Skip to main content

The Green Machine

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 price.  I have decided to stick with the Tektro brakes that came on the bike for the time being.  I did have to shave some paint off the brake mounts as they were not completely faced.  The chain rings on the crank are very heavy, I will save a great deal of weight in this area.  I changed out the rear cassette from a heavy Shimano 9 speed to a much lighter Sram.  I also swapped out the rear tube, still need to do the front.  Eventually I may just go to a 1x9 or 1x10.  I will be going to 2x9 for now.
 
I am hoping that I will have it completed by next weekend and be able to test it out. I will update during the week as I make progress


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Easter

Easter has come and gone.  It was a very busy couple of days.  We started out with Brendan getting very sick Wednesday night.  Luckily he was feeling better on Friday and we were able to enjoy the holiday.. Mom and Dad came out on Saturday.  We met them at Backwood's and had a late lunch.  We then came back to our house to color eggs and visit.     Mom's Work   Mom also brought this with her. This was my grandmother's Lutheran Hymnal.  It was given to her on her confirmation.  It is over 100 years old and in German.  Mom also has her bible.  She is giving this to Amelith Lutheran Church.   We all had a really good time and it was a full day.    On Sunday we went to church and then to Michelle's mom and dad's for a late lunch and the annual easter egg hunt.     The kids had fun as always.   We had a really good meal then Michelle and I took a 2+ mile walk...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer Vacation Day 4: The ER

Day four started out with beautiful weather.  We had breakfast and Michelle took Brendan fishing.  I decided I would take a ride on the bike and do a little recon for a family bike ride. I set off east to ride toward Rapid River.  I rode around the the edge of the bay and took a few pictures. Dunes on the edge of Gladstone. This was around 4-5 miles out of town in a small subdivision. The photo above is of a small river I crossed, unfortunately I cannot remember the name.  I thought I found a bike trail that would be nice for all of us.  Unfortunately it was swampy and not kept up.  I headed back to Gladstone and met Michelle and Brendan out on the fishing dock. I sat with them for a while and Brendan caught this. This is a Gobi.  An invasive species of the Great Lakes. After a few minutes I started back to the house.  On the way I started to have some chest pain.  After showering it had not let up. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer Vacation: Day 8, Marquette

Day out started out cool, cloudy and windy.  It would stay like that the entire day.  After Michelle got up we took a little walk in the park by the bay.  It was very cool and returned to the house.  The plan for the day was to go to Marquette to visit Raymond and his family and have dinner with them. I received a text from Raymond that informed me the weather was not good there and it had not been for the entire week.  It had been very cold and windy.  He told me to bring warm clothes and we would probably be inside. We arrived at there location just after 3:00pm and it was cold and windy.  They told us it had been worse earlier in the day.  After talking for a while Angel started to make burgers and hot dogs on the grill.  We walked down to the beach with Raymond to discover that the beach was not really there.  The water has been so high this year and the waves were coming in so hard there was no beach.  They said they h...
Post a Comment
Read more