“Black Sheep” is No Misnomer

36″ Wheels?  The ZAMer

The fifth annual National Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) in Indianapolis was overwhelming. Mind blowing, actually. Over one hundred exhibitors laid out their wares to be gawked at by industry professionals and tourists alike. Mountain bikes, road bikes, track bikes, urban fixie commuters, tandems, polo bikes, and just plain ol’ regular (but beautiful) bicycles. Seeing all those beauties in one place made me feel, strangely, a little jaded. “What comes next?” I wondered, “where can we go from here?” I was certain I was standing among some of the finest and most beautiful bikes on Earth. The level of craftsmanship was extraordinary, my mind reeled trying to calculate all the hours of intricate and painstaking work that went into creating such exquisite machines. Hand-polished lugs, seamless welds, expertly executed geometry, and a dizzying array of sparkling paint jobs and powdercoat lay all around me, most of them looking too beautiful to ride (almost). How do you improve on the modern bicycle, right? Humans have been messing around with the general design for about a century, you’d think we’d have figured out the ultimate bike by now. Alas, perfection is unattainable, but the pursuit of it is the sublime quest that defines us as a species. Before I fell into a philosophical gloom (typical), I came upon Black Sheep Bikes‘ exhibition booth.

Standing out in the crowd was the 36-inch-wheeled ZAMer, an eye-catching behemoth of a bike that drew onlookers from all corners of the exhibition hall. Hailing from Fort Collins, Colorado, Black Sheep is notorious for aesthetically-pleasing and mold-breaking designs, and I doubt you’ll find any in your local bike shop. This thing shatters molds. After ogling the impressive if somewhat befuddling 36-inch wheels sitting underneath a flawless titanium frame, the ZAMer solidified my vote for the People’s Choice Award. After about fifty laps around the convention hall, I confidently scribbled its entry number on the voting ballot provided at the door. Boldness deserves recognition.

Black Sheep Bikes didn’t invent the 36-inch wheel–there are a few floating around out there.  However, this was the first 36er I was privileged to examine.

The ZAMer is the creation of James Bleakley, Owner/Welder/Designer of the two-man crew that makes up Black Sheep. “It stands for Zach Attack, after my son Zach,” says Bleakley of his latest “Out-of-Step” creation. At first glance this unique ride seems to be an aggressive pursuit of the 29er trend, but it goes well beyond that. “‘The Out-of-Step’ bikes are about satisfying our curiosity,” says Bleakley. We probably won’t be seeing a trend pushing the limit on wheel size any further than the 29er, but taking it to the limit can teach us a few things. Even if it wasn’t created as a production model, the ZAMer is important for its ability to test theories and ideas, stretching the limit to see what kind of technology or “a-ha” moment might shake out of pursuing curiosity. The big-wheel craze looks like it’s here to stay, and the ZAMer can tell us a lot about trail and offset, the two measurements we’ve been hearing a lot about lately, particularly when it comes to 29ers and 650b wheels.

“Trail,” is the most important measurement in bicycle building in terms of handling. I don’t want to get too specific and lose your readership, but this is critical in relation to the ZAMer.

Imagine your favorite bike, draw an imaginary line through the center of the headtube extending straight to where it intersects the ground. Now draw another line from the center of your front hub straight down to the ground. It should look something like this:

The distance between each point on the ground is the trail measurement. Altering the fork offset or headtube angle can affect the trail of the bike, thereby changing the handling characteristics of the bicycle. If you’re an engineer or nerd and want to read more about trail, please follow these links for better, technologically superior, succinct, and overall more intelligent explanations of trail:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_and_motorcycle_geometry
• http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_tp-z.html

“Offset,” is the difference in distance between the axle and the steering axis. I won’t ask you to draw a picture here, for instructional purposes let’s just say offset greatly affects the trail of the bike. Typically, the larger the wheel, the greater the offset needs to be in order to maintain an appropriate trail measurement. Gary Fisher bikes and Fox Racing got together and created a great 29er suspension fork that compliments the G2 geometry of the bike. Many manufacturers are offering rigid and suspension forks for 29ers with an increased offset to improve handling. Look for more of this design to come, specifically for the custom 650b-wheeled bikes. Again, for better and more eloquent definitions, access the links above.

About the Wheels: Purchased from Unicycles.com, they used the Nimbus rim and the Nite Rider tires. I’m not much into unicycles, didn’t know there were wheels this big out there. But the only way to gain speed on a unicycle is to ride a bigger wheel (unicyclists please do not flame me if I’m wrong about this), until now these large wheels haven’t been applicable to two-wheeled cycles unless we’re talking about Pennyfarthing or something equally ridiculous (Pennyfarthers feel free to flame me, bill@mtobikes.com, I can handle it from you, weirdos).

About the frame and fork: Beautiful TIG welded titanium of course. As you can see from the pictures, the ZAMer sports the Black Sheep patented truss design. The fork is 1″ diameter tubing coupled to a 5/8″ diameter “truss.” This truss design helps distribute forces from the top and bottom of the head tube which in turn eliminates brake chatter. The crown race of the fork is the spot receiving the most stress, so Bleakley designed the truss to reinforce this high-stress area. Because titanium is a very flexy material (high modulus of elasticity) the fork and truss design offer approximately 50 millimeters of “travel,” without having to employ air, oil, elastomers, hydraulics, etc. No shock pump, overhaul, or greasing, ever. Pretty nice. I say approximately because it’s virtually impossible to measure exactly how much travel the fork/truss provides. Well, it might be possible, but I couldn’t calculate it, looks like it might need some calculus. Rest in Peace Sheldon Brown.

After talking with the guys at the show, and subsequently with James Bleakley, I felt my cynicism lift. Discoveries are waiting for us all, and companies like Black Sheep are lighting out in search of them. I sleep a little better knowing tomorrow might present us with a new idea that could make our rides even more fun.

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