Budget BBSHD Dolomite ALX build by a noob

[Ridefreak]

Cool. For about 10 seconds I was thinking how nuts you were to spend that kind of money on a bike that cheap but then I think about my walmart bike where the current tires cost more than the bike did. We won't even talk about how much I spent on the BBSHD and battery, and fenders, and rack, and seatpost, and and and.......

I was able test it in the sand saturday, did very well and gave me a nice workout.

[DynamoDog]

I listen to Tull when I ride the sand in NJ's pine barrens. Although those trails you have are spectacular.

[DynamoDog]

I live in NJ and believe it or not have a sort of similar situation with NJ's sandy pine barrens in my back yard. Although at 61 and crappy health low cash I need to spend it wisely. I am currently riding a 95' or so DEAN BamBam 26er with a bbshd hotrod'd 750watt to 1500 watts but I am limited to 2.25 tires rear and 2.40 tires front which means I need to be on the gas (RM125 and KLX250) all the time in the deep sand which kills the 52v wolfpack. 10 miles and I am finished, back home I go, although I am ready after 10 miles of twisty single track a speed with my health.

I currently want to replace the lovely and trusty BamBam with a wider tired bike. But I like tossing the bike around like a dirt bike and I am not certain if the 3" 27.5 plus tires would be all I need or do I need to go full fatty? Can you toss the fatty around in tight berm to berm single track at full throttle and feel in predictable control of the bike? Were the 3" tires that bad in the sand? Lastly is the lack of a full suspension on the fatty a problem or does it give the tail better action in the twisty stuff?

Thanks for reading.

[AZguy]

I ride in deep sand and gravel washes frequently but also on hard surfaces and off-road single track etc.

I'm presently running high quality 26x4.8" very aggressive knobbies typically at 10-12psi - one of the great advantages of the wider tires is the ability to go so low in pressure and if I'm riding mostly deep stuff I'll go even lower

They carve turns in the dirt and are amazing on the hard surface (readily get past 45° lean) - tire technology has come a long way, they float well on the sand but even at 12psi there's just a little squirreliness, lower makes it better - it's not a problem but it takes a little more effort... they are far more forgiving about small obstacles, cracks, bumps, gaps, etc. and the ride is really good... traction and rolling resistance off-road is exceptional - granted rolling resistance is worse on hard surface but it's not that much and when you have a big box of 'trons, who really cares?

It's amazing how steep they'll go too - after a debate on grades and how steep we can climb I went out and measured some grades and was climbing some 60-65% hills that were somewhat loose dirt - I bet it could do more but I don't have the juevos

I can't say about lack of rear suspension beyond I believe a well setup rear suspension would only be a benefit

I'm not much interested in going narrower than 4" since I do spend plenty of time in the soft stuff and all the other benefits they bring

The downsides beyond somewhat more tire weight is primarily the lack of availability for suspension components... fortunately there are now more options but it's very thin.... there are a few forks to choose from but I think 120mm travel is about tops and there are very few full suspension frames that will accommodate the fat-tires and those are too often not the best geometry, travel and tend to be expensive


I guess is suspension is very important than maybe 3" might be a good way to go but if you can tolerate 120mm front and a hard tail I would go no less than 4"

YMMV

[DynamoDog]

Thanks for your description it helps in my 3" or 4" tire choice and then also bike to go with it. In your opinion a hard tail with suspension fork is better with or without a quality suspension seat? Thanks.

[AZguy]

Hooray suspension seat on the hardtail!

[73Eldo]

I have both a 26x4 bike and a 29x 2-3 and if I'm going to be 90% pavement or hardpack I will take the 29 every time. The 26 kinda bugs me on pavement. Tire choice makes a big difference but they don't tend to be cheap so it can get expensive to try different ones and find the combo you like. The tires that were on the 26 when I got it I really hated on pavement. Too squishy and too noisy. I scored some used ones and played around with different combos and found a good balance of pavement and off road so I could ride a few miles to the trails if I had to. Took several tires to find what I liked some I liked the performance of but had wicked self steering. For sand the bigger the better so you just have to find that balance depending on which surface you ride the most.

