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So having followed the £1K fatty thread and the Calibre Dune love, and previously seen the Voodoo Wazoo, last week I bought a Voodoo Wazoo from Halfords. £499 rrp, 10% off Voodoo Bikes and 10% BC discount so £405 all in. I declined their offer to built it and did it myself the night before an overnighter at Afan.
Weight from “standing on bathroom scales holding it” was 16kg, so closer to the O-O Fatty with steel forks and heavier than the Dune? Headset is sealed cartridge not the open cage listed in the spec. The OE saddle weighs 410grm, the seatpost 350g 😯 , so you could probably fit a reverb and your chosen perch and be weight-neutral. The wheels felt surprisingly light to a fatty virgin in the ‘heft’ test (but probably because it looks like it came off a 4x4...). Coming from 15 years of riding FSers weighing over 30lbs my frame of reference is probably different some others.
Matty456 and boriselbrus from a previous Wazoo thread were good enough to reply to emails (and may be prompted to post reviews 😉 ) and both said the front end was too low and they’d fitted risers. With all the spacers under the stem and the stem in the positive position my bars and saddle were same height, which is how I have my main bike (Alpine 160 with CCDB and RC3Ti). FYI I’m 5’10 (176cm?) and bought the 18”. Feels spot on.
Day 1 in Afan (afternoon after having driven down) we rode Y Wall and Blue Scar. I started with 10psi in the tyres and slowly let air out, settled on 7.5 in front and 8.0 in rear (I’m a 66kg racing snake) - I bottomed the front rim out on one square edge in a compression so stopped there.
There is a lot of ‘self steer’ with anything that knocks the front tyre off vertical (be it camber or an obstacle) trying to turn the bike, so steering needed a far more assertive effort and a firmer grip, which in turn gave my wrists a battering on the rockier sections. Turns out 4” of balloon tyre doesn’t take hits like 6” of oil-damped coiled titanium spring- who knew 😉 Pegged it back a bit on the faster/rougher stuff and really enjoyed it, and Blue Scar which is smooth and groomed was a total hoot.
Gears- well they work, 2x8 so a big jump to the granny, and the choice of front cogs (24T and 36T?) meant I spent more time on the little ‘un than I normally do. Basically it’s higher geared than my Alpine but with bigger effective wheels making the gearing even higher. Brakes were fine, levers have reach adjust, could probably do with a bleed out-of-the-box and some better pads wouldn’t go amiss, but never had any real problems slowing/stopping.
Build and finish all looks good. Single clamped grips have been criticised for rotating, but whilst I could get a couple of mm of twist in the car park test I never noticed it whilst riding. V-Rubber Mission tyres seemed right for the hardpack trail centre conditions but everything I’ve heard suggests they’re poor in mud. I’ll find out this weekend and if so get some Floaters.
In short, it’s far more fun than any (potentially) 400 quid bike has a right to be. No fundamental problems that need sorting, and would be worthy of future upgrades. As my N now stands at 7 (!) this will stay a budget toy: mud tyres, a 750mm bar to get the set up to match my Alpine and a shim so I can use my Gravity Dropper. When the drivetrain wears out, probably a budget 1x set up.
And it matches my £17 (from halfords) Bell Stoker 😎
I can rubber stamp it with day 2: I left the Alpine in Afan Lodge lock-up and took the Wazoo out again to ride Blade and Whites.
Welcome to Fat Camp.
I'm a month in. No doubt the novelty will wear off eventually but I'm a happy camper!
Welcome to fat land!
Defiantly ditch the tyres, while On One still have the floaters on offer.
Those tyres a really quite poor on mud and sand
Does it come with Missions, or Mission Commands? The original spec was Commands, which are supposed to be a bit better.
zippykona - Member
Welcome to Fat Camp.
I'm a month in. No doubt the novelty will wear off eventually but I'm a happy camper!
That's what I thought. But I'm 3 months in and I'm still smiling.
Mission Commands
lazy typing- actually Mission Commands. I've ordered a pair of Floaters anyway as £25 a tyre seems too good to miss for a fat bike tyre with a reasonable rep?
