New Fat bike, Salsa Mukluk Carbon. 24lbs!

Eventually got my Salsa Mukluk built up on Tuesday night, just in time for Snowmageddon, hence waiting ’til now to post, been riding it!.

its the first time I’ve ridden a rigid for since i was about 12, so was intrigued what sort of a pounding my wrists would get etc.

To be honest it really wasn’t that bad, though the front tyre didn’t provide as much extra cushioning as i thought it might, and it didn’t feel as though it had all that much extra grip that people are always going on about with fat tyres. Ho Hum, maybe it was the wrong type of snow.. Anyway, behold my 24lb fat bike!

The Rigid one by tom.howard.562[/url], on Flickr

Cleared the snow really well too, usually my bikes get it all caught behind the seat tube and by the chainstay bridge/yolk, but theres tons of clearance at the back, and in the fork too, come to think of it.

Rolling resistance was okay if a little heavy going, but thats what you get for running 5psi i guess. tyres seemed to want to roll off the rim a lot too. Luckily i went tubeless too to avoid pinch punctures, as I’m sure i felt the rim hit the ground a couple of times. think for my next ride ill put it up to 8-10. will post up later this eve when I’ve tried that out.

Well, i pumped the tyres up a bit and WOW, what a difference, loads of cushioning and grip, rolling resistance has improved loads too. though the downside is that all that extra air in the tyres has added about 6lbs to the weight of the bike so 30lbs all in. looks a bit different too…

The Rigid one by tom.howard.562[/url], on Flickr

Many thanks go out to Al & Han at Garage Bikes, who ACTUALLY built the bike, overcoming a great many issues (BB axle not fitting, Head tube not accepting a headset properly, to name a couple) and also to Wes & Will at the Specialized concept store in Harrogate, who built the wheels, again, overcoming a great many spoke length related obstacles. Without LBSs, this bike wouldn’t have been built…

Wow, you sure pumped up the tyres – they’re about twice the size from the first pic !

(which version weighed 24lb ?)

Who’d a think air would weigh 6lb! 🙂

Looks much better as a fatty that. Never been into em meself, but that Salsa looks tasty.

(Nice to see someone with a messier kitchen than me too)

First pic is 24lbs (hope fatsno/WTB KOM i29/Ardent 2.4, tubeless)

second one is 30lbs. fatsno rear, Spesh HiLo front on fat boy SL rims, minion FBF/FBR 4.8, with tubes that weigh as much as the moon (600g each!) will try and get them tubeless once the snow has gone

Like the look of that!

Ps it looks like my wife organised your kitchen worktop.

Kitchen is all my fault I’m ashamed to say, MrsTHtobe has been away the last 2 weeks with work. I’m 1 step away from turning feral…

And, because i can, this is now my (as yet untested) wheelie bike…

The Rigid one by tom.howard.562[/url], on Flickr