Voodoo Wazoo fat bike review (pic-free due to phone death :-( – Page 2 – Bike Forum

crashtestmonkey · 2016-02-11T14:50:58Z

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 8O , 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 8-) 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.

kayak23

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Full Member

No, straight steerer. Weighs about 650g according to on-one. I didn't actually test that but it certainly feels like nowt.

Posted : 02/03/2016 9:23 pm

kayak23

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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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[img] [/img]

Posted : 12/03/2016 7:16 pm

n0b0dy0ftheg0at

Posts: 9217

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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?

Posted : 25/03/2016 9:02 pm

Bregante

Posts: 9440

Full Member

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.

Posted : 25/03/2016 9:28 pm

johnnystorm

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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.

Posted : 25/03/2016 10:23 pm

rezis

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Free Member

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...

Posted : 26/03/2016 8:49 pm

dahedd

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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.

Posted : 03/06/2016 6:40 pm

roverpig

Posts: 6289

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Why would having the tyres too hard cause it to pull to the left?

Posted : 03/06/2016 7:16 pm

dahedd

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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.

Posted : 03/06/2016 8:39 pm

kayak23

Posts: 18193

Full Member

I've got a wazzoo. It pulls to the left, and indeed the right. Fatbike innit.

Posted : 03/06/2016 10:28 pm

n0b0dy0ftheg0at

Posts: 9217

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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.

Posted : 04/06/2016 5:45 am

dahedd

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Double post.

Posted : 04/06/2016 7:02 am

dahedd

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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

Posted : 04/06/2016 7:04 am

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