(mini edit)
Not sure I'm describing the same "self steer" as other people-having done a quick google the original Missions 'self steer' on hard terrain so I assume the tread pattern pulled the tyre off line, I'm just talking about the reaction of a very wide tyre to being knocked off line. We did the long tarmac path back from Glyncorryg to Afan Lodge and I commented to Munqe Chick how well it rolled and rode on road-not sure I'd chose it for commuting but it spun along smoothly at enough of a lick she had to tell me to slow down.
I tend to get heel rub even on a normal set up so I'm not expecting the paint to stay on the crank arms much longer, and if anything the BB axle looks longer than it needs to be - loads of drive-side clearance.
Will drop the pressures further for a muddy Woburn this weekend and pack the digital gauge and see how I get on.
I always "got" fat bikes, and whilst the "had me grinning" comments get met with "what, you sulk on your normal bike?" to me it's no-pressure, back-to-basics riding, like single-speed or any other deliberately-flawed choice. I stopped pushing myself to go faster/bigger/higher after a couple of summers missed through injury, so whilst the Alpine isn't exactly wasted as I still love it, I do sometimes feel like I'm not living up to the bike. So it should still be fun after the novelty has worn off.
Munqe Chick spent the day laughing at me, I had a cracking reaction from some local outside Afan Lodge who'd genuinely never seen or heard of a fat bike. It releases the inner 9 year old, which we sometimes lose sight of is the whole point of riding bikes and getting muddy, right?
My review of Afan .. I spent 2 days LOLing at crashtestmonkey smiling like a small child! I laughed at him and his silly fat tyres! I laughed that he spent £400 on a toy (his money).... basically I spent all weekend laughing at him with the occasional WITH him 😉
This is what life is about! Toys, riding and smiles! x
Self steer's a pretty distinctive thing, it just feels weird and orrible, I think you'd probably know it if you had it. But getting knocked off line and bounced and generally going down trails like a spacehopper dropped down a well is just normal I think 😆
We shouldn't be seen talking like this, Dunes Vs Wazoos is like Sharks Vs Jets.
did the sharks and the jets unite against a common enemy in the same way we can with On One? 😉
Well they ruined Maria's day.
Well, Woburn has survived the winter fantastically, it took us an hour to find our first puddle, and in the year since I rode there the trail pixies have been busy (and officially sanctioned). Mostly grippy and tacky with sand and pine needles and the Mission Commands were perfect. Not really sure where I'll get to use my Floater mud tyres 😉
I haven't been up woburn for a few weeks due to the state of the trails. Seems like it might be a good time to get the Beargrease out again.
Wazoo's are ace!
Here's mine in the snow today. I couldn't believe the traction - just hilarious 🙂
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Probably the best £275 I've ever spent on a bike!
Nice piece of snowgletrack there..
Fd3chris, we park at apsley heath and all the woods to the I ft as you drive in were running well. Didn't do the other side which is normally muddier.
Wazoo in 20" currently £404 at halfords, so with BC discount would be ~£360.
Munqe-chick wasn't the only one laughing at you 🙂
I laughed all the way round Woburn following you. But at that price its hard not to see the sense in it. Can I have a go on Sunday ?
Damn it! I just bought one now..... 🙄
@crashtestmonkey I know where you mean and that side is the sandier dryer side but I much prefer the other side but I went there sunday gone and it was pretty rideable.
Why is the 18" more expensive than the 20"?
I'd guess they're discounting the 20" as it's not selling and they're trying to shift stock? Before Xmas the first run of Wazoos sold out (think they only did 18" then).
They are selling fine, not many left of either size. I'll have a look at warehouse stock figures after lunch if anyone is interested. Certainly less than 50 of each though.
gastromonkey - MemberWhy is the 18" more expensive than the 20"?
Takes longer to make, they have to whittle down a 20 inch frame.
We bought ours at Christmas,large size as two of us are 6 footers and the Calibre Dune we tried was just too small.
Our first fat bike and we have used it on our local sand dunes and the beach so far.
