Home
Podcast Archive
About
Search
Log In
Subscribe
Search
Full Spectrum Cycling
Weekly Dose of Fat – 5-17-14 – with the New Beer Segment! – Show #4
May 17, 2014
Weekly Dose of Fat – 5-17-14 – with the New Beer Segment! – Show #4
15
30
00:00
21:03
Listen on
Apple Podcasts
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Spotify
Pocket Casts
Pocket Casts
Castro
Castro
Transcript
0:00
Weekly dose of fat for Saturday, May 17th, 2014, show number four.
0:09
[upbeat music] Fatbike.com, the world's number one resource for information on fat bike products, event and race coverage, interviews, and living the fat bike lifestyle presents Fat Bike Radio with your hosts, Sven and Gomez.
0:35
[upbeat music] Bienvenidos, cachos. This is your Uncle Gomez. And I'm the incredible Sven, and this is your weekly dose of fat. This week's show is sponsored by Surly. You know those guys. They just wanna help.
0:53
You can find everything you ever wanted to know about Surly bikes but were afraid to ask at http:// tilbakeslash, tilbakeslash surlybikes.com. There'll be a link in the show notes. Welcome to this week's show.
1:08
Guess who we have in the studio with us today? Uh, Bozo the Clown? Actually, you're looking right at him. It's Flying Colin Ford. What's up? Welcome, Colin. Glad you could sit in.
1:20
Uh, actually, we're gonna do a little beer segment later on, and that's why Colin's really here. Sweet. But- I'm already drinking. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. Hey, speaking of drinking.
1:28
[laughs] And Colin's here because right next to me is a Surly ice cream truck that he wants to huck off the top of the building. Huck. That ice cream truck- Needs to be hucked... is awesome looking. I'm eyeballing it.
1:42
It's very good. All righty. Gomez, what do you got? Last week we changed the format of the show up a bit. We're pretty happy with the direction, and we're going to add a new segment this week about beer. Beer. Beer.
1:55
The beer for this week's show is Sprecher Special Amber in cans.
2:01
[beer tabs cracking] Actually, mine was a Pabst because in the previous practice takes for this, I did taste some of that Special Amber, and I just felt more like a Pabst today. Yeah, I picked the beer today.
2:14
Today we also have Flying Colin Ford as a special guest. He has- What up? [laughs] You may have seen him photoshopped in some jump shots. Not photoshopped, guys. Colin does all that stuff for real. For real.
2:27
Plus, he actually works at a brewery, so I think he knows a little bit about beer. Cheers, fellas. Good to have you in the studio, dude. Oh, thanks.
2:36
I, you know, we're gonna have to tell them why you're h- really here later. This beer thing's just sort of an impromptu segment. But, uh- But I think it's a good tradition- It was, it was Gomez's idea... to have a beer.
2:45
[laughs] Yeah. Plus- Drink every show. Yeah... he came up with this on the way in, so he had to stop and get the beer and was thus 20 minutes late for our show, but he brought beer, so... What beer'd you bring again?
2:56
It's, uh, Sprecher Special Amber. It says on the label, uh, Vienna-style lager. Those guys are based in Milwaukee. Gotta tell you folks that we do love local breweries, including Lakefront Brewery that Colin works at.
3:09
Right on? But right now I'm not drinking my own beer because I have to go into work later. [laughs] Why? This, this beer, it's been around forever. It's one of the first beers Sprecher made.
3:20
We make a beer that's kinda similar called Riverwest Stein. I'm partial to that because- I am too, truth be told... I've been, since I was 17. [laughs] You can't say that. Hey. Show your ID before you come on the show.
3:32
Oh, sorry. He gets carded. [laughs] It's got a, you know, nice malty backbone. It's a pretty traditional style beer, you know, German style. It's, it's all right. It's all right. There, you heard it from Colin Ford.
3:48
You know, they, the wine snobs have a lot of really weird words when they describe all of their flavors and feelings they get from wine. All right, that's like number one on the beer man's list. It's all right.
4:01
All right. [laughs] [sighs] Yep, talking bikes and beer just seems to make sense 'cause I think every fat bike ride we go on, there's at least a beer involved. Or six.
4:12
Or after, or somewhere in the general vicinity of the ride. 12. All right. It's, uh, it's been a bit of a crazy week for me, and that caught me off my bike for over a week now.
