Elk Meat Pies/Titanium Fat Bike

What do elk meat pies and ti bikes have in common? I assembled both in my house, this week...

Danny Mc brought me some elk meat, part of the elk that he took in this year's hunt, which included some ground meat.

 I browned some of the ground meat in the skillet, along with onions and garlic. Then, I rolled out some canned biscuits, put some of the meat, along with some cheese on it. and folded the dough over.

 Once folded, the dough got sealed along the edges, with a fork. Then, into a 350 degree oven. (I used my toaster oven, to cook 4 at a time.)

I cooked them until one side was brown, then flipped them and waited until the second side was browned, as well. (The photo makes the browning look a little darker than it is, by the way.) They were quite delicious, and I plan on making them, again, soon.

 This is the titanium fat bike, which I also assembled, this week. The frame is from a local frame builder, John Hargadon. I couldn't really afford it, but the price was such that I didn't feel that I could afford to pass it up.

 The wheels, brakes, bars, stem, rear derailleur and fork came off of the Walgoose Beast. The rest of the parts are either new, or parts I had in the shop, awaiting use.

 The Beast will go back together as a fat-tired cruiser, for Danny's wife. I plan on lacing an internal-gear hub into the rear rim, and the frame will get an orange respray.

I'll miss the Beast. It is the only bike I have ridden within the past 3 or 4 months, and I ended up with just shy of 650 miles on it, since I added the odometer. If I had the money and space, I would keep it around. But, at least it is staying in the family,

 I stayed up until 12:30, this morning, getting the bike ridable for this morning. Appropriately, and typically for me, the first ride on it was to Kaladi Brothers Coffee. The temperature was a relatively balmy 25 degrees, so I didn't put the bar mitts on, this morning.

 It's still not complete, but it is usable.

 I haven't figured out how to run cable to the front derailleur. Oddly, there are cable guides for a front shifter, but no cable stop on the frame. Not sure how I am going to get around that. Plus, I have a bottom-pull derailleur, and the routing is for a top-pull.

 While the frame accepts a 30.9mm seat post, I shimmed it for a 27.2mm post. This way, I can swap the seat between this bike and the other ti bike, depending on whether, or not, I want the saddle bag on the bike. It is a lot quicker and easier to swap the whole assembly than it is to take the bag and support off of one bike, then reinstall them on the other. (That cheap seat post clamp will go away, as soon as I find another one which fits. It was just what I had in the shop.)

 I bought Ergon grips for the bike. I have them on the Funk titanium bike, and they are pretty comfortable. I have a pretty severe problem with hand numbness, on longer rides, so the relatively expensive grips are worth the cost, to me.

 I am not a big fan of Shimano Rapidfire shifters, but this one was lying around, and I needed a shifter. It works great, as the Shimano units usually do, but I am not fond of the complexity of the shifter. I will probably find a GripShift shifter for it, eventually.

The ControlTech seat post is new, also. It has a bit of a set-back on the clamp, which works well with the Brooks saddle.

My eventual plan is to build up a conversion kit (rear wheel, suspension fork, and front wheel) which will allow me to run 29er tires on this frame. At that point, I will have the two ti bikes which allow for all of the different styles of riding I care to do (except for fixed-gear riding). I will have the fixed-gear road bike, and a fixed mountain bike with studded tires (for icy commutes), as well. If all goes according to plan, I hope to sell the majority of my other bikes, both to pay or this frame and to simplify my life, a bit.

It is easy to become a slave to one's possessions, and I feel that I have, to an extent. So, I hope to mitigate that, somewhat, by clearing out a few bikes.

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