Ordered mine Tuesday, and it arrived today (Friday).
Went through it to see if all the bearings had grease and were adjusted properly. Back axle was great. Front was too tight but had the right amount of grease, and was easily adjusted. The headset was too tight and the tabbed washer was not indexed in the slot in the steer tube. But the grease was fine. So far so good.
Then I tried to turn the cranks. Oh, my. My first thought was that they were amazingly tight. Easy enough to adjust, right? Took the lockring off the non-drive side. The cup ought to be moveable with my fingers, right? Nope. Tried to move it with a hammer and screwdriver. Nope. Upon closer inspection, I didscovered I had the dreaded crossthreaded BB, torqued to 400ft-lbs by some 9-year-old with an impact wrench.
Sooo, I'll be in touch with Pacific Cycles.
My standard for what constitutes a rideable bike is pretty low, so I decided I would take it out for a spin. Wow. Just wow. Much easier to pedal than I thought, even with the world's draggiest BB. I normally ride a 29er MTB. This FatWally rides so much smoother, and just floats over anything in its path. All the little bumps and ridges that give a regular bike a harsh ride on typical uneven pavement just disappear under four inches of fatness. Going up a curb just required pointing the bike at it and pedaling through it. The grip on sand was just unbeleivable on a couple of sandy patches around tha house. I'm looking forward to trying it out on some sandy trails.
The gearing is fine for flat pavement. I'll need something a lot lower for the mtb trails. The coaster brake is really good so far. The size is a bit small for my 6'3" frame, but I think a seatpost or a stem will fix me right up. Oh, and the red paint looks about 5 times as good as I expected. I might just leave it alone.
Enough for now. Updates as events warrant.
Went through it to see if all the bearings had grease and were adjusted properly. Back axle was great. Front was too tight but had the right amount of grease, and was easily adjusted. The headset was too tight and the tabbed washer was not indexed in the slot in the steer tube. But the grease was fine. So far so good.
Then I tried to turn the cranks. Oh, my. My first thought was that they were amazingly tight. Easy enough to adjust, right? Took the lockring off the non-drive side. The cup ought to be moveable with my fingers, right? Nope. Tried to move it with a hammer and screwdriver. Nope. Upon closer inspection, I didscovered I had the dreaded crossthreaded BB, torqued to 400ft-lbs by some 9-year-old with an impact wrench.
Sooo, I'll be in touch with Pacific Cycles. My standard for what constitutes a rideable bike is pretty low, so I decided I would take it out for a spin. Wow. Just wow. Much easier to pedal than I thought, even with the world's draggiest BB. I normally ride a 29er MTB. This FatWally rides so much smoother, and just floats over anything in its path. All the little bumps and ridges that give a regular bike a harsh ride on typical uneven pavement just disappear under four inches of fatness. Going up a curb just required pointing the bike at it and pedaling through it. The grip on sand was just unbeleivable on a couple of sandy patches around tha house. I'm looking forward to trying it out on some sandy trails.
The gearing is fine for flat pavement. I'll need something a lot lower for the mtb trails. The coaster brake is really good so far. The size is a bit small for my 6'3" frame, but I think a seatpost or a stem will fix me right up. Oh, and the red paint looks about 5 times as good as I expected. I might just leave it alone.
Enough for now. Updates as events warrant.
