Ti Muk 2 Upgrade Path: Part 3

Here you can see the Salsa rear rack on the Ti Muk 2

The story on my finishing out the Ti Muk 2 is coming to a conclusion soon. It has been a while since the last update on the progress on this path, so for a refresher, click here.

Basically I was going after three things: New tubeless tires with less rolling resistance than the 45NRTH "beist" combo that I got it with was the first thing. Terrene Cake Eaters solved that problem quite nicely. The next two things were tied together and had to do with the rear tail light of the generator system the bike has.

The bike came with a Busch & Muller Secula stay mounted tail light, and honestly, I think it is a great light, but it comes in a plastic housing. I just find that to be an untenable solution for adventure biking or gravel travel since things can get pretty rough and tumble at times. Plastic housed tail light? Seems like a break waiting to happen. Added to that was the fact that a seat stay mounted light on a fat bike seems like a really bad idea when I think about mud, snow, and other trail debris that gets tossed, churned, and ground up between the rear tire and frame members of a fat bike. (At least that's been how I have observed things going. If you never run your fat bike on anything but groomed trail, please disregard this)

So, it was imperative to me that the seat stay mounted light get replaced and mounted either on the seat post, or..... as it turned out, a rear rack was an option. I decided against the seat post mounting since I may want to use a big seat pack  on this bike, and that wouldn't work well with a light that is "tethered" to a hard wired system. The rack was a better choice, and that also opens up options to use panniers, or a trunk bag/dry bag set up in the future.

So, I needed to get a rack. There were several good choices, but in the end, it was the Alternator Rack which won out. There were a few reasons for this, not least of which was the fact that it was designed for this bike. That it was one of the lighter weight choices didn't hurt matters either. So, I got that in and installed. It's been out of the way and unnoticeable when riding, so no noises, no interfering with off piste ramblings. Bonus- It has dynamo tail light mount holes at the rear. Perfect for many option out there which would work with my SON 28 hub on the Ti Muk 2.

I was shocked at how small this light is. The light shows red at night despite the clear lens.

So, I ended up landing on the SON "Tail Light For Rack" rear light. (NOTE- This also is available as a seat post mounted light) It mounts right to the rear plate on my Alternator Rack, and it is so tiny as to be really out of the way when it comes to the rough and tumble lifestyle I lead with my fat bikes.

The housing is anodized aluminum and despite its tiny size, it has some decent heft. Not that this matters, but my confidence is boosted when something has a solid, in-hand feel as opposed to a thin, plastic shell for a housing. I was pleased to see that it comes with a sturdy looking lead which is much nicer than the two flimsy looking wires the Bush & Muller tail light had. I will route the lead up along with the rear brake line on the frame and tuck the remaining distance along the rack so it will be out of the way and unobtrusive in case I decide to use panniers.

I got extra spade connectors and some shrink tubing along with the tail light, so all I have to do is route the thing carefully, connect the spades to the lead ends and connect it up. Hopefully it all comes together well and I have a functioning light system when I am finished. Once I get everything done I will have a final post on the lighting and tire upgrade which will detail out the performance upgrade each part brings to the Ti Muk 2. Then I'll be ready for some adventuring. (As if I haven't been doing some already, but, ya know........)