Thursday, April 26, 2012

Taking A Break

I needed a break from the Trans Iowa madness yesterday, so I finally just set everything down, grabbed By-Tor The Titanium Mukluk, and headed out the door.

It was spitting rain in the morning, and forecasts had predicted a thunderstorm in the morning, but it never materialized. It also got downright hot out. First time I have ridden in anything that resembled heat since leaving El Paso, Texas a month and a half ago. One thing about it was that it wasn't really humid either, which was odd, seeing as how the weatherman was talking rain.

Well, the forecast was as wrong as it could be, and a glorious, sun speckled day broke out once I reached Camp Ingawanis and started riding. The trails were tacky. Perfect, really. Only one muddy spot, and it was tiny, was encountered on the entire ride.

The wheels on the Mukluk continue to impress me. This is how 29"er wheels really should work.  Going into corners with a solid, stiffer feel is really great. I can definitely feel the grip of the tires better without the vagueness of flex covering it up. Faster corners, faster technical riding. It makes me think that all 29"er wheels would really benefit from dishless wheel design.

And the titanium Mukluk is just a really sweet ride. A fat bike that makes a totally great mountain bike. Sure- it has a long-ish wheel base, and the front is definitely harder to pop up, but I could see these as being great attributes for longer off road touring, explorations, and of course, slow speed stuff, which is what the Mukluk was designed for anyway.

Eventually I had to go home, but it was a nice break from the recent business around here. I'm sure you readers would agree!

5 comments:

Exhausted_Auk said...

Perhaps you should do a comparison focused on wheel stiffness, between a regular 29er and an otherwise identical one with a IGH? Or for that matter, compare it with a single speed. Or are the flanges on the 170mm hub much further apart, giving additional lateral stiffness even above and beyond a regular single speed wheel?

MG said...

Sweet... Glad you were able to get out. I ripped it on the fatbikes last night too (with fat tires) with MW & CVO. It was rad. CVO was rockin Black Floyds, so he was getting a little crazy in the corners... Made for some fun times.

See you soon, buddy.

Cheers,
MG

Guitar Ted said...

@Exhausted_Auk: I will have to physically measure the flange spacing, but it is definitely wider than most any wheel flange spacing I have currently.

@MG: Yeah- I saw CVO posted to Twitter about that. Those Floyds make the ride on dirt "interesting" for sure!

See ya tomorrow, safe travels!

MMcG said...

Flat Pedals eh?

Guitar Ted said...

@MMcG: Yep- giving it a try in summer.