Gearing Up For Winter

100mm of goodness

Here's my plan for getting ready for this Winter, and it is pretty ambitious. First thing- I am committed to getting my son on a fat bike. He's ten years old just this past July, and for his birthday I said I would get him a fat bike. He could just barely get on a xtra-small sized Salsa Mukluk, and I put out some feelers for a small used frame, but nothing turned up. So I placed an order yesterday for an XS Mukluk 2 in Gold Metallic for him.

Now this frame I can outfit with much of what I already have on hand. Derailleurs, brakes, crank set, head set, and seat post I have all on hand. I need wheels though, and there is where everything starts with my plans.

I have determined that I need to set myself up with some 100mm rimmed wheels. I am going to take the 70mm rims I have and those wheels will be the boy's wheels. The 100mm rims will go on the Titanium Mukluk, and I want to get a Bud for the front and a Nate for the rear. This should alleviate my washing out with the front and traction issues. 100mm rims should do the trick in the snow as well. That will do for the nasty, deep snow rig.

My other rig, the aluminum Mukluk I call The Snow Dog, that one needs a drive train update. I'm thinking it is also high time to upgrade the crank/bottom bracket as well. So, may as well suck it up and go 10 speed on that rig. It needs a fresh Big Fat Larry out back, some new rim strips, and some other TLC.

The Snow Dog in its natchurl element

While I would love to maybe go with wider rims on the Snow Dog, the Rolling Daryl's will have to do, since the clearances on this first year Mukluk won't work with the biggest tires and rims anyway.

I just think maybe the drive train update, and a few lighter parts here and there will do the trick. Once a trail is set in, this old set up worked really well, and if we would ever get some crusty snow, I bet this will do me just fine. I love the way this bike handles, actually. Plus, it was a 50th Birtday gift, so how could I ever get rid of this? That just is not going to happen. Too many reasons to just keep this one going for as long as I can, really, and why not? It's a great design.

So that's the plan. Obviously I have to get busy and build those big rimmed wheels and prepare for the gold bling frame set for my son, and then all the swapping and building will begin. It should be fun for me, and my son, well.....as you might imagine, he is very excited to be getting a bike like Dad's and one that we can share good times together with.

So, stay tuned for all these things coming up later this Fall when the boy's frame set shows up.