The build - Ti 29+ rocket.

Last Monday was a festival of joyousness in the eyes of the Lard, ladies and germs, for the newest edition to my stable of Fatbikes/29+ers finally came together; the only piece of the extravagant puzzle left to add are XTR pedals to replace the red Ritchey's seen in the below images. I was able to ride for an hour or so down on the Roanoke loop and the bike was beyond belief in all categories…

There were a few slight hiccups with the build, mainly that the Sram XO cranks would not fit on the eccentric BB, so we had to go with Shimano XT's for now. The rest of the spec goes like this:

- Industry 9 hubs/ Velocity Dually's, Knards 27tpi tubeless, Salsa Ti skewers.

- Ritchey carbon fork ( 6mm total lateral clearance)

- Enve stem/bars/post

- Specialized Toupe' expert hollow-rail Ti saddle (yes, I know, they are royal dooshnozzles, but it was free and light as fuck.)

- Shimano XT brakes/rotors, Surly cog 32x19 gearing.

- Ritchey lock-on foam ergo grips. 

- FSA 44mm headset.

Total weight: 20.8 lbs. 

As you can or cannot imagine, riding a bike that is virtually an exact copy of my Krampus that weighs a full 8 lbs. less is akin to putting a rocket in your ass and flattening the Roadrunner. Though the rake of the fork brings the wheelbase back almost a full inch when compared to the Krampus - which makes for a slightly rougher ride - the overall feather-like feel of riding this badass is in the realm of the magical sails of a Barbie dreamliner cruise. I had another chance to get out on the trails on Wednesday - out at BuRP finally - for a hero-dirt session with the Whitest of Mikey and sundry other miscreants, and was able to get a better handle on just how different a bike this Ti whore would be….and the results are positive: I have a vestigial tail and a mute/deaf twin in my liver. There is absolutely no flex to the frame, and the fork seems insanely rigid as well, due in no small part to the straight blades and beefy crown. I was able to fly over every gnarly techy/rocky section, including the latest iteration of offshoots, the Basement Trail extension, with newfound agility and momentum - good Satan Christ the bike is sicker than sick. Just a bit bummed that I could not race her at the rescheduled Bonebender yesterday…might have given the Silent Killer a run in the SS division….if Pig Princess' could fly.