Brakes work,gears work and no problems so far.
First change was to bars and stem.Two inch rise scandium bars and 50mm stem.Pedals were very notchy so replaced with Superstar Nano.
Tyres were adequate but no more for grip so replaced with a pair of On-One Floaters which are much better.
Finally saddle replaced with something more up market.
Great fun to play with,superb value for money.
Built mine up this evening. Very swift wang around the block.
The steering kind of does what it wants huh? 😯
That's probably the tyres- some fat tyres can be pretty self-steerey. But it's also pressure dependent, I find most tyres go wrong with higher pressures. (my Bud was grim on the first couple of pressure-finding rides, total mind of its own)
What is this BC discount you guys are talking about?
British Cycling members get 10% off at Halfords with no exceptions or limitations. You can get applicable membership for 30 quid or less so would more than pay for itself with the Wazoo. You also get a £10 off 99 every month at CRC (plus loads of other non-monetary benefits).
Kayak see earlier in thread, that's a fat tyre and pressure thing, Mission Commands actually not bad tyres (not great in mud though).
So wish i knew this earlier as i am a member. Am away to kick myself in the head now.
Well, I went for my first little spin on the fatty. Weird city! Kind of in a fun way though.
I took the standard bars, stem and grips off before I even rode it as they're a bit narrow and long. Put my 750 Eastons on which seems better now.
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I tried letting a bit of pressure out. Reckon I've got about 9psi or suttin, which perhaps helped with the wandering front end.
What is weird is the wide pedal-stance, which will take some getting used to like everything else.
Got a lot of WTF looks from little kids and the parents.
Overall, I reckon I'm going to enjoy it.
It's.....different.
Oh yeah, had it on my scales. It weighs 36.59 lbs 😯
Took mine to Woburn again and had a blast, again. Saw a few fatties up there including a Salsa FS. Swapped bikes with Munqechick to let her try it and nearly crashed hers on the first corner, as 2.1"s suddenly felt really twitchy!
Anyone got any info on some of the specs that they don't really mention on the Halfords site? Thinking things like stem length, bar width, crank length, seatpost length, hub widths etc? Presumably its 1 1/8" straight steerer? Trying to figure what could be switched with stuff in the shed vs having to buy! Thanks...
That bottom picture looks like your rear wheel is resting on a log.
It had me thinking that your tyre pressure was way too low!
~710mm bar.
70mm stem.
31.6 post, long and heavy!
1 1/8th straight steerer
135 front 170 rear hubs both standard QR
175 cranks I THINK, square taper on a 110 axled BB? Odd ring choice of 24/38, gives a big range but makes big ring redundant (or run a lot of cross chain) for a lot if off-road stuff.
Thanks CTM! Seat post - 350mm+ long?
Does one think the cranks could be bought in a smidge with a better crankset? They do seem to stick out a bit more than they might need.
Dunno, as a fatty newbie the BB axle looks longer than it needs to be with far more clearance than necessary, esp on drive side. Looks more BB than crank related though.
SSB I'll measure and check. I had an old (and light) CF post in parts bin which I fitted straight out the box along with spare of my favoured saddle. Got a shim to use my 27.2 Gravity Dropper but not fitted it and not missing it yet
Ahhh now only £364.49 with BC discount.....must resist!
400mm post FYI.
Cool thanks! Not too many upgrades needed out of the box then, will search in the garage for stuff that fits...
Nice evening out on the Wazz last night.
Tried a bit more pressure in the tyres and rolled a lot better on flat fields and towpaths around here...
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I'm getting seriously tempted by one of these. Must resist.
Resistance is futile.
Update on the Wazoo.
Now running it tubeless (though I'm sure it's totally unreliable and I'll have to go back to tubes) and with the on-one carbon fatty forks (that I accidentally bought against the advice of my 'financial advisor ' ) it now weighs in at 33lbs total.
That is also with a 400 mm SDG I-beam post and saddle I had in my spares.
The weight of the original steel fork was 1500g ...
I thought the Fatty was tapered steerer, and the Wazoo straight? What was the weight of the O-O carbon fork?
