Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Bikes Of 2016: Titanium Mukluk

Here shown in the tweaking stages before the "Fat Bike Century" ride.
The time of year has come that I will be reviewing the bikes I used the most throughout 2016 and why. The ups, downs, changes, and more will be discussed.

Another stalwart of the stable here. The Ti Mukluk, which I got at the end of 2011. There were a couple of notable things regarding this bike and 2016.

The first was doing a century ride on gravel with this bike. I have to be honest, I wasn't sure I could pull off 100 plus miles on this bike without severe pain or without doing some long term damage. Yes.....I had ridden it on a metric century before. I knew I could go that far, but things happen in that last 37 plus miles that make the previous 63 seem like a cakewalk sometimes. Well, that and a 100mm wide bottom bracket, a "too low" gear range, and my iffy shoulder were also reasons for some second thoughts.

But I pulled it off with no real serious side effects.

The second thing was that "too low gear range". That was a result of the switch to a 1 X 11 drive train. Which is working splendidly in snowy conditions, by the way. I've got "low enough" and one in reserve, so that is a good thing. I do need to adjust the cable a tiny bit, but otherwise, no issues whatsoever with this drive train. I can even pedal backward, which, from what I hear is a big issue with a lot of folk's 1X drive trains.

I know I ran this image a couple of days ago- Current state of the Ti Muk.
I have the Ti Muk "winterized" now, and who knows what configuration I will run it in in the future. I have plans to get Jones Bars at some point for this rig given the successful run with Jones Bars on my Blackborow. I have a "Summer" 29'er wheel set that I want to modify with new rims. Maybe I'll do something stupid and ride another century on fat tires again. If I do, this will be the bike I do that on.

3 comments:

Dave said...

How are the Fyxation Mesas holding up? Any signs of wear/slip on the little spikes?
Cheers-

Guitar Ted said...

@Dave- They are doing great. Of course, after a few years use they show a little play in the bearings, but they are still solid and the performance of them has not been hindered by the wear. In other words- nothing that you wouldn't expect a few years of use to show in a product. I'm still stoked on them and recommend these pedals to anyone looking for reasonably priced flat pedals that have a lot of bang for the buck.

Rydn9ers said...

Having done multiple 100+ mile races on my Farley or Pugsley, I wouldn't say it's all that much more difficult on a 4" tire than it is on a 38mm tire. Actually a find the stability on gravel with the big tires to far out weigh the rotational weight and over all weight disadvantages but maybe I'm just weird that way.

Super nice Mukluk tough!