A sure way to cause a thaw...
 

is to build a new snow beater!

My Superbe just wasn't cutting it when the roads got more than an inch of snow and slush so for my Christmas present I picked up a cheap ($319 shipped) MTB with disc brakes from BD, added fenders, rack and Nokian 240s and, poof, a new snow beater! :D

http://www.chipcom.net/bikes/motobecane.jpg

When the bike arrived last week, we still had lots of snow on the ground...now that I have it all put together, ALL the snow is gone!

Somehow I don't think winter is quite over though. ;)

Nice Bike, I'm sure you'll get more snow soon

Thanks Chipcom! I was getting sick of the frozen stuff.

So you were the cause of all that mid-winter rain BS from the last couple of days?! XC ski trails have gone from wonderfully soft, groomable snow to mixed hardpack and ice, and the backcountry snowpack is shot to hell with yet one more freezing rain layer thrown in the mix. On behalf of all the AK skiers, **** you, Chipcom.

P.S. - Nice bike. :D

LOL! I'm tempted to use that as my sig! :lol: Oh yes... and nice bike BTW, Chipcom.

Sweeeeeet bike! I am curious as to which fenders you used? Also, does the bike have fender eyelets?

Thanks and ride safe,

Jeff

Sweet but you might be wanting an IGH for the rear. My only icing problem this year other than the v-brakes is the RD freezing up pretty good. I've got full length fenders but the jockey wheel area of the RD still picks up a layer for frozen slush on most rides. The jockey wheel has never frozen but the RD has stopped shifting on a few rides.

Hey chip, if that is what caused the snow to leave NEO, do you have enough cash to keep buying additional 'snow beater' bikes so it does not come back? :rolleyes:

Great color choice . . . the yellow snow won't show on your frame.

You're right! That sure is cheap. Uh, I mean nice. No, seriously, that's an amazing value.

Sweet ride!!!! I'm envious and am starting to re-consider riding junk. But "free" before the name of the bike, always gets me.

I used the PB Speed Ez. There are eyelets on the rear that would have made it fairly easy to mount a rear fender with a standoff, not so much on the front.

My Superbe has an IGH. IMO, they are over-rated for winter riding unless you give them a nice oil bath.

Maybe I should take donations? :D

Expand on this, if you don't mind. So far my IGH has been great, but I like to be prepared for any eventuality.

All I had to do was check the tires and fill the bottles on my snow bike. Then it melted into deep slush. Bah humbug!
But I did ride in the slush. Good exercise. It was almost 50f today.

Nice pickup chipcom!

With my speedez I attached them with hose clamps. I just put parts of an old inner tube around the frame so it wouldn't mess it up.

I'm sure this time of year NE Ohio is probably done with its bad weather so you just wanted something for next year ;-). The last few days around here have been pretty nice (around 50F) but the temperatures are already starting to drop back to normal.

The factory lube tends to be a bit sluggish when the temps get down around 0F...not a biggie, but a nice oil bath helps.

It was 15F riding into work this morning...yeah, back to "normal" :(

On the bright side, the roads were not only dry, but the rain a few days ago washed away some of the salt.

How about a close-up of the front fender mount. I'm wanting to mount fenders on my suspension fork. And yours is the first that I've seen. Guys at the LBS tell me not to waste my time. What do they know. They don't even ride when its cold out. And tell me that I'm crazy cause I do. $319, what a deal!

Not much to it with the PB SpeedEz - they provide rubber thingies to secure the struts to the fork and the top of the fender to the fork crown through some holes drilled in the top of the fender.

In my case, I used tie straps instead of their rubber thingies for the struts (you can see them on the rear chain stays for the rear fender), and was able to mount the plastic crown mount from an old Cascadia rear fender on the top and screw it into the hole in the fork crown, which made it a little more secure than using tie straps. Seriously, with the SpeedEz, mounting them is pretty much a no-brainer.

Over the years I've done much of my own bicycle maintenance, but I've never tackled an IGH. Am I right in assuming that the hub does not need to be removed from the wheel? Any links to tutorials would be greatly appreciated as this sounds like good preventative maintenance, even though my hub is currently working well.

I'm far from an expert, or even a knowledgeable amateur, but this should give you what you need:

http://hubstripping.wordpress.com/

I attached my speedez using small hose clamps I got from an automotive store. I simply wrapped a rubber piece around the frame to not scratch it. The zip ties idea also works.

I had the Planet Bike Speedez attached to my hardtail one year and never had a problem with them and they provide pretty good coverage.

Well there's a 40% chance of snow showers today, so I rode the new bike. It really wasn't much slower on this bike with 26x1.95 Nokian W240s than on the Superbe with the 700x35 Kenda Klondikes. Let's hope there's at least a little actual snow and ice for the ride home. :D