No, straight steerer. Weighs about 650g according to on-one. I didn't actually test that but it certainly feels like nowt.
Took the Wazoo a casual 20 miles round the FOD today.
Really enjoyable, and such a nice day.
Managed to set the rear up ghetto tubeless and it held very well all day. Thought I'd leave the front until I knew it would be reliable.
It was difficult to get tyre pressures dialled as I found that either it was too wallowy on the hardpack of the trail centre bits but great off piste, or really rolling fast and keeping a line but being rough as hell.
I have to say, I missed my usual 160mm of travel when I was clattering down the downhill runs. You really appreciate what suspension does when you're riding a rigid basketball. 😀
Reckon it would be great with a Bluto but meh. Maybe I need to remember that it's a different kind of ride to my thin bikes and chill a bit.
Beautiful day.
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Are any other Wazoo owners getting tempted to get a set of those Fat Not Fat 29er Reet'hards?
Do we know if these wheels have a RDS front, to slot in the Carbon Fatty Fork?
I did consider a set of these wheels for my Caribou until I came across [url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fat-bike-thomson-surly-race-face-salsa-TRP-mtb-2015-Genesis-caribou-19-/191834169238?hash=item2caa351f96:g:rkwAAOSwvgdW2xFX ]this advert[/url] . He's changed the pics now but originally he was selling some Fat Not Fat Reet'ards with the bike (he's split the ads now).
Anyway I thought the bike looked really odd and out of proportion with the Reet'ards fitted.
Incidentally - who on earth re-sprays a practically new bike and adds stickers for a completely different make and model of bike?? Really odd.
I ran my OOF with Fat-Not-Fat wheels and Halo Twin Rail 2.2s. Rides pretty decently. Handy if you want to take your bike away with you and not always use the 4" if there's any tarmac involved, etc.
For tarmac workouts, I ordered the 3.5" BSC tyres from PlanetX for the Dune. Smoothies tread but the biggest draw was only £15 with the 40% off at the minute. Haven't tried em yet tho...
sorry for bumping an old thread. Had my Wazoo a few weeks now, very different to riding a full sus 29er but much fun. Just takes a little getting used to. Just need to mess around with the tyre pressures. Reckon I'm.still running it too hard as I'm often feeling a slight pull to the left. Silly thing is that as heavy as the Wazoo feels vs my Stumpjumper it's still a touch lighter than my daughter's Specialized HotRock, just nuts.
I managed to resurrect an old rear crud catcher for the back wheel & it worked very well but restricted the ability to drop the seat, not very handy on some of my local single track.
I've found that the Zefal Deflector Light fits both front forks & rear very well. Keeps the worst of the muck of me for now. Most of our trails are dry & dusty with the odd bogey bit just now.Might use both the Zefal & Crud catcher on the rear come winter again. (Actually wanted the Zefal for my Stumpjumper but it wouldn't fit)
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/zefal-deflector-light-universal-mudguard/rp-prod143867?gs=1
My only bug bears with the bike so far are the exposed cables along the underside of the down tube. I'll have to replace those with enclosed ones, keep the crap of them & I'm worried that a crud catcher on the down tube will effect the cables. And the lack of a slot for a dropper posts cabling not that Im looking to fit one right now. Just a minor irritants though.
Why would having the tyres too hard cause it to pull to the left?
It probably wouldn't. Chances are it's the brakes. But I'm definitely running with the tyres to high a pressure. Need to buy a digital pressure gauge.
I've got a wazzoo. It pulls to the left, and indeed the right. Fatbike innit.
johnnystorm - Member
I ran my OOF with Fat-Not-Fat wheels
Johnnystorm, what disc spacing does the front wheel of that set have, please?
I suspect it is RDS, like the steel and carbon Fatty forks, but the webpage says nothing about RDS or FDS.
Double post.
Anyone here have any experience of Carbonzone on eBay, set of fattie carbon forks for u under £100. I've seen them recommendd on another forum.
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/carbonzone/_i.html?rt=nc&_pgn=2&_ipg=48