Fatboys

Kudos to <a href=”http://cupertinobikeshop.com/” title=”Cupertino Bike Shop”>Cupertino Bike Shop</a> for holding their bike swap meet this past Sunday. Two bucks a head to get in, and it was really worth it.<br />n<br />nNot only did they have some vendors there selling new stuff, but there was a good amount of individual people who had rented space to sell stuff. Stuff that was sitting in back corners of garages, gathering dust. Stuff that needed to come out and get used again. That’s really the heart of any swap meet.<br />n<br />nI’ve been sort of in the market for making my MTB into a commuter, maybe even something I could use in a triathlon. The ideal would be to have an extra front and rear wheelset, complete with tires, skewers and cassette. From a cost perspective, I would be ok with just getting a set of less knobby tires I could commute with. When I really did intend to go offroad, I could see it coming and swap the tires out.<br />n<br />nThe swap meet figured it out for me. I got the ideal. The rims are light, but I haven’t looked close enough for a name or other identifying information. 26 inch and, I learned after I got home, just a bit wider than my originals. The tires are <a href=”http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Tire/product_72376.shtml” title=”Fatboy Tires”>Fatboys</a> from <a href=”http://www.specialized.com/” title=”Specialized Bicycles”>Specialized</a>.<br />n<br />nOnce home, I suddenly had to teach myself a lot about my bike. I had to adjust the (cantilever) brakes to get them to fit, and the different cassette required some adjustment of the rear dérailleurs. The dérailleur adjustment isn’t quite finished since it seems to hop around when going into the highest gear, but for the most part, it’s working out.<br />n<br />nI rode to work yesterday (Monday) and like the reviews on mtbr.com say, these tires, at near 100 psi, are wicked fast. The most notable thing I noticed was that going up a slope on the trail or road required quite a bit less effort from my on the crank.<br />n<br />nIt’s still kinda freaky running around with no tread on the tires, but it just means I need to be a bit more cautious. And I usually don’t ride when it’s threatening to rain anyway.<br />n<br />nVery cool.