Well hello everyone! Apologies for not writing more, it is a busy time for the Rantwick family. We have an old house that still had quite a bit of knob and tube wiring in it; a service upgrade and nearly complete rewire has happened. Our walls are now full of holes, but I think they are quite attractive. But enough of houses and wire and boring house stuff! Let's move on to equally boring Rantwick finally has his f__ing fat bike stuff!
I have been commuting on the Fat bike for most of the month. We are now very good friends, which is a must for any bike you plan to ride through the winter. For me, a bike is not commute worthy until it has a rack and fenders. Last time I mentioned the rack, and this time I'm pleased to report that I have fenders! I ordered them from a Canadian fat e-bike builder, and the fit was not exactly a slam dunk:
On the up side, these are full, aluminum fenders! That's something you don't see on a fat bike every day! Unless, of course, we're talking about one of those electric utility bike jobs. While we've had plenty of rain, I have yet to be caught in some. If the hole I had to cut just blows water all over the back of my calves, I will have to cover it somehow, probably with some sort of miracle tape. For now though, I'm hoping it might act as an outlet for snow buildup under the fender. The clearance is pretty tight at the back and greater as you move forward, so hopefully snow buildup under there won't be too big an issue anyway.
I have finally also gotten the thing off road! It has been tricky finding natural areas where bikes are not restricted. In London Ontario's east end there's an area near my work that provides both some power line right of ways and a nice little bush with smooth and easy single track running through it:
I have some limitations to how difficult a trail I can ride, but if ever a bike would encourage me to try more and more, this thing would be it. I can ride through all of this on a 40 minute lunch time ride, so it is pretty awesome.
Speaking of trails, I have also studded up some Schwalbe Jumbo Jims that I have yet to mount to the rims, not wanting to run the studs on pavement until winter is in the air. They are meant to finally allow me to ride the bike paths along the river that I love in summer right through their icy, unplowed winter months. With the rack, big metal fenders and studded tires on, this will be one serious winter commuting machine. So nerdy. So clownish. So BIG. Oh baby.
I'm a little afraid that they (the Jumbo Jims) will air up bigger than these tires and hit the fenders, but a little suspense never hurt, right? Right?
Hoping Your Summer is Great Too,
R A N T W I C K 