare weight for the stock bike and after upgrades.  The weight was 36.06 lbs.   After this was done I started to tear it down.  I ran into a couple issues with over torqued bolts.  I stripped the head of one of the crank arm cinch bolts.  I will be taking it in to the Stable on Monday.  Greg there said he would take a look at it and try to remove the bolt.  Hope he can save the arm.  If he can not it is not a large expense and a very common part.   Over all the bike is very nice given the pri...

So it finally arrived and was setting on the porch when we got home yesterday.  I managed to get it to the basement and open the box yesterday.  Unboxing, etc. will start over the weekend. It's here! The box is open. I weighed box and all last night on the bathroom scale.  It was 46.6 pounds.  Plan is to build stock and then tear down and build with upgrades.  I want to get a weight before and after.  Hopefully have it done by next weekend. Will post over the weekend as I make progress.

Received an email from BikesDirect yesterday.  The bike has arrived at their warehouse early and will be shipped in the next 2 business days. Sounds like I could have it next week. Stay tuned.

We once again had a busy weekend.  It was snowing early Saturday and we had hoped to go to Michelle's grandparents house to finish emptying it out.  The plans were cancelled when it started to snow and the prediction was for another 5-7 inches.  Michelle and I decided that we should do a little grocery shopping.  We went to Frankenmuth and returned a couple hours later.  We worked out together in the evening and did some cleaning in the basement. On Sunday I cleaned the driveway which took a couple hours.  We went to church and when we got home we decided it was time to move the sofa from grandmas into the basement, move the table to the bonus room and bring in a stack of wood to the garage.  I cleaned a trail with the snow thrower to the basement window while JJ was loading wood into my truck.  We did our moving and Michelle and JJ started preparing for our Super Bowl party.  I went to the basement and rode the trainer for 50 minutes. Th...