Trek Farley AL
This will be my snow bike, and maybe my favorite local commuting bike. It is a Trek Farley that I built out myself. This bike is never, ever going into sea water.
Maintenance Tasks
- Retension Winter Wheels - With my new Park Tool TM-1 Spoke Tension Meter, I have confirmed that the spokes on my winter wheelset are way overtensioned. Once I have the summer wheelset built, I will need to rebuild the winter wheelset. Recommended Spoke Tension: 80~130kgf on 1.5mm steel spokes. TM-1 Defection Reading: 14-19, Target: 17.
I ordered it September 27, 2022, and it arrived September 30. Full assembly was complete on February 17, 2023.
- 2022 Trek Farley AL Frameset
- Frame: Alpha Platinum Aluminum, tapered head tube, internal derailleur & dropper post routing, rack mounts, 197x12mm adjustable horizontal sliding dropouts
- Fork: Bontrager Haru, tapered alloy steerer, OCLV Carbon lowers,
490mm axle-to-crown, 15x150mm thru axle
- Upper Diameter: 1.125"
- Lower Diameter: 1.569"
- Steerer Tube Length: 235mm
- Skewer Front: Bontrager 150x15mm thru axle, 198mm length
- Skewer Rear: Bontrager Switch thru axle, 12x229.5mm, removable lever
- Max tire size: 27.5x4.50" or 26x4.70"
- Max chainring size: 1x: 32T, 2x: 22/36
- Headset: FSA IS-2, 1-1/8'' top, 1.5'' bottom
- Bontrager Kovee Elite 35 MTB Handlebar, 720mm × 5mm (240g)
- Bontrager Kovee Pro 35 Blendr Stem, 13° × 50mm (129g)
- Summer Wheelset:
- Nextie Xiphia 27.5" 80mm Rims
- Bontrager Rapid Drive 108 Fat Rear Hub (Shimano 10/11 freehub) 32 spoke holes, 6-bolt rotor
- Bontrager Rapid Drive Fat Front Hub 32 spoke holes, 6-bolt rotor
- DT Competition Race 1.6mm Double Butted Spokes, Black
- 14mm DT Swiss Nipples, Black Brass
- Winter Wheelset:
- Nextie Wild Dragon 27.5" 85mm rims (Premium Lite, 3K Carbon Weave, Free Coating finish, 32h, black logos) Inner Width: 78.8mm
- Bontrager Rapid Drive 108 Fat Rear Hub (Shimano 10/11 freehub) 32 spoke holes, 6-bolt rotor
- Bontrager Rapid Drive Fat Front Hub 32 spoke holes, 6-bolt rotor
- DT Revolution 1.5mm Double Butted Spokes, Black
- 14mm DT Swiss Nipples, Black Brass
- SRAM GX Eagle Fat5 Crankset, Lunar, 165mm, 190mm Rear, DUB Spindle,
30t, CNC- Wolf Tooth Camo DM Spider for SRAM, Black, P2 Offset
- Wolf Tooth Camo Aluminum Chainring, 32t Round
- SRAM NX Eagle PG-1230 11-50t 12-Speed Cassette
- SRAM NX Eagle 12-Speed Rear Derailleur
- SRAM NX Eagle 12-Speed Shifter
- SRAM NX Eagle 12-Speed Chain
- SRAM DUB Pressfit 121 Bottom Bracket
- SRAM Code RSC 4-piston hydraulic brakes
- SRAM Centerline Rotors, 160mm, 6 Bolt
- Bontrager Verse Comp saddle
- PNW Coast Dropper Post, 31.6mm 120mm Drop, 40mm Travel, Internal
- PNW Loam Lever 2, 22.2mm Black
- Crankbrothers Stamp 1 Small Pedals
Size: S
Color: Nautical Navy to Teal Fade
S/N: WTU342G0264S
Technical
Information
| Chainring | 32t |
|---|---|
| Cassette | 11-50t |
| Ratio | 0.640 to 2.909 |
| Gear Inches | 20.47 to 90.10 |
Wheelsets + Tires
- Winter: 45NRTH Dillinger 5: 27.5" x 4.5"
- Studded, suitable for ice, slush, and snow. Requires 252 studs
(each). Tubeless ready, folding, 120 TPI. These just exactly fit my
frame and fork.
Mounted on Nextie Wild Dragon double-wall carbon rims.
Front: 4 PSI, Rear: 6 PSI - Summer: Bontrager Barbegazi: 27.5" x 4.5"
- Not studded, suitable for dirt, pavement, or dry snow. Tubeless
ready, folding, 120 TPI. These are lighter (1240g) than the
Dillingers, even without the studs.
