Fat bikes

Christophe Noel

Expedition Leader
We could disappear down the rabbit hole of the pros/cons of fatbikes and never reappear. Everyone will have their own perspective. Even within my own experiences, I have my own set of pros/cons, but the one thing I believe adamantly is that fatbikes are not...not...winter machines. My 300 mile tour of Iceland proved fat tires are not only great for varied terrain, they an shoulder a nine day load of supplies.

So, even for me a fatbike can be many things in many situations, not always perfect, either. And opinions often change. Just a few years ago bikepackers the world over not only thought full suspension was too delicate to take on a week long tour, they thought the same of hydraulic disc brakes. Which in retrospect, was completely stupid.
 

Co-opski

Expedition Leader
We could disappear down the rabbit hole of the pros/cons of fatbikes and never reappear. Everyone will have their own perspective. Even within my own experiences, I have my own set of pros/cons, but the one thing I believe adamantly is that fatbikes are not...not...winter machines. My 300 mile tour of Iceland proved fat tires are not only great for varied terrain, they an shoulder a nine day load of supplies.

So, even for me a fatbike can be many things in many situations, not always perfect, either. And opinions often change. Just a few years ago bikepackers the world over not only thought full suspension was too delicate to take on a week long tour, they thought the same of hydraulic disc brakes. Which in retrospect, was completely stupid.
Rabbit Hole?
I want to know more on this new Mukluk. Congrats!! Did you swap the Lauf over to the Muk? Did you see Lael Wilcox's modified by Ruckus Composites Lauf fork with anything mounts for the Baja Divide? What wheels for Fat and 27.5?
 

Christophe Noel

Expedition Leader
Rabbit Hole?
I want to know more on this new Mukluk. Congrats!! Did you swap the Lauf over to the Muk? Did you see Lael Wilcox's modified by Ruckus Composites Lauf fork with anything mounts for the Baja Divide? What wheels for Fat and 27.5?
I sold my Lauf with my Beargrease. The Lauf was perfectly color matched so I didn't want to keep it, plus, I was not overwhelmed by the performance. It seemed like a very lateral move with minimal good/bad. I had fun with it, but I'll live without it.

For the new Mukluk, it is currently fitted with 100mm Whisky carbon rims, which are pretty ************. That bike is surprisingly spry, equal to the Beargrease in my opinion. But, it also has anything mounts on the fork, a bigger main triangle for a larger bag, and shorter stays than the BG. I'll fit it with Industry 9 hubs and 27.5/45mm aluminum I-9 rims for a swifter touring setup. I am building a multi-purpose touring steed for everything from snow to fast singletrack.
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Industry 9 hubs look sweet! Those are on my very longterm wish list to replace the Stan's 3.30HD. I seem to be hard on freehub bodies.
 

Co-opski

Expedition Leader
I sold my Lauf with my Beargrease. The Lauf was perfectly color matched so I didn't want to keep it, plus, I was not overwhelmed by the performance. It seemed like a very lateral move with minimal good/bad. I had fun with it, but I'll live without it.

For the new Mukluk, it is currently fitted with 100mm Whisky carbon rims, which are pretty ************. That bike is surprisingly spry, equal to the Beargrease in my opinion. But, it also has anything mounts on the fork, a bigger main triangle for a larger bag, and shorter stays than the BG. I'll fit it with Industry 9 hubs and 27.5/45mm aluminum I-9 rims for a swifter touring setup. I am building a multi-purpose touring steed for everything from snow to fast singletrack.
Sounds awesome! The new Whisky 100 were on my short list for my new winter wheel build. I ended up with Onyx and DT Swiss br710 wrapped in Wazia 4.6 front and D5 rear.
 

Butch1979

Family Adventurer
We are hoping to spend a few nights up in Leadville CO this holiday season and ride some of the groomed trails up there on our fat bikes. I will post up some pics if we get anything good. I still really enjoy riding my Mukluk, however I do have other bikes when I am ready to pick up the pace.

Cheers

Butch
 

Christophe Noel

Expedition Leader
Industry 9 hubs look sweet! Those are on my very longterm wish list to replace the Stan's 3.30HD. I seem to be hard on freehub bodies.
Ya know Dave, I can completely respect your opinion of bike stuff as I was far more extreme with my opinions than you. There was a time when I thought every innovation was just - stupid. 29ers were dumb, fatbikes were a joke, why only have 11 gears, and what's up with that giant rear cog? Slowly I started to embrace all of that stuff. I think mostly because I had the extremely fortunate opportunity to try it all at minimal cost. Otherwise, I'd probably be churning my singlespeed day in and day out. I will say, the new innovations are fun, but necessary? No way.
 

Jason911

Adventurer
For this rider - the fat-bike was found to be the perfect all-rounder, and as such, last year became the only bike in my stable. Two sets of tires (27.5 x 3.8 for the non-snow months, and a 26 x 4.8 set for the white months) gives me a diverse amount of riding options, and with them being hot swappable I can go back and forth at will. And I agree that the fat-bike fever has subsided somewhat, but I wonder too if its not market saturation that has stolen some of the thunder, to say nothing of the plus bike craze and what appears to be the cross bike craze.
 

Christophe Noel

Expedition Leader
The one thing I've noticed about the fatbike thing, relative to performance, is that it is painfully obvious that more money directly correlates with noticeable gains in performance. I'd rather walk than ride a cheap steel fatbike with heavy wheels. Literally, I'd rather walk. It wasn't until I started using carbon frames, forks and tubeless carbon wheels on my fatbike that I noticed the speed and performance was nearly equal to that of a plus or even normal bike –– depending on the terrain. But, not everyone wants or can drop $5000 on a fatbike.

The trails here right now are a tad damp and if I catch them at the right time of day are frozen hard as a rock. Perfect conditions for sticky traction. Yesterday's ride on my 4.8 carbon wheels on my Mukluk was a total blast. I was railing turns at ridiculous speed. So fun.
 

p nut

butter
I am on BR710's right now, but would love to get some carbon wheels. I'm sure performance gains would be well worth it.
_
However, I can't justify a carbon frame purchase. I was debating on getting the new Mukluk in place of my alum. Blackborow. But I just can't see it being worth the upgrade cost. I am jealous of that framebag space, though.
 

Christophe Noel

Expedition Leader
I am on BR710's right now, but would love to get some carbon wheels. I'm sure performance gains would be well worth it.
_
However, I can't justify a carbon frame purchase. I was debating on getting the new Mukluk in place of my alum. Blackborow. But I just can't see it being worth the upgrade cost. I am jealous of that framebag space, though.
The new Mukluk is pretty special. For years I would "upgrade" from one $5000 road bike to another $5000 road bike and not feel a damn bit of difference. Same for many hard tails and even full sudsers. Even going from the high performance Beargrease to the new Mukluk, the difference in ride performance was not just noticeable, it's very much in-your-face. The shortness of the rear stays makes it one snappy shredder. It requires a good deal of body english and proper technique to carve a hard turn, but do it well, and it's incredible how much performance it will deliver. My first Mukluk was like riding a drunk mule.
 

p nut

butter
That's the thing. The geometry numbers for the Blackborow and new Muk are pretty similar. Muk has shorter rear end and reach lengthen out a smidge, but other than that, all other numbers almost look identical. I'll have to try one out, but from the numbers on paper, doesn't look to be much of an upgrade. Who knows though. A proper demo might change that opinion.
 

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