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Motobecane Sturgis / Night Train Thread

581K views 4K replies 330 participants last post by  Fleas 
#1 ·
Since the trend seems to be to break away from the massive and hard to read/hard to follow generic Moto fat bikes thread, I figured I would start one for the Sturgis & Night Train.

I have a Night Train Bullet on order. Looking forward to it showing up, unfortunately, the reciept I have shows a ship date of 11/05. Other folks had ones earlier in October.

Anyway - Three questions to get this ball rolling:

1 - Are you going to change anything right off the bat?
2 - Did you buy for winter, sand, trail, or all?
3 - What date did your ship notice show?
 
#3,811 ·
Was able to take the monster truck out for a spin yesterday. Rode some singletrack and some atv trails. Man, this thing climbs like a beast!! The atv trails have all sorts of loose rock, sand, and dirt.....I climbed right up it. I never wouldve been able to do that on my skinny. Had the tire pressure set at 9.5 rear and 8.5 front. That was a base setting and I'll adjust in the future, but so far, that felt pretty good. Very crisp shifting with the gx, no adjustments at all. Plenty of room for me on the large, I'm 6'1", it feels very sturdy and responsive, with plenty of leg room. I like the nice touch of providing an extra derailleur hanger, very impressed. Also, for those of you who haven't unboxed yet, please check all those cardboard boxes that appear just to be packing assistance, check every one of them. I was about to discard them but them opened them all up. One of them contains sun ringle rim strips. Fork still feels quite flexy to me, not sure if that's just the characteristics of the carbon or not. More saddle team is needed to get a good assessment. Overall, very impressed with the build quality and how it's spec'ed. I only bought it to get more saddle time in the snowy months but something tells me I'm going to be on it way more than I think!!!!
 
#3,813 ·
I took my Sturgis Bullet for it first proper trail ride since last winter over the weekend. I had fun on it. The bike is not exactly stock anymore though.

A few comments.

1) the bike feels slow uphill but it just keeps trucking along and handled the loose sandy conditions well. I even got a few PRs on Strava climbing which totally surprised me.

2) The bike is scary compared to my 5.5" trail bike once you get over 20 mph. But that is not its forte (see 3).

3) For lazy riding, when you just want to enjoy the ride, see the terrain and not worry about KOMs or PRs it's hard to beat.

4) The Kenda Juggernaut Pro tires I have on it are not aggressive enough on the front for really loose conditions. I need more bite to feel more secure. It was sketchy at best yesterday.

I videoed my downhills for my YouTube channel showing the bike off but I screwed up the sound so I have some work to do to recover a useful video. For now some pictures.







 
#3,824 ·
Stock Night Train Express

I'm intrigued by what I'm seeing with the NightTrain Express. What are the stock weights on these bikes?[/QUOTE

Stock out of the box weight of my 15.5 night train express was 32 lbs. 14 oz. including reflectors.
I was impressed on my ride yesterday at how much traction / stopping power the minions have. It did much better than I thought it would on the downhill as well. Not as good as fully susp. of course but I expecting more bucking. Ran 10psi front and 11 rear and I am at 155 lbs. It definitely rolls over obstacles better than my 27.5 fully susp.
 
#3,815 ·
This is the video from my ride on Sunday. It's amazing how much slower it looks on camera than what I was feeling riding it!



One take out from this ride is that the Kenda Juggernaut Pro is probably not the best tire for extremely loose over hard conditions. It did not inspire confidence at all. I may put the Vee Snowshoe 4.5 back on the front only for now until I change back to my winter rubber.
 
#3,822 ·
This is the video from my ride on Sunday. It's amazing how much slower it looks on camera than what I was feeling riding it!

One take out from this ride is that the Kenda Juggernaut Pro is probably not the best tire for extremely loose over hard conditions. It did not inspire confidence at all. I may put the Vee Snowshoe 4.5 back on the front only for now until I change back to my winter rubber.
My wife and I were out in Buffalo Creek back in 2012 and we loved it (we are from NJ). The only bad thing there were some black flies in the valley -- when we stopped to take a look at the views, we were bitten something fierce. Kept us moving at least. :)

I have On-One Floaters on my Boris and they hook up really well in all conditions -- dirt, mud & snow. Love em! The downside for you Sturgis and Night Train guys is that they are "only" 4 inches wide.
 