Mounted on Nextie Xiphia single-wall carbon hubs. [Full Specs]
Front: 8 PSI, Rear: 8 PSI (essentially no self-steer, but a reasonably soft ride)
Sealant: Stan's recommends 8 oz (237 ml) for all fatbike tires. Trek only recommends 145 ml (4.9 fluid ounces) of sealant per tire for the Barbegazis.
Drivetrain
I think I'll build a drivetrain similar to what I have on my Trance, which achieves respectable top-end speeds. However, because the fat tires have such a larger diameter, I need to reduce the chainring to compensate. My math suggests 28t. However, the low gears on my Trance and also on the ALX seemed excessively low to me, so 30t seems like a good compromise. On the other hand, the Sirrus had a low gear-inch of nearly 24. If the DUB spindle or chainring seems modular, I might frankenstein together a 32t crankset.
Chainring: 32t
Cassette: 11-50t
Ratio (32t): 0.640 to 2.909
The ALX's 2×8 drivetrain had a 0.647 to 3.273 ratio, but I didn't really need the top end. Going down hills? So what? It's not like I spend a lot of time doing that.
My Trance has an NX rear derailleur. I wonder if I should move the NX to this bike and upgrade the Trance to something better. I don't hate it, but I recognize that it could be better.
Yeah, I'm fairly well settled on an NX (Eagle?) 11-50t in the rear. I'll just need to figure out shifters.
SRAM Cassette: SRAM NX Eagle PG-1230 Cassette
Rear Derailleur: SRAM NX Eagle 12-Speed Rear Derailleur
Is there only one derailleur? Does it work with the derailleur hanger on my Farley frame?
Crankset
This bike needs a chainline of 76.5mm.
I have a SRAM GX Eagle Fat5 crankset, DUB, 30t, with 165mm crank arms. I'm not sure what "Lunar" and "CNC" mean. This is more or less the same crankset that the Farley 9.6 comes with.
Update: Austin told me what I need to do to get a 32t chainring. I need a Wolf Tooth CAMO Direct Mount Spider for SRAM, P2 Reverse Dish, which they call +4mm offset (SP-CAMO-SDM-P2). Then I can use a Wolf Tooth CAMO Chainring. The round aluminum 32t one is CAMO-AL32.
Bottom Bracket
I have a SRAM DUB PressFit 121mm bottom bracket. This is what the Farley 7 and 9.6 come with.
The shell is unthreaded, about 40.75mm ID, and 121.25mm wide. Park Tool calls this PF41, but also notes other terms including BB121 and Shimano Press-Fit.
Saddle & Seatpost
For the saddle, I have taken the Bontrager Verse Comp saddle from my Checkpoint.
This bike comes ready for an internally routed dropper post, 31.6mm diameter. I went with the PNW Coast Suspension dropper post, since I was a little worried about my very upright posture on this bike. I'm using the PNW Loam Lever.
Seatpost Pressure: 220 PSI (Michael), 240 PSI (Tim)
Brakes
I went with the SRAM Level TL brakes. 2-piston caliper design. Front and rear are sold separately, but each comes with the brake handle, brake caliper, and hose. Uses DOT 5.1 fluid.
The Farley 9.6 comes with SRAM CenterLine 6-bolt Rounded Edge disc brake rotors. I went with SRAM Centerline 160mm rotors.
In the rear, the frame blocks access to remove the brake pads, and the brake line is routed a little awkwardly. Would this be different if I used bigger rotors?
Fenders
If I can, I want to put fenders on this thing to keep most of the slush and water off of me.
Blendr
This bike definitely needs to be equipped with lights. That means a Blendr mount in the front (✓), and a saddle that takes a light in back (✓).
Handlebar & Stem
I have a Bontrager Kovee 35 handlebar, 720mm wide, and a stem to go with it (plus a Blendr Duo base). I don't want a wide handlebar for snowy pavement, even with potholes and curbs.
Trance: 32" (810mm?)
Sirrus: 23" (590mm?)
Standard Farleys: 750mm
For grips, I have taken the black PNW Loam grips off of Tim's Sirrus (putting orange ones on it for him).
Pedals
Right now, I have Shimano PD-ME700 SPD pedals on this bike. They are heavy, and I'm not convinced that the "wide contact area" offers me any real benefit. I'll probably move lighter SPD pedals to this bike once I upgrade to power meter pedals on one of my other bikes.
I still have the Crankbrothers Stamp flats that came off of Tim's Sirus.
Upcoming Purchases
- Better Valve Stems
- The Giant valve stems suck. I put 44mm Wolf Tooth stems on my summer wheelset, and they work fine. The winter wheelset still has the Giant stems I put on it. With the double-wall rims, may need the longer 60mm ones.