jdswitters

[IMG][/IMG]


crapy pic but photography isn't my thing. That bike with the tiny tires in the background is a salsa fargo with 29er 2.2s on.

Out of the box and assembled without doing anything like greasing bearings etc, packaging was okay and as scratched as others I have read about, 15-20 minutes from box to road. Rode for two miles to the local pub and back on gravel road and pavement. Next week it will go the LBS to get greased and have the spokes tension-ed. The greasing is no big deal for me but I usually do more evil with a spoke wrench than good, so I will let them go through all of it.

Heavy, yes but not any heavier than my 2010 felt cruiser with thick bricks and rack, and it handles slightly better. There is talk on other sites about the wheel flop/oversteer, but that is true of all beach cruiser geometry, at least the ones I am familiar with. Very smooth riding but not so much the steering and the cranking of pedals. For the first time on that ride I found my self wishing for more objects to run over rather than avoid, huge grin on my face.

At a pub where half the people show up on bikes it generated a lot of attention, not something I'm used to as my usual ride is a torker graduate in grey and black. Everyone who walked by had to touch the tires, I dont know why but it was funny.

So it was bought as a fun cruiser and I think it will be. I may or may not put another cog on the back, I'm going for a social ride of about 10 miles Sunday and if I feel to overworked I will have one put on when it goes to the boys at the shop. I didn't notice that it was extremely hard going over small rise last night but we shall see.

Future mods may involve getting rid of some weight and a new saddle, but I doubt I will do much else to it other than sticker bomb it and add a flask holder.

Sixty Fiver

Subscribing...

AlmostTrick

Good idea posting this in Alt Bikes, that's where it belongs, I'd say. The out of the box scratches are quite disappointing for a new bike, how bad is it?

"I'm going for a social ride of about 10 miles Sunday"

Good lord, what is everyone else riding? Are you sure you'll be able to keep up?

I have a 1971 Schwinn Continental single speed conversion going out the door today for $150. One of these novelty tanks may be taking its place! Hmmm, what color do I want?

Thanks for the review and keep us posted.

AlmostTrick

Ok, so I spent some time over at rat rod bikes where a bunch of the guys there are having a blast with this relatively inexpensive toy. I'm in. Red one is on its way...

Artkansas 

Cool bike.

rex615

Me too. I don't know what I am going to do with it, but I want one of these beasts.

jdswitters

[IMG][/IMG]


topeak rack, yea REI dividend. 5 miles of bike lane to old town and stopped for coffee. It is loud. Being an old man I showed up to the social ride 15 minutes early. No one was there so I did my own thing out to the next town.

A mile of flat single track down by the river, fun, wishing I had an easier peddling cog for this part. Steering at low speeds wasn't bad. It crawls around and over the big river rocks like a dream.

3 miles of crushed granite, flat-ish but some curves. holy crap, at speed on curves those huge tires act like a gyroscope, plan ahead or slow down. I had to really use my hips to get things happening on s-curves, probably at 12-ish mph. I have ridden this stretch over 200 times on half a dozen different bikes, including my 45LB 2010 steel felt cruiser about once a month.

And then another mile or two on bike path to the pub.

Had so much fun I rode it home on the bike path and lanes- 9 miles. Beer may have been a factor but speed was not.

So I like cruiser bikes and don't mind going 20 miles as long as I get plenty of stops. It was fun to get off the pavement a bit and not worry about flats and banging fenders and traction.

20 PSI tire pressure in anticpation of 90% road but lowering the pressure would have been nice for the rocky patches along the river.

fit was great, I'm 5-9, 180, totally average so I get lucky on these one size fits all types of things. I may move the seat back some more, which was not as bad as I thought it would be.

I also rode around a pasture Saturday, tall grass, wishing again for another cog in the back.

jdswitters

It is snowing now, I might get in a short ride int he grass at lunch, snow is not sticking to the pavement yet.

The old man shows up first and is then buried by cross checks, about 40 bikes made the trip, at one point I was buried by more than 8 bikes and just called the GF and said i was drinking beer till the kids left and then I would ride home.

[IMG][/IMG]

jdswitters

Yesterday the LBS (Brave New Wheel takes care of me) put grease to the beast and put a 20 tooth on the back replacing the 18. They were able to do this with the same chain. This made it more fun on the dirt trails with tight corners and little rises as well as riding over the cobbles in the river. I couldn't tell you how much slower it was on the MUP because there was a pretty good headwind for me last night when I got off the river and on the MUP. I was pedaling hard even with the new cog. It is noticeably smoother to pedal.

I also took the kickstand off. It has just enough clearance to clear the tire when stationary but I found it rubbing a few times.

AlmostTrick

Got mine yesterday and went through the entire bike before riding or even assembling. I highly recommend doing this as here is what I found:

Front wheel bearings too tight. Had sufficient amount of grease, but not the type I like. (too thick and gummy, more suited for use on a 1950's farm tractor, I'd say!) so I cleaned and repacked with top quality finish line bike grease, knowing this would make my new bike fast!

Headset was WAY too tight, with small amount of grease. The washer that goes between the nuts did not have its tooth placed into the notch of the steering tube. This messed the threads up slightly, but with careful re-assembly it did work.

