Mk 1 Steel Charge Cooker Fatbike build, and first ride, with Jake Dog!

I often put a bid on stuff on eBay then walk away if outbid, every so often you get a nice deal and with no other bids i scored this Mk1 Charge Cooker Fatbike frame set for £92.60

Size medium the frame set is Tange cro mo tubed and offset rear same as a Surly Pugsley

Even better was i already have a pair of wheels for one of these i bought for £50 a while ago, i bought them as they will fit a Pugsley so offered me more build options, but they have a home now,

Just needed a few things to get this built,
Brake set, stem and bars, grips, pedals, tyres,

Tyres would be the most expensive item but luckily friend Mike had a pair of Surly Knard tyres so i collect up the other stuff...

New stem, and chain, with a stem on i could get the frame on the work stand to build...

Chain check tool is a worthy investment for the tool collection and save you trashing  your drive chain once the chain is needeing replaced...

Cranks have little wear on them as the frame paint work, this bike has not seen a lot of work...

SRAM gears all working and again little sign of wear/use...

I set the wheels up split tube Ghetto tubeless and they were soon up perfect and sealed with Stans sealant...

New disc rotors, and an as new SRAM cassette along with red cables and stem cost £48

Bars, grips, levers and pedals i already have...

Shimano cable disc caliper's donated from friend Chis, plenty life left in the pads...

New cables on and brakes dialled in...

New chain on and gears working...

The rear hanger looked slightly out of line and the return tab was not installed properly so i removed and re aligned the hanger with the mech hanger tool...

All done and too long a chain so a link removed...

You should not really ride in the lowest cassette cog while on the big ring for chain alignment and chain wear/chain life, but everyone does it!, chain lenght fine is fine though in this gear...

And middle of the range...

An that's it rolling, cost with existing wheel set and some parts inc tyre sealant £192!

Dog sitting Jake today so i took him down to JMP for a test ride...

The bike rides nice, and glad i have managed get one of these early  Charge steel 135mm offset frame sets, makes a nice addition to my `Retro Fatbike` collection...

Wee film, Song is `KOMPROMAT` by The Barr Brothers



Mk1 Charge Cooker Fatbike rebuild and cycle with Jake Dog at JMP Sept 2018 from coastkid71 on Vimeo.


The ride, and film was caught short as the right pedal thread started to run, and on the way back from bailing back to the van the crank thread was totalled!,

Oh well the BB had play in it anyway so was needeing replaced, so will swap the crank set out for a square taper VP 100mm BB i have along with some Square taper crank arms, luckily the pedal thread was ok!


More soon...