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NAHBS 2012 – Co-Motion, Form, and Black Sheep’s 36″ Wheeled Bike

Co-Motion Divide Full Bike
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Co-Motion Divide Full Bike

The Co-Motion Divide has been high on the wish list of personal bikes I want to own for a while now.  It’s a go anywhere, do anything rig, and this special NAHBS build makes me want one even more.  This is the first Divide to come out of Co-Motion with a Gates Carbon Belt Drive and Rohloff Hub.

For the full build details, plus a full suspension fat tire bike from Form and a 36″ wheeled monster from Black Sheep, hit the jump.

Co-Motion Divide Belt Drive and rohloff hub

It uses a prototype cog from Gates to be used with their center track belts on a Rohloff hub.

Co-Motion Divide E-Werk

The E-Werk charger from Busch and Muller is a great addition to this rugged touring bike.  It takes the electricity from the front hub and converts it to an output that just about any electrical device can use.  In this case, the Garmin GPS is being chaged by the E-Werk device.

Co-Motion Divide Grip Shift and GPS

The Rohloff hub is shifted by this Gilles Berthound after market shifter imported from France.  It is made to fit a smaller diameter bar, so this Divide is fited with a 26.0 bar.  It slides up in three separate pieces, and is then clamped just before the flare in the bar.

Co-Motion Divide Front Light

Also powered by the front hub is a permanently mounted light.

Form

Form Full Suspension Fat Tire Bike

Hailing from Arizona, Form Cycles cranks out some pretty interesting titanium bikes.  There was one definite stand out in their booth this year though.  The full suspension fat tire bike.

Form Full Suspension Fat Tire Bike Rear Suspension

This soft tail gives the rider 44mm of travel in the rear by implementing an internal, custom made, steel spring and flex from the ti stays.  Sure, 44mm may not make a huge difference when you have a fat tire bike like this on sand or snow, but hit some rock gardens and you’ll be glad it’s there.

Form Full Suspension Fat Tire Bike Rear Suspension Side View

Form Full Suspension Fat Tire Bike Custom Lefty Front End

From has also designed and built a custom offset lefty front end that gives the rider 110 mm of front travel.

Form Full Suspension Fat Tire Bike Lefty Mounts

The custom lefty mounts provide the offset needed to run such a huge tire.  Want one for yourself?  Good news, Form is planning on selling a complete front end conversion for your fat tire bike.

Form Full Suspension Fat Tire Bike Cusom Front Offset Rim

They also took a Surly rim, stripped the paint, and drilled new spoke holes to allow for the custom offset in the front.  Would I do this with a road wheel, heck no.  But when you have a 4″ wide tire, I am told that you don’t notice a difference. The rims are tubeless bead socket technology using Stan’s No Tubes design and come polished from Fatback Cycles in Anchorage, AK.

Black Sheep

Black Sheep 36 Inch Bike

Black Sheep showed up with one of the craziest bikes at the show.  This 36″ wheeled monstrosity nabbed them the award for best experimental bike.  They also took home best tig construction.  Not to shabby.

Black Sheep 36 Inch bike head tube

Oversized headtube…Check.

Black Sheep 36 Inch Bike Tire

At five pounds per tire, I don’t think these are going to catch on any time soon.

Black Sheep 36 inch bike rear hub

Black Sheep had one of the first Paul Hubs spaced at 170mm with a 36 whole drilling.  It was crucial to make this wheel work.

Black Sheep 36 bike handel bars

Black Sheep Fat Tire Cargo Bike

Also on display in their booth was this snazzy fat tire cargo bike.

Black Sheep Fat Tire Cargo Bike Frame Split

The rear of the frame splits at both the seat stays and chain stays so that the entire back half can come off.

Black Sheep Fat Tire Cargo Bike Front End

Black Sheep Fat Tire Cargo Bike GrowlerComplete with growler!

Black Sleep Fat Tire Bike

Last but not least is their Fat Tire single speed just hanging out.

 

 

 

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13 Comments
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rdbrecko
rdbrecko
12 years ago

What kind of tire is on the 36″ Black Sheep? And is it really 5lbs each? I think that a 700c version would be cool on a cruiser or something similar.

JackS
JackS
12 years ago

Coker tires. I believe they make them primarily for unicycles, if I’m not mistaken.

dgaddis
12 years ago

Is that blacksheep 36er the same one (with different parts) they brought last year? Or did they actually sell two of them?

jaas
jaas
12 years ago

I got to see that bike in person….it was awesome….even for a road bike snob such as myself.

Yeahaaa!!!_
Yeahaaa!!!_
12 years ago

Unicycle tires?!

MB
MB
12 years ago

This is a different bike than last year as they built one for each of the 3 guys in the shop for the new year. There is a better write up on the NAHBS site about what made this one different. I’ve had mine for 9 months here in NC and I know they’ve sold a handful more since in varying configurations. There are roughly 30-50 in “circulation” worldwide by our estimates.

Yes, they are unicycle tires and yes they are 5 lbs each. The rims are also overbuilt and heavy. Even with the slightly better Nimbus tires my wheels are 10lbs each for a 35lb bike. There are a few of us that have been working together on producing lighter weight tires which is moving along nicely, but we have gotten to some dead ends on rims so far. Once the tires are out that may hep speed up the rim discussions. The new tires should drop 2lb per wheel but we are just now receiving the first prototypes so lots of work to be done still.

Matt
Matt
12 years ago

@MB
Can you give some more details or links so that we (the people in the internet) can order some?

I’m looking to build a 36er soon for a fun/townie bike, but the wheel weight is definitely a detractor. Fixing that would make me very interested.

Kovas
12 years ago

Blacksheep – I’d argue they’ve got the best headbadge in the biz….

Johan
12 years ago

I am also very keen to get more info on these 36″ bikes, Have had an interest in this for a while now.
Please give us a contact or link

Brett
Brett
12 years ago

Is 36″ the same as 650B?

Speedy
Speedy
12 years ago

@brett – No, 650B is a smaller wheel than a a 29″ wheel. 36″ is bigger than a 29″ wheel.

MB
MB
12 years ago

The new wheels are still in prototype stage, but I’ll post here when we have more info. They will be for sale through a builder once we all agree on the prototypes.

The current tires are available at unicycle.com (Nimbus is their house brand) and are fine for a cruiser IMO, but less than ideal for trails, especially if any mud is present as they cake up like crazy. For me, even as a 35lb bike the 36er is the ultimate flatland/rolling cruiser as once you get to speed the wheels as act flywheels and keep you rolling and rolling, especially with some nice hubs. Hills suck, but hills suck anyways.

Search for the poll we did on mtbr for 36er tires and you’ll find a LOT more info.

Brett
Brett
12 years ago

@ Speedy – I just measered my 650B Scott scale and the wheels were definitely bigger than a 29″ wheel. Like 34″

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