4:22
Craziness, rain on the trails equals unhappy Sven. So I'm glad we could have Colin in here and spice it up a little bit. I'm happy to do the show, and, uh- Been riding a little trail when it's not raining.
4:34
Yeah, it's springtime. Still pretty, still pretty ra- still pretty muddy, but, you know, fat bikes are awesome for mud. [laughs] Monday started bike to Bre- bike to Burke, Bork to Burke- Bork to Burke... bike- To work...
4:46
to work week. Week. And, uh, since I work from home- Lucky, lucky... I decided to do a sub 24-hour overnight so I could get up in the morning and bike to work like normal people.
4:59
Like, I could say that like a normal person. Oh. Yep. How did that go? Well, as soon as I got the, uh, new Apidura bags that came in, uh, stuffed full of gear and mounted, it started to pour rain.
5:11
[laughs] So I had to, I got the planning part done, so, uh, but not, didn't execute. I went on a- So call me Nancy... I went on a big ride this last weekend with, uh, my friend Gifford, who does tattoos for me.
5:24
He got a fat bike. He's from Chicago, and took him on his, like, third trail ride, and Dave Lunz was there. Oh, fun. Chad Wilson was there, AKA Boner. [laughs] Boner.
5:35
John Trusky, my buddy Matt, who just got a ECR, which is dope. Surly makes those, folks, ECR. Gifford went careening into the river on his, pretty sure his, like, third trail ride ever. I've been in that river before.
5:48
Good sport. Good sport. [claps] [laughs] All right, Gifford.
5:51
I was following a lovely young lady down the trail on the west side one time, and, uh, there's a pretty rooty section, and I just wasn't paying attention and went right into the- It does happen even to Sven
6:04
Well, let's take a look at what's going on in the win- in the winter webs We got winter webs, yep I only got as far as planning some spring fat packing.
6:13
We dug up a few links from the folks that actually executed their plan. [laughs] Tony Lund, our friend over in Finland. Hey, if you planned it well, though, so I... You can't- [laughs]...
6:23
it can't be a problem Why get a waterproof tent and all this waterproof gear if you're not gonna go out in the rain? Yeah, sounds like Tony Lund did a spring 24-hour overnighter.
6:32
He's one of our, uh, friends from Finland. Metal. Yeah, metal. [laughs] They do some good metal over there.
6:38
I always enjoy reading his stories, but especially enjoy seeing his stories because his photos are always really good. He documents his trips well and, and he takes time to make a pretty decent photo, too.
6:48
So you can check that out. There'll be a link in the show notes. So Gomez, yous found this link about the Morocco Surly Bike Pack, um, trip, and it... I, I took a look through there. [laughs] Again, awesome photos.
7:03
I must be a picture guy. There- Yeah, Surly ECR, like we mentioned before, used to tour the desert, and the photos in this are just incredible. It's, uh- There's even one with a girl and a goat. There's a goat.
7:15
You gotta see it if there's a goat in it. [laughs] Pedaling Nowhere. Yeah, tho- that dude rules. Yep, and r- again, with the link, again, with the show notes, check it out Check out, uh, Mark Siric.
7:27
He's got all the cool bike packing links up on his Facebook. Death gets in, in, in, in, in- Hey, Sven, guess who has a Surly Ice Cream Truck in his pants? I was gonna say Chewy No way, Jose. It's us. I know.
7:43
[laughs] But mostly for Colin- Yeah... and the rest of the test crew. Stoked. Too thrash. Uh, well, how about we shoot some studio shots of that thing before we unleash it on those huckabillies? Colin- Ares... Zeta?
7:57
O Gallagher. O Gallagher. The OG. OG. OG, let's have a O Gallagher flying Colin, um, height shoot off on our next beach ride. I think that would be an awesome thing.
8:08
We'll- We gotta see who had- We'll see who, who's got the huevos on this particular day. We'll see. So we're gonna do a two-part- I got more hair, though You got-... exclusive- [laughs]...
8:17
on the Surly Ice Cream Truck on the site. Look for that coming up here in the next, uh- 30 days or so And if you see Colin riding it around town, stop him when he's passing by Or I'll just do a wheelie and keep riding.
8:29
Yep. [laughs] That's probably, probably more likely. All right, on with the show.
