A Fat Bike For The Boy

It'll be something like this...

New project time has begun. I have been laying plans for this for a long time- Since Summer, when my son turned 10 years old. He needs a new, bigger bike, and after thinking about getting a standard 26"er, I thought I'd look into a fat bike for him.

I measured his stand over height, which barely was more than spec'ed on  a size XS Salsa Cycles Mukluk. That was in July. I figured by the time this all came together he'd grow a touch more. Now it's October, so that part of the plan probably worked!

Anyway, I put in an order for the Mukluk 2 frame set and it arrived yesterday. Yep....the boy is pumped up! I told him he couldn't se it just yet since he had homework to get done. (I know.....I am a bad Dad! ) School comes first around here, so that's nothing new to him. At any rate, I need parts, obviously, to get this done. I have a plan for this as well.

Wheels and tires are always the toughest part, and those will come off the titanium Mukluk. I have a wheel set for 29"er tires that will go on that for the time being. Then at some point there will be some fancy-schmancy fat bike rims/hubs laced up for the TiMuk. Drive train parts are all in stock here. I have a ISIS bottom bracket and crank set too.

The rub with 2014 Salsa fat bikes comes when you look at the brakes. The older Mukluks take a rear caliper on the fork with a front hub spaced for a rear standard rotor mount, but now you'll need a front hub with a front spaced rotor mount to  make a front brake work. My old wheel is a rear hub, so for now the boy will have one brake on the rear. That's fine, I think. I don't see us doing any long, extended down hill sections.

So, I will set him up with the rear brake only, rear shifting only to start out with, then we'll go from there. Eventually he will outgrow this thing, but my hope is that my wife will take it under her wing whenever that day comes.

But now, I've got a bicycle to assemble for an anxious young man!