Building a Fatty...

My Fat Bike Build.

With the popularity of fat biking over the last couple of years the thought of getting on has been on my mind.  Then in December I borrowed Troy’s Surly pugsley for a couple of days, that was a mistake!  I took his bike on a couple of trail rides down our local snowmobile trails and it was a blast.  I was amazed on how well the bike floated over the snow packed trail.  I enjoyed the bike and thought that I would like to get one at some point, but I had just got a full suspension 29er last September and another new bike was not in the cards. 

One night Kyleen mentioned to me that she was surprised that I did not want a fat bike right away.  Well, that started my planning on how I could get one sooner than later.  Before I bought my 29er I was planning on building one, so I had a bunch of parts that I had gathered, most of which I could use on a fat bike.  So I made a list of components and I got an idea of what the cost would be.  I thought that I could build one up for a reasonable amount using eBay and some used parts.  So I started selling some stuff to fund my bike build.  I sold some archery stuff that I have not used in years along with some bike parts.  I sold my old Rockhopper to a co-worker and some other stuff just in time for the Twin Cities bike swap.  At the swap I picked up a Salsa enabler fat fork and some Avid BB7 brakes for my build.  The rest of the parts I found on eBay or from Fatbikes.com.  Kyleen even chipped in and funded the remainder of my frame as my birthday gift, Thank You!!

I ended up going with a 2012 9zero7, Fatbikes.com had a great price on the frame so that was the deciding factor on my selection.  After a few months of buying and selling I had everything I need to start the build.  With the busy spring that I had planned I did not think that I would get the build completed until the late summer, but with all the snow and cold weather I had some spare time and I completed the build in early May.





This showed up at the door one day!





 I pressed in the headset, this is my first complete bike build so I was unsure of how the headset was going to go.  I installed the Salsa fork that I got at the bike swap along with a Raceface stem that I had.





Raceface DH bottom bracket and SLX derailleur installed. 



Installed the handlebars, brakes, brake levers, shifters, cables and housing.  It just needs some wheels and tires now.



I looked around for a good deal on wheels for a long time, in the end I decided to order a wheelset from Fatbikes.com.  Surly Rolling Darryl's with 9zero7 hubs.  I am planning on drilling out the rims at some point this summer.

I looked at my different tire options.  I was unsure of what would be a good all around tire for the riding that I had planned.  I ended up getting a set of On-One Floaters, they are from the UK.  I'm looking forward to getting some miles on these.  The price of the tires shipped was about $128, which for a pair of 120 tpi tires is a great deal.

Everything mounted and ready to go on the bike.

Once the wheels were ready I installed the chain and I was ready to ride.  I think that overall the build went as planned and I would do it again.  The bike ended up weighing about 32lbs, I hope to get it down to about 30lbs after drilling the rims and maybe a few lighter components, until then I'm just going to ride it.

Sunset test ride!

Build Specs.

Frame - 2012 9zero7 170mm medium

Fork - Salsa Enabler

Bottom Bracket - Raceface DH 100mm

Crankset - Raceface Ride Fatbike

Front Derailleur - Shimano SLX e-type

Rear Derailleur - Shimano XT M772

Cassette - Shimano Deore 11-36 10 speed

Chain - Shimano 10 speed

Shifters - Shimano SLX 10 speed

Brakes - Avid BB7 w/160mm rotors

Brake Levers - Avid FR-5

Seatpost - Easton EA30 30.9 X 350mm

Seat - WTB Volt

Handle Bars - Stylo T20 Riser Bar

Stem - Raceface Evolve XC 90mm

Grips - Lizzardskin

Cables - Jagwire Teflon coated

Wheelset - Suryl Rolling Darryls w/ 9zero7 hubs

Tires - On-One Floaters