8:34
[laughs] So on, [laughs] uh, in addition to the Surly Ice Cream Truck, we, uh, got three new bags in from Apidura, and, uh, I threw those on my- [laughs]... my, uh, fat back.
8:47
That's Col- that's Colin cracking his knuckles. Colin cracking his knuckles. Got it. [laughs] Arthritis.
8:53
And like I said, I, uh, got it all packed up but didn't take it out, but we'll be doing that, taking those, uh, and testing those- Well-... nice looking bags. What was your initial impression of those bags?
9:05
You said they had some unique features that you were interested in. Well, they have some proprietary, very skeletal fasteners. They use a modular design on their accessory bag, on the handlebar bag that I really like.
9:23
Um- So you can add other bags to it? Instead of the bags wrapping around everything, they just click in with these very cool, very lightweight, skeletal, like I said.
9:36
So as whereas a fastener on a normal bag is solid plastic, they have removed a great deal of the plastic on all of their Fastex style- Gotcha... uh, connectors. W- I'm gonna be, uh, anxious to actually see those.
9:49
You're making me excited. Ah. Not in a naughty way- [laughs]... in a good way. I, I- Well, they, uh, they, uh, they appeal to my color scheme on the bike, too.
9:58
I somehow have worked yellow in with silver, and, uh, these are gray and yellow. So, uh, you can look for a report on those coming up on the site real soon.
10:09
I've already shot, uh, my initial photographs, and we'll get that up on the site maybe next week. Maybe next week. Don't hold him to it, folks. [laughs] This is a very liquid and fluid thing we're doing here. Indeed.
10:21
Speaking of liquid, drink. Liquid. [laughs] Oh, Oh, it's like a beer stop on a ride. Beer break. Yep, beer stop. Beer stop. Beer stop. Did I go through two of those already? Oh, no, there's a good one. All right.
10:32
So I also installed and got my first miles in on, uh, the new Race Face Atlas pedals that we talked about last week. What's, uh, what makes an Atlas pedal? It's a platform style?
10:41
It's a platform, and it's got really, like eighth inch long studs sticking out of it. I'm, I'm looking forward to putting a whole bunch of miles in on those. Not in bare feet, though. No. All right.
10:54
Not holes in your shins. [laughs] Yeah, and I, I, I'm running them in full shin shredding mode. [laughs] So, uh, I also threw the Vee Tire Bulldozer on the back of my fat back. That's- I'll be running that for a bit.
11:10
We've had those for a little while. You've been... Have you ridden it on another bike? No, this is the first time that I've run it, and, uh, it, I... For such a knobby tire- It's knobby. [laughs]...
11:21
this thing really rolls smooth on the pavement. That's important. The trails have just been too wet for me to try them off-road, but that's what I'm hoping to do very soon. Mm-hmm.
11:32
Next Tuesday, our Borealis Echo will arrive, and I've got some really interesting ideas about how we might test that. Do tell, Batman. [laughs] Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.
11:45
Sounded like he had something really important to say. We're like Fat Man. [laughs] And on that note... So how about, uh, we, [laughs] we have...
11:59
Well, how about we have some of the Bike Black Ribbon test pilots race- Is this your idea now, or are you just kinda- Yeah, this is my idea for how we might test it All right. All right.
12:07
This, I'm gonna listen to your idea now So our, so our- We could have four- Our three listeners are gonna listen [laughs] To, to your ideas [laughs] You listening? Jim's listening to it. Good. All right. All right.
12:18
Stop letting me talk over you, just read it. [laughs] Or don't read it- [laughs]... just tell it. Well, my idea is to have four or three of our test pilots that are of similar size- And/or stature...
12:34
and, uh- What about gender? Uh, yeah. Is gender an issue or as, as long as they're the same height? Do we have any female test pilots? Not in this state- Mm-hmm... that I know of at this particular time.
12:43
All right, so they could race it at the 12-hour race that's coming up right at Kettles. Dude Canoe. There you go. Is that, is that what it's called? [laughs] That's the name of the...
12:51
[laughs] How about Bike Black Brady Bunch? Yeah, I know. [laughs] What the hell's a dude canoe? [laughs] Dude Canoe. I... [laughs] We could have, uh- Color guy... well, maybe, you know- [laughs] Color guy. Color guy.
