Winter mountain biking question

I'm throwing together some old parts to make a winter bike. Inspired by fat-bikes like the Pugsly and Moonlander, I'm attempting to do something similar - though slightly smaller - on a very low budget. However, I'm having trouble finding a 26" wheel set that will work with up to a 3" tire and still use rim-brakes. Any suggestions?

I'm starting with an old K2 frame/bars I got for free a few years ago, and a Surly fork from a friend. They're not high-end, but they're light and the price was right. The seat & post I got on an old Schwinn Voyaguer II road-bike(also free), and I have a shifter, a rear derailure(not planning on using a front one), cranks, brakes, etc. so I think I'm all set there. I did have to break down and buy a stem, as the ones I had which fit the bars were all too long, and the short ones I had were either too small(BMX) or too large. But I got a deal at the LBS and found one scratched on their rack, he also gave me a 1" spacer for free too.

Here's a couple pics. These cruiser wheels were the fattest I have, so I'll set it up with them for now. I have a full 3" in the rear, and I think I can squeeze a bit more pretty easily. The fork would accept an even wider tire.

Yeah... it's going to be tough. I have some old DH rims (generally wider than typical) that have rim braking surface, but even those are only about 25mm, if that. When I experimented with running 3" DH tires back in the late 90's, I used a Ringle DoubleWide rim that was 46mm wide (but disc only). Coincidentally, I'm staring at an old DoubleWIde right now... it does sort of have a braking surface...

I used to ride through the winter in Ottawa. I never needed big floatation, I needed studs. I still have a set of studded Hakkapellitta tires in the shed...

I've always run Ringle RhinoLytes which are pretty wide and still have brake surfaces. can usually be picked up new for <$200 / pair built.

Nashbar (booooo....) and Performance used to sell tire chains back in the 90s. I haven't seen any in a long time though.

http://www.slipnottraction.com/bike-tire-chains/sts6-mountain-bike-tire-chains-small.html

Thanks guys. I think I found my solution: Going back to my trials roots, I found these Echo trials rims that are 46mm wide for $60 each. So for $120 plus shipping, the cost of new spokes, and bribing a buddy to lace them up(I'm sure I have an old wheel set with some hubs that don't suck too bad) I should be able to get a set of wheels, then add another $100-$125 for tires and I'll be set.

I almost have the bike ready to ride now, just need to swap out the bottom bracket and get some cranks on it. So once it gets back up from the single-digits I'll give it a ride or two and see if I like it enough as-is to sink the money into wheels/tires.

Dear Pete Gossett,

You have sent me falling into the Winter Mountain Biking Vortex.

Thank you.

I remember http://icebike.com being one of m

Woody wrote: Dear Pete Gossett, You have sent me falling into the Winter Mountain Biking Vortex. Thank you.

You're welcome Woody! I figure I need some kind of enjoyable reason to drag myself out of the house this winter. We're supposed to get a few inches of snow overnight, so I'm going to try & finish it up so I can test it out on these balloon tires.

Aaaannnnnnddddd.....now I've bought a winter bike.

In reply to Woody:

Do tell???

Some day I want a "fat bike". I test rode a Salsa at a demo-day a few months ago. 30 minutes of stupid-grin giggling.

The funny part is the test bike had a fancy new 11 speed SRAM drivetrain... and I never shifted once during the entire ride... so if/when I get a fat bike it'll be a single speed.

petegossett wrote: In reply to Woody: Do tell???

I picked this up from a friend who bought it new. It's a 1994 Cannondale Delta V 600. It's dirty and scratched from being in a crowded storage locker since the mid nineties, but he says that it has about 20 miles on it.

He swapped the knobbies for some hybrid tires and added a heavy gel seat and an elastomer seat post. The kick stand and the blue stuff is all coming off. I may keep the post, but I'll find a proper mountain bike seat for it. It was cheap enough that I could go all out on the tires. I ordered a pair of studded Nokian Hakkapaliittas.

I'll probably tear it all the way down to clean and lube everything. I'll start a build thread on it once the tires get here.

Ugh... "Force 40 Plus" canti brakes... my god, they were bad. My old '91 Delta V 900 had those... which I quickly switched out for Magura hydro rim brakes (often used on trials bikes). Now easily replaced with V-brakes for cheap (although you'll need new levers).

Check the fork - for '94 it should have an elastomer damper/spring (and the fact it's not collapsed in this picture), but it may have an air spring. I know from experience, the air spring doesn't do cold temps well.

Ian F wrote: Ugh... "Force 40 Plus" canti brakes... my god, they were bad. My old '91 Delta V 900 had those... which I quickly switched out for Magura hydro rim brakes (often used on trials bikes). Now easily replaced with V-brakes for cheap (although you'll need new levers). Check the fork - for '94 it should have an elastomer damper/spring (and the fact it's not collapsed in this picture), but it may have an air spring. I know from experience, the air spring doesn't do cold temps well.

I had Force 40's on my old Cannondale M800 and I absolutely loved them.

There were three variations of this front fork in '94. Top of the line was the air/oil, next was the elastometer/bearing and then the entry level bikes got elastomer/bushing forks. The air/oil setup would start leaking after a year or two. This bike has the elastomer/bearing fork, which is probably the best I could have hoped for two decades later. Had it been air/oil, I would have probably kept looking for another bike. I wasn't really looking for suspension bike anyway, but I've always loved the Delta V's and Killer V's.

Force 40's:

Woody wrote: I had Force 40's on my old Cannondale M800 and I absolutely loved them.

I think you were the only one. But I'm guessing you probably weren't trying to race DH on the bike...

Plus, I had the older version w/ non-low profile arms... it was all a match made in hell...

Yeah, no downhill racing for me. That wouldn't have been a great idea on an M800 anyway.

My current bike has discs and I actually liked the Force 40's better.

Sadly, I haven't ridden either of my rim-brake mtn bikes (a very high-end steel hardtail and a bike set-up for dirt-jumping) since getting a 29'er back in 2010.

Snow and ice is when you really like discs over rim brakes. No more of that pesky ice jamming up the cable mechanisms. Hell... I don't even want rim brakes on my road bike anymore... just waiting for integrated hydro shifter-levers to get down in price a bit.

That's gonna be a sweet ride Woody!

@Woody How is the headshock on that Cannondale?

asoduk wrote: @Woody How is the headshock on that Cannondale?

It's fine. The air/oil ones were prone to leaking. This one is elastomer with needle bearings. It's never even been wet.

I finally got it put together(with the beach cruiser wheels/tires for now), and was happy to see a total of 27lbs on the scale!

I just took for a short spin, unfortunately there's no snow on the ground, though I was able to ride over a few leftover piles from the last snow a few weeks ago. They're predicting a few inches tonight/tomorrow though, so I'll give it a proper test then.

A trick with snow riding: don't take a bike from a warm place and then go riding - the rims ice up when some snow melts on them and then refreezes as it cools, and the snow sticks to the bike for the same reason. Keep the bike in a cold place (below zero). This will make your elastomer fork suck, but your brakes will suck less. :)

Also: flotation requirements vary. I needed it a lot, but Keith was in a much colder climate, and the snow may have been harder. I simply aired 2.2" DH tires down to 'as low as possible'. (This was a long, long time ago.)