Wednesday, October 07, 2015

Evil Wheels Continued: Part 1- The Plan

Okay, I want something like this to happen.....
So, if you didn't see this last week, you may want to click the link and catch up. I have since been ruminating on a plan to make the 1X1 a "monster" of sorts. Of course, as many of you know, the 1X1 is a very versatile platform and can handle all sorts of different wheel set ups.

I've seen 1X1's with fat 24" wheels, 26"ers, 29"ers, and fat bike wheels. I've seen 1X1's with road bike wheels, and I've seen plenty of odd set ups as well. It has to be Surly's most user modded bike ever. So, I knew going into owning this old bike that it had a ton of potential.

I was inspired at Interbike a couple of years ago when I saw several 1X1's at Surly's tent set up with 26" Rabbit Hole 50mm wide rims and 26+ Dirt Wizard tires. It looked awesome, and I thought it might be fun to try one out, but I never got around to that. However; I never forgot about those rigs. Then at Frostbike I saw an Instigator shod with the same Rabbit Hole rims and this time, Knard 26+ tires. What a cool looking set up! Well, at that time buying a bike just to get "that look" without even knowing if I'd like it or not was totally out of the question.

So, now I have this 1X1 and it needs new wheels. So, I was thinking.... Maybe I should do some wide rims and big tires. Okay, hold on a minute! One big hurdle here with this old girl, and that is she's a rim braker. Hmm..... Well, something has popped up and I'll be making a new wheel set soon. Stay tuned for that coming up.......

2 comments:

Exhausted_Auk said...

The bike in the picture looks like it has Marge Lite rims, not Rabbit Holes. On that rim, the profile of the Knards may be too big for the 1X1 to handle, hence they had to go with a SS Instigator. I do like their use of the fat fork (ICT 135?), to make a machine with interchangeable wheels like the Pug.

I will be interested to hear about these wide rim brake rims when you get to it. The updated Velocity Cliffhanger is now 30mm wide, but you seem to be hinting at something bigger?

Guitar Ted said...

@Exhausted_Auk : Yes, you are correct. I believe those were Marge Lites after all. I seem to remember that, yes, the point was to make this Instigator like a Pugsley or for a different ratio for the single speed drive train. I also seem to remember there being a Big Dummy with the same wheels on it belonging to Tyler Stillwel, the Surly marketing guy. THAT would be a great bike to have as well. That's a "wish-list" bike for me.

Your intuition that I was hinting at a Cliffhanger is correct, by the way. I will be looking for appropriate rubber to mount on them and I have a hubset in mind to get these laced to as well. More soon....