13:02
All right. And the other idea is to get Aeris out at, uh, The Rock Extreme Sports Complex- Is that open yet, do you know? It's gonna open very soon. Yeah, I think it opens in a week or two. Weather permitting.
13:13
They've, they've got a bunch of big, uh, man-made stuff to huck off of there. Oh, yeah. And we should get out there with the slave flashes and get all, uh, artsy on some photos of Aeris airing out this quiver killer.
13:28
Yeah, it might be a good place to do our fork shootout coming up, too. Well- We're working on a suspension fork shootout, folks, but it's a little bit, uh, down the road.
13:37
We are also thinking of some trail riding for those, but this is a good idea.
13:42
Last week we also received a Wolf Tooth components GC42 cog that's gonna take my one-by-10 drivetrain on the Krampus and make it more grandpa friendly- [laughs]... as I would say. Or- So that goes on the back.
13:56
That- Yeah... that replaces the biggest cog- The biggest cog in the back... and gives you an even bigger cog and- Right... right on. Okay. 42 tooth, so it's kinda like the poor man's XX1. Yep.
14:05
And, uh, I think- Well, they, they also make a front chain ring, right, that's- I'm running the, the-... that's, okay, that's XX1 compatible- Right... as well. Right. Okay.
14:12
So now you can get a couple of cogs from those guys. I'm excited for the trickle-down X1. Trickle down XO. Is it XO? XO. XX1, then XO. Yep, they're coming out with a cheaper drivetrain.
14:26
And I'm also gonna run the, uh, that Connex Whipper Man chain on that one-by-10 upgrade on the Krampus. Right on. So we'll, uh- You got that at Interbike last year, didn't you? [laughs] Yeah.
14:37
Yeah, I've been hanging onto that. Yeah, you really are- And now-... a chain, chain what do they call it? Chain- Hoarder. Hoarder, hoarder... aged to fantastic-ness.
14:47
Well, and we've got some things going on in the ongoing tire testing, right Sven?
14:51
Yeah, I was on those Vee Tire Trax fatties, and I'm just not riding my 29 plus bike as much as I would like to maybe, but I always end up on my fat bike.
15:01
Anyway, I rode those several times around town, and I think they're an awesome, like, urban assault tire.
15:06
Again, with the trails, again with the rain, complaining again with- [laughs] I haven't been on the trail that much with them, but they seemed pretty good.
15:13
Uh, they're much closer in size to the other 3.0 tire on the market right now than some of, uh, Vee Tire's other efforts have been, [coughs] in the fat tire realm. So I think it's a pretty decent tire.
15:26
Anyhow, I'm gonna send it out to Cale in San Diego. Oh, man. Well, that's why we have all these- That's, that's my intention is to send it out [laughs] to Cale in San Diego. San Diego.
15:35
That's why we have all these test pilots. When it's raining in, uh, Milwaukee, it's, uh- Send it to Cale... on fire out there. 666 degrees out there- [laughs] Oh, yeah... in San Diego.
15:45
So we're gonna send those out there- Cale will enjoy that... and, uh, see if they're fireproof or fire retardant. Burn. Uh- Did you guys talk about that RSD bike yet? No.
15:54
Should we talk about that RSD bike that Colin's been beating on for the last month or so? That's in the test kitchen. Test- That's a, that was a fun test. That was a fun bike. I rode- I liked that bike, too.
16:04
I, I had it for a little while. It's a nice one. I rode it, I rode it at the Kettles. It did well.
16:08
It, it made a lot of noise, like it didn't, you know, like what was going on, but I pushed it pretty hard and it's real- it's fast. It's fast on the downhill and- I felt it was pretty nimble.
16:20
I thought even on the local trails it's pretty quick. Yeah, I definitely was swooping it around some turns pretty good.
16:28
It's- Well, actually when I had that bike, I threw those, uh, Vee Tire H Billies on it, and then, uh, put the stock ones back on when I gave it to Colin.
16:37
Uh, so we can send these- Those are the, uh, snowshoes, the Vee Tires- Yeah, you got snowshoes on right now... snowshoes. You'd probably like the H Billies, but I'm sorry, I'm sending them to Jesse Lalonde.
16:46
That's who I'm sending them to. And, uh- That guy's pretty quick... he's gonna give those a test, a bit of a test up there in Minneapolis on those trails up that way. Well, good deal. I don't have anything else to add.
16:56
Do you feel like you're not having anything to say? Yeah, well, the, I, you guys wouldn't let me ride that bike because I don't know, you don't share. You're weird.
17:03
Hey, if I was making- Your mama never taught you to share. [laughs] If I was making that carbon fork make the noises it did, you shouldn't have been riding that bike. [laughs] Ooh. Oh, oh, making noises.
17:12
Maybe you should tighten- It was-... the head setup on it. It w- sh- Did you think of that? I- [laughs] Was it super loose? I don't know. You know. You beat bikes.
17:19
They, they don't like it sometimes, and they complain, but they don't break very often. They don't break. Yeah. The, the rim...
17:24
I definitely s- I definitely felt the rim on that bike a couple times, and the, it don't show any sign of denting or anything, so kudos on those rims- Yeah... being strong.
17:33
And at the, at the price point, I think they put their, I think they put the money in the right place on that bike.
17:38
There's a couple things maybe some people would wanna upgrade, and it'll make an even good bike better if you do take a couple spots, like rims and tires, obviously a place where you can save a pretty good buck on a spec from a factory.
17:50
But, uh, overall, I think they did a pretty good job on that thing. My, my only issues with that bike, the thru-axle on the front kinda has got a weird, like, you can't quite adjust where the quick release sits- Right...
18:02
so it h- sits forward. I know exactly what you're saying. It just doesn't allow you to rotate the quick release part of it. Yeah. Yep. The- Not a, not a big deal- The rear-... it just looks kinda funky...
18:11
the rear brake rotor is-...
18:12
is really close to the, it's really close to the mount, so that, you know, like the clearance there is, if you warp your rotor a little bit, it's gonna rub and it's gonna make a lot of noise, but- Did you notice where the paint was rubbed off on the frame on the seat stays and the chain stays?
18:27
Uh, it was too muddy. Too muddy. [laughs] But, uh, I'll tell you why it's worn off [laughs] though, 'cause if you look, I think you'll find out.
18:33
While I had the bike, I actually threw a Bud and a Lou on it too and did a couple of beach rides where there was still snow and sand, and I didn't take those little nubby dealies off the tire like Jim always tells me to, 'cause he loves cutting those little- [laughs]...
18:45
mold, uh, mold whiskers off.
18:47
Anyway, they picked up a bunch of sand, and it was close enough, the Bud and Lou do work on it, but it was close enough where those whiskers and their sandy little paws were rubbing the paint right [laughs] off the frame on the...
18:58
Sorry, guys, i- it's getting used, so, and we love it. Don't worry about it. It's, yeah, it's a great bike. It's light.
19:03
It's, you know, I was jumping the crap out of it on the river trail, g- scoring some serious airtime. It was nice. It's got the nice, like, low top tube. It never really hit my knees on it.
19:15
Uh, again, the geometry- It's kind of l- it's long for its height... the geometry, the long top tube- Yep... with a slack head tube angle and design for a short stem is the future of mountain biking. Future.
19:25
Deal with it. Yeah. You're gonna like it better- [laughs]... if you try and quit being a retro grouch. [laughs] Flying Colin Ford. [laughs] Flying... Commentary from Flying Colin Ford. Hey, you know what?
19:36
We already burned up 20 minutes on this little experiment. Any blog to show yet? Yep. Well- So, um- But, uh-... that's p- pretty much what we have. I mean, we're glad Colin could be here today.
19:44
We're- We just wanna remind everybody- Cheers... and show is sponsored by Surly Bikes. Yep. And- We got their ice cream truck right here... you know, click on those ads on fatbike.com.
19:53
Those companies- Surly Bikes, they know how to party... support the site, keep us alive. Yep.
19:58
If it weren't for sponsors, you guys wouldn't be hearing us in your ear holes right now, so, uh, I guess that's it for this week. We will catch you next time. Rubber side down. Yeah, buddy. Cheers.
20:08
Oh, I got a full beer here. Ooh, problem. Mine's empty. Now I have a half-full beer here. [beer bottle taps] 10-4, 1-9. [beer lid clicks] Oh. Good job.
20:19
[upbeat music] You've been listening to Fat Bike Radio's weekly dose of fat. Find us on the web at fat-bike.com/radio. We'll see you next time.
20:36
[upbeat music]
New episodes, straight to your inbox.
Subscribe
