We are having an epic winter here in Durango, so I was excited to build this Chimera fat bike for my friend Brendan.
The build went great. Any details about geometry can be found at the Chimera page, but the build kit on this bike turned out really awesome. He spent money where it counted, and saved money where he could. The wheels are the awesome DT Swiss Big Rides, saving a ton of weight where you notice it most. Mated up with the Surly Bud and Lou combo, which is incredible in the snow. We went with Race Face Turbine cranks which allowed us to flip the Cinch chainring and run a narrower q-factor crank on a 197mm rear end fat bike; the best of both worlds. Then keeping it simple with Shimano Deore brakes and an 11-speed SRAM GX drivetrain really pulled it all together. Not pictured here are the ENVE carbon bars he got to help keep his hands warmer, but they didn’t come in in time for these pictures.
I was able to get this built up in time for the annual fat bike race in Silverton, the Silverton Whiteout. It’s a great route, and with on-course coffee bar, bee-bee gun range, and bacon station, it’s my favorite race of the year. The unbelievable amount of snow we’re getting this year doesn’t hurt either.
One slight difference with this Chimera over past builds is that it features Fender mounts. I believe I’ll be including this with all future Chimera builds, as it’s an incredibly useful thing to have if there is any amount of water, sand or other fluids getting on your tires.
