Quiring Cycles

Snow bikes with their fat tires are sure getting popular these days!   So, here at Quiring Cycles, LLC we decided to add to this growing snowball of momentum and build these bikes too.   

As you can imagine, building a snow bike is not a simple task, but with the help of the after-hours guy I think we can get the job done (wait, the after-hours guy is me?!)

The first snow bike is going to be made of a custom blend of Dedacciai Zero/Zero Uno, an Italian super-steel tubing, which is going to a 6'5" rider in Northern Michigan.   

Since I couldn't think of a better material for the second snow bike frame, I will build this one using super tough and lightweight Reynolds 953 Mar-aging stainless steel.   The great aspect of this material is that it won't rust or need a paint job.   Considering that snow bikes are used in extreme environments which consists of road salt, snow, mud, and just some plain yucky conditions, a stainless steel snow bike sounds perfect!

For the 953 stainless snow bike,  I am going to build it around an 100 mm BB shell, an  1 1/8" headtube, an 170mm rear spacing, Paragon Slider Dropouts, and a splitter in the seatstay so I can install a Gates Belt Drive, if I want too.   It will also have extra cable guides which will allow the 953 snow bike to run a conventional drivetrain.  Finally, a slacker headtube angle set  at 70 degrees, a more upright rider position, and longer chainstays will help this bike plow through the snow.

To help facilitate the proper tire clearance of a 3.8" tire and the chainline clearance, a box-style chainstay yoke design is going to make a solid junction connecting the BB shell and head towards the rear dropouts.  This layout idea came from a snow bike owned by Mike Curiak (http://lacemine29.com/), a famed  rider of the Iditarod Trail.

From the pictures above you can see how this stainless yoke design is coming together.  First, I started out with some CAD/CAM computer programing, followed by the making of the parts on the CNC mill.  Then this yoke was tack-welded together, and finally all the welds were put in place.

The plan is to get these two custom Quiring snow bikes ready for a couple of local Michigan fat bike events.  The first is to be held in January at the Versluis Orchards in Walker, Michigan.  Riders will compete over a three-hour period, and count how many laps were completed on a defined course.

For more info see here: http://www.farmteamracing.com/2011/11/farmers-fat-bike-race.html

The second snow bike race is held in the Upper Peninsula and is a point-to-point race held in conjunction with the Noquemanon Ski race.  Info on the Noquemanon event can be found at this link:

http://www.noquemanon.com/snow-bike/

Please check back to this site to find out how these snow bikes are coming together.

Holiday Cheers!- Q