#3,817 ·
The Pros are pretty cheap at $55 and they seem to roll well. I dropped my bike from >35lb to <32lbs when I took off my 45Nrth Dunder and Flowbeists. You are right though, the sidewall is thin and I am not 100% sure on the support they provide. I was running them at around 10.5 - 11 psi and even then there were times when they felt like they folded under the rim at speed.
 
#3,823 ·
I just ordered a NT Express. I'm a 1st gen Lurch owner and I've been very happy with it. I had originally planned it to be my winter only bike, but I haven't ridden my road bike at all and I sold my 29er. Since I ride it so much, I couldn't resist the better components on the NTX. I checked around at my local bike shops for something comparable. The closest thing I found was a Fatboy SE for $1500 with x5 components. Seriously? I haven't been on an x5 in forever. Still, it's nice to see fatbike prices coming down a bit lately.

Nice job on the included components on this bike, BD. The frame looks great as well. I plan on putting my Bluto on this for summer trail riding and using the carbon fork for XC and winter riding. Can't wait to get this thing rolling.
 
#3,826 ·
New to forum and would like to post some pics of my new Sturgis NX but don't know how. Rides awesome and just as fast as my anthem 27.5 sx on my local trail. Raceface peddals and seat along with carbon post, stem and bar 740mm. Taped for tubless just giving it a day to seat after re installing the tubes. Will remove tube tonight and add orange seal 6 to 8oz per tire. 34.6 lbs with tubes.
 
#3,834 ·
I live in New Jersey. There's lot's of tight, twisty singletrack here. XC type handling would be the goal; a slack headtube angle just isn't as good a choice for the type of riding I do. I like that the headtube angle on the Bullet Fatbike Frameset is 70 degrees, and would not want to change it when using a suspension fork.
 
#3,845 ·
Ok, I can't figure this out. I have an older NTB, and I am running the Snowshoe 4.5" tires. I was looking at some snowshoe xl's.

Will the XL fit on this bike without scrubbing? I have tried to search the thread, but my google skills are lacking.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#3,847 ·
Yes. I was running the XL's on my NT 17.5". Tones of clearance. I was running a 1x drivetrain. Race Face Ride cranks for 170mm OLD with RF NW 30t ring run on the outside (flipped) position. Good chainline and clearance.

Bud/Lou fit and they are wider and taller than the XL's.

Ok, I can't figure this out. I have an older NTB, and I am running the Snowshoe 4.5" tires. I was looking at some snowshoe xl's.

Will the XL fit on this bike without scrubbing? I have tried to search the thread, but my google is lacking.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#3,846 ·
My freehub was making really soft clicking noises when I'm costing, and sometimes would pop when I engage the drive after coasting. I took my freehub off last night and cleaned all the factory grease out of it. The pawls would stick in the down position when I would press on them. I used sine lighter, waterproof grease and now it clicks like a normal freehub.
 
#3,855 ·
I'm about 5'9" and using the book against the wall method my inseam is about 31" without shoes and 32" with running shoes. The bike shop told me I have a long torso.

I ride a 15.5". when rigid I had about 1+" of standover clearance. I haven't measured since I added a Bluto. Overall I like it. I slammed the seat all the way back and the reach is still a little shorter than I'd like but I do fine with it. I just haven't gotten around to trying a longer stem. So being you're 1-2" shorter than me in what sounds like mostly torso length, I think a 15.5" is probably going to fit you fine.
 
#3,856 · (Edited)
Thanks. BD recommended the 15.5 too. Trying to compare to a Farley 7 (same Kinesys frame) and Trek size charts say I should be on a 17.5 although they have 6 frame sizes to chose from. Tried comparing effective top tube lengths to my other mtb and road bikes. Looks close.

Edit: ordered a 15.5 Night Train Express (matte gray) this afternoon. In stock and shipping soon. Super stoked and hoping the sizing works for me.
 
#3,858 ·
I have no idea what my "book against the wall" measurements are but I am 5'7" and have a 17.5" Farley and small Sturgis in the garage.

Let me know if you need any info about them.
 
#3,859 ·
Just for reference I'm 6'3" and got the 21" night train and it fits. I think the 19" would be too small for sure. I'm comparison the 21.5" trek mountain bikes, including farley, fit me pretty well. but actually might be a bit on the small size compared to the night train. Lots of seat post showing on the farley and if I had gone with the farley probably would have sized up.
 
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