I took my first snow ride on the Sun bike.
It's looking more and more like I picked a real boner here.
The bottom line, hard-to-fix failure of this bike is it's aluminum-ness. If it were steel, then the stupid 2-speed gearing, with 120 OLD spacing wouldn't matter for a second. Nor would the fact that it doesn't have canti-posts.
But you just can't run around spreading the rear forks 15mm on an aluminum bike.
And that geometry, where you're forced to set the bars way up there, sure makes standing and grinding difficult. And if you could stand and grind comfortably, it would be nice if the hub didn't make scary sounds when you did.
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| Click for big and dig those spider treads. Bad ass. |
But in the end, I think the thing that is so hard about this bike is the damn tread. And I'm not talking about the Spiders the rubber leaves behind, cause that's about the coolest thing going here -- no, I'm talking Q: I'm talking about how stinking far this thing spreads out your feet. Talk about wide stance. It really gets to me after a couple miles. More than I thought it would.
It's not like I didn't know any of this when I bought it. But it was cheap! And I'm a (cheap) optimist! I'm going to hang on to it for a while longer. I'll try it on a couple commutes, but I'm not hopeful. Actually, if I commute on this sucker, I'll be dreading the climb home all day... but I feel like I must commute on it to give it a final fair shake before it goes away.
In other news. Bill, our buddy with a printing press in his basement, has found himself imposed upon once again. (Recall the MC cards). Dig those coasters. Coming soon at only the raddest boozers in town.
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| Ouch. Bar tape is messed up. Note Rory-Style taping around lever. Looks good and saves time. |
Finally, here's the worse, lasting damage from when I was Eberlized. Note the deep gouges in my bad-arse Campy carbon. Stuff is scratched up, but it works fine. And if it didn't, I'd still be ok because all that shit's serviceable. Bam!
8 comments:
Saw you out on it on my way to work today. Looked like fun. Makes me want to go for a night time ride in the snow when I get home!
Geez, that sucks that the spider is such a snow turd. Even with the crazy popularity, fatbikes are still new enough that they're relatively damn expensive, and I was hoping that you'd discovered a diamond-in-the-rough, affordable, legit entry point. 120 OLD is pretty nuts, though, in terms of killing options. As for your deal on the Q, I think you've been hanging around Glen too much. I'm hoping. 'Cause if I can't stand it, I'm out spider cash and then some, which would blow. Hard.
Tyler -- I just returned from a peaceful night ride. I dig this time of year at night.
Pat -- it's not totally dead yet. Just mostly dead. And yeah, talking to Glen about Q certainly doesn't help. I was already being annoyed with the Q on my mountain bike and pondering a change to a double there. As i said, I knew this going in -- Glen and I both bitched about the Q with the Pug's we rode a couple years ago. We both tend to ride pretty low Q bikes -- so maybe we're just primadonnas. I'm trying to say: don't let this this shit get in your head and influence the love of your pending fat bike.
I haven't ridden (or seen) the Spider, so I can't say for sure, but it sounds like sort of a Wal-Mart version of a fatbike.
- Ventura
I would like to go on record as not being a low Q guy. In fact, low Q makes my hips ache. I'm a moderate Q guy, but I find the clown bike Q to be insufferable.
How's about putting the sun fork and wheel on a normal mountain bike frame for a while?
How are you finding the snow traction with those? They seem pretty smooth...
Joseph: yeah -- the tires like to slide out from under you. But I noticed that when I ride the stock tires (Endomorphs? or Larry's?) that are on the Pugsley's.
Btw -- Glen has a sa-weet solution for this bike. Stand by.
I saw the Sun Spider today and thought it was a great price if it would let me commute in snow. Looks like I'd be better off saving for the real thing. Thank you.
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