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NAHBS 2013: Appleman’s Italian Themed Roadie & Wood Inlay Carbon 29+ Fat Bike

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Matt Appleman is known for his cut carbon logos and carbon fiber road bikes, but this year he brought along his debut mountain bike: a 29+ fat bike. Conveniently, it’s in his size, so guess who’ll be testing it?

Like his road bikes, it uses UD tubes with stitched-and-layered UD carbon fabric. And, it gets his usual unique cut logo, this time using a plaid fabric backdrop with wood veneer for the logo. The real eye catcher is the raw carbon fiber woven rim strip, though!

Check that and more details, plus his Italian themed road bike below…

Appleman carbon fiber 29-plus fat bike with raw carbon fiber rim strips

Chainstay yoke is custom made to clear a standard BB30 crankset and use a 135mm rear hub. It’s about 22lbs complete, edging out the 38 Frameworks carbon fat bike for lightest-in-category at NAHBS.

Appleman carbon fiber 29-plus fat bike with raw carbon fiber rim strips

This one has fabric with laser cut wood veneer for the logo. Just another way to make a bike truly custom and one-of-a-kind.

Appleman carbon fiber 29-plus fat bike with raw carbon fiber rim strips

It can be built for any size and type of tire and wheel. $4,600 for frame and headset. Note the carbon wrap at the joint above (click to enlarge). Where most builders use woven or plain UD carbon, Appleman uses stitched sheets of carbon fabric for a unique look. On it’s own, it is so shiny it was really hard to photograph, but here’s an attempt:

Appleman raw stitched carbon fiber fabric

Appleman carbon fiber 29-plus fat bike with raw carbon fiber rim strips

We’ve found that most builders who work with carbon fiber like to find other ways to use the material. Here, Matt took non-prepreg sheets of woven material and made his own super lightweight rim strip.

Appleman carbon fiber road bike

While every bike he builds is unique, across the board all of his road bikes now get internal cable routing as a no-cost option.

Appleman carbon fiber road bike

This one is for a customer that wanted an Italian theme, so it gets green hued sections on the right, red on the left.

Appleman carbon fiber road bike

Appleman carbon fiber road bike

Appleman carbon fiber road bike

Note the slanted brake bridge, a trademark feature on Appleman’s bikes.

 

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Psi Squared
Psi Squared
11 years ago

That’s a sharp looking road bike.

Singletrackroadie
Singletrackroadie
11 years ago

Carbon Fat Bike – very nice…

ds
ds
11 years ago

Maybe on the technical point it is good, but horrible artistically. The handlebar… Some things doesn’t mix. And that’s not all, it looks as if the breather tape layup wasn’t removed after curing. Sorry.

Anyways respect to the man and his doings.

Eyal
Eyal
11 years ago

I really want to like Applemans bikes. But they look unfinished, rough around the edges. This is not Earthenware atmo!

mike
mike
11 years ago

The look is my favorite part. Sets it apart from the cookie cutter asian frames.

James S
James S
11 years ago

It’s a minor thing, but I don’t think 29+ should be considered a fat bike. It’s really an in between category given that standard fat bike tires start at 3.7 and go up to 4.8. The Knard is “only” 3.0 inches wide.

Drew Diller
11 years ago

Agreed with James S. I’ve ridden fat bikes for a bit, and had a short test ride on some Knard tires. Even in that short distance – 29+ does not ride like a fat bike. It has the name 29 plus for a good reason, it’s a good summary.

Good work Matt! His frame’s exteriors are full of character on top of the high quality interiors.

David
David
11 years ago

Love it! The finish seems to be a good design for someone that actually rides their bikes… Meaning the time is spent in some really awesome logos and the rest is just clear coated. Drives me nuts seeing all these custom paint jobs that will make a person cry when they scratch, nick or chip it. Seem a like most of these show bikes (and the bikes that get sold because of the show) don’t actually get ridden like a bike should, just get talked about at cocktail parties by little brats that wear Rapha.

Ben
Ben
11 years ago

David,

“Seem a like most of these show bikes (and the bikes that get sold because of the show) don’t actually get ridden like a bike should, just get talked about at cocktail parties by little brats that wear Rapha.”

Seems is the key word in your phrase. Have you talked to any of these guys pouring their soul into this? You’d discover the bike on display that rode the Colorado Trail last year, the one that an owner’s future wife rides and was his marriage proposal, a group of bikes by a 2-time Trans Iowa winner, another just done for the guy who is the marketing/research department of a 3-man crew. Hell, both Mr. and Mrs. Eriksen will outride most guys half their age. Black Sheep had some dirt on one of their bikes in the booth. I’m sure their were plenty more I didn’t talk to.

Most of these guys don’t have a ton of resources to be throwing around cash on a ton of show-specific bikes. This group of people is the heart and soul of bikes. They eat, sleep, breath, and ride their stuff, a lot. Why do we all go to see it, check in on pics, etc? It’s because we all aspire to have the passion for something in our lives that these folks have had all along.

James S – agreed on the fatbike comment. I’m not really sure what we’ll be calling the 29+ in a year, but great on Surly for coming up with a new term and a fun bike.

Ben
Ben
11 years ago

*There, not their….damn it.

Dave
Dave
11 years ago

That stitched carbon fibre is a 2×2 45º pattern, something you can find at any composite shop and that all of us use in the internal layup of the frames to improve torsion characteristics. There are some 15m2 of that stuff at my workshop right now. The stitching is there to make the stuff cheaper as it is not woven, yet usable (the stiching prevents the stuff from fraying when working on it).

Madonna was once admired too for wearing underwear on top.

CG
CG
11 years ago

Their 29+ was one of my favorite bikes at the show!

burt
burt
11 years ago

Am I the only one thinking this guy is going to see a lawsuit from Apple in the future?

mrcykel
mrcykel
11 years ago

Burt, yea, you probably are.

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