Bottom bracket was WAY too tight, would barely turn by hand. Pedaling it like this would have forced it to go, but how long would the parts last? Upon disassembly the spindle appears as if it were forged by a blacksmith of mid evil times. Re-assembly with new grease had it spinning nice with no play. HUGE difference.

Rear coaster hub had a good amount of decent grease, and appeared to be adjusted very close to optimum.

Wheels were true and all spokes had good/even tension.

^^^Over all I guess this is what I expected as far as quality and factory adjustment goes.

Only non-stock part used were a set of Welgo aluminum platform MTB pedals that I had, in place of the cheap plastic pedals that came with the bike.

The ride:

Wow. I expected Fat Goose to be slow, but this thing is ridiculous! Imagine putting car tires on your bike, because that's what it feels like. Stand up and crank, and your legs hurt, but you barely pick up any speed! I'm sure the brakes work good, but I haven't had to use them much on my neighborhood rides. Just stop pedaling and you'll slow down soon enough!

And remember, my bike was adjusted properly for optimum performance! I can only imagine the disappointment of the unsuspecting buyers who take their factory adjusted tank out for their first fun ride.

The bike needs to be geared lower, even for the street. I will do that.

There is also something slightly wanky about the steering. Not sure if it's geometry or just the weight of the oversize wheel/tire. When you turn past a certain point, it feels like it wants to keep going that way. Not hard to control by any means, just weird feeling. Riding no handed was no problem. Riding a wheelie would be a problem!

Initially I had great visions of upgrading this bike. Now I'm not sure it's worth the bother. Who knows, I may even eventually return it for full refund, which would be funny because now it is much better than any Beast straight from the factory!

I'll just continue to ride it and play with it and then decide. Gotta get it out where people will see me so I can watch them do double takes and hear their comments. This is where the fun of this bike will be, I think. That, and if I do end up tinkering with it I'll enjoy that too.

Oh, and all the new Beast's now come double boxed, which helps protect them in transit, but mine still had some paint damage from the saddle assembly being loose in the carton.

AlmostTrick

I found a 20t rear cog in my parts bin to replace the original 18t unit. It's still slow, but not quite as painful!

On my way out to the local park for some Fat Goose fun...

ilikebikes

Mine will be here either tomorrow (Monday) or Tuesday......was lucky enough to snag a green Beast!

(not mine)

AlmostTrick

That's silly, everyone knows red bikes are fastest.

Are you planning on customizing or upgrading your Beast?

If I keep mine I'm sure I'll end up tinkering around with it. Almost certainly will make new decals. Right now I'm leaning towards "Fat Goose".

Also, I bumped up the tire pressure from 8 psi to 15, and the steering is much improved and speed slightly too. The stock tires are too thick and heavy to run at the low pressure other 4 inchers can handle. I do like the tread pattern and the way they look though.

Took it through the park this afternoon and got a lot of looks and a few comments.

ilikebikes

Ill more than likely make a few upgrades but only whats needed and as needed, don't like trying to fix something that ain't broke.

AlmostTrick

Posted on Rat Rod Bikes. Slick!

jdswitters

4-inches of snow today and the walgoose is at the shop on the other side of town, rode the Salsa Fargo in. Probably would have just been pushing a lot of slushy snow around with the goose. When I had the knees to ski we would call this spring cement.

When at the park last weekend on woman said I looked like I should be in a beer commercial with that bike, not sure what she meant but it was an interesting comment.

jdswitters

[IMG][/IMG]

this is not a snow bike. I rode the fargo out last night and brought the walgoose home in the snow, 18 mi round trip. Traction is great but dang is that thing hard to push through snow. This sludgy stuff is sticking to the tires and creating drag on the forks and rear chain stays. I can see this being a problem in the future with some types of mud also. But I rode to work to day on it, not much choice really other than walking the whole .4 mile. Yes, I'm that lazy.

after 6-inches of snow it just totally boggs down.

ilikebikes

A foul weather bike is far from what it is. You know what Ive done with mine? Ive cruised it, thats what it was built for, cruisin', and it does that just fine. Heres one pic of my Beast alone and two next to my 26 inch MTB for size comparison.

Philphine

chopperus has those wide three speed hubs for sale right now. one of those would probaly make it a more versatile bike.

ilikebikes

That would be great but the bike has a foot brake (the foot brake hub is out of stock https://www.choppersus.com/store/prod...ernal-Shimano/ ) and I cant see adding disc brakes to this thing, would prob cost an arm and a leg and if it came time for a flip you would loose a lot of bones me thinks. Now if your def keeping it for foul weather riding Id say go for it!

ilikebikes

Here are a few pics after I had to replace the headset, seat (both due to failure) and the pedals. (the orig plastic pedals were way to slippery)
New nice quality Ritchey headset, new Brooks B-17, slightly used vintage Haro pedals.

AlmostTrick

jdswitters

Nice upgrades on the fat goose, any idea how much it weighs now?

jdswitters

[IMG][/IMG]

The beast in its natural environment, the patio of the local pub. Front wheel reflectors are off of a tap handle.

AlmostTrick

Thanks.

It weighs 40 pounds according to the USPS certified scale at my work. Yep. still a tank!

Plus, now it's got knobby tires to help slow it down more!