[AZguy]

I really like how my present tires handle on the pavement, no self steering even at 10psi. The last ones I had did need a bit more pressure to feel good on the pavement but if they were >~12psi they were pretty good although not as good as the ones I have now... so I do think it likely comes down to the specific tire far more than the size however since we run fat tires at low pressures they are likely more fussy for that

I've ridden some "OEM" fat tires and most aren't very good - the juggernauts suck!

[73Eldo]

I think the self steering has to do with the geometry of the bike. When I was having the issue and doing a lot of research I don't think I found anyone else that had the issue with the model tire I was having the issue with but did read people that had issues with the tires I eventually settled on. In my case it was Surly tires on a Surly bike so you would think if any combo would work it would have been that but to be fair Surly has had several models of bikes and tires so I apparently just had the wrong combo.

[AZguy]

Seems reasonable - geometry is important... I've certainly experienced it on mine with certain tires at low pressures however the setup I have now is excellent... I'm still amazed every time I ride at how hard it leans... I've been developing my technique where I make sure I'm on the throttle getting into a turn so I can stop pedaling and the throttle is still applying power when I enter the turn and can apply more power at the apex while making sure the inside pedal is high and I can really get silly lean angles...

[Ridefreak]

Being I long time MC rider I find most bicycle geometry to be too quick, for me they tend to understeer in many situations. When I added a suspension fork it raised the bike's front end up raking out the geometry a little, I think the bike guys call that slack (I'm learning) but I've found I frequently apply my MC knowledge to the bike with good success sometimes contrary to typical bicycle conventions. The raising of the front end slowed the steering to an acceptable amount, the understeer is gone. No issues riding on the street but I do like a bit higher pressures in that situation. Overall the longer forks made a nice improvement, no weird handling tendencies.

[AZguy]

FWIW the two measurements on a fork geometry are rake and trail - with longer forks, all things being equal, it will increase both... however the distance of the wheel axle to the steering axis may be different from fork to fork and that will change [mostly] the trail

[Ridefreak]

I really didn't get into it that much to concern myself with the specifics of the bike's geometry. To me it seemed obvious it'd ride better with some more rake . That wasn't my goal when I got the fork, I wanted a little suspension, the added length even though it's not much helped it out the handling, kind of a secondary benefit.

[Dshue]

It's nice that the Dolomite ALX has a cassette. A good Deore derailleur will work on an 11-40 cassette. I've never tried a Deore rear derailleur with a 42t cog but I doubt the the derailleur could handle it.
But if you really want a lower first gear you can convert to 10 or 11 speed and get a 50t or 52t first gear. Just make sure the cassette fits a Shimano HG freehub. A 40-52 gear is a 0.77:1 ratio compared to your current 1.11:1 ratio. Just be ready to lean over the bars because that's a lot of torque and would likely be a wild ride in pas 9 even on flat ground. Or it could allow you to get your top speed back with a larger chainring and still have a lower first gear.
My bike has a 1.1:1 first gear and I know at times it could use a little more. But then it's a 48v BBS02B and has less torque than a BBSHD.

[Aethion]

Followed this exact build (except for the battery is Luna Wolf V2 and stock BBSHD sprocket) based on the original post. Other than the absolutely stuck drive side crank arm (the threading was weak and stripped, ultimately had to cut off the crank arm) building it was really simple. Chainline could be improved, but its not atrocious; the bike still shifts through all the gears fine and the chain doesn’t drop.

Thanks for posting the original build in such detail; it was the major motivator and resource.

[DoctorAwesomesauce]

I like how clean this build turned out. Good job! Hopefully the bike stays together through all the fun I'm sure you'll have with it. :)

[Ridefreak]

I originally tried out a Box 8 speed gearset, 12-42 (i Think). Turns out the 8 speed setup (their cheapest ebike gearset) isn't really up to the 52V BBSHD, at least the way I ride it. Live and learn, the 8SP casette had some questionable mounting structure for the lower gears which eventually caused all but the tallest gears to wobble. It's clutched derailleur really helped allot when going fast over bumpy terrain but the casette isn't up to the power of a BBSHD IMO. I've ordered their 9sp which is a step up in strength and actually uses a spider carrier for the sprockets rather then spacers and rivets.

[chrisdbrown]

Hello, what size frame do you have? 17, 18, or 19?

Sweet ride, I'm looking to build the same thing. I'm mainly wondering about the frame because I'm getting the 18" frame and want to know if the triangle battery would fit in my frame.