The Original Mukluk: Reviewed With Perspective

One of my first rides on the Mukluk in 2011.

 Recently I have been spending more time on my 2011 Salsa Cycles Mukluk fat bike better known here as The Snow Dog. (Yes, it is a reference to the Rush song, "By-Tor and The Snow Dog"

Anyway....

I have not been on the Snow Dog much over the past five to ten years. It just kind of was one of those bikes I didn't reach for in Winter for riding because I had the Blackborow DS and the first Ti Muk. Those two fat bikes were "more capable", in my opinion at that time, than the original Mukluk was. So, when I started riding the Snow Dog again, it was almost as if I had forgotten everything I ever knew about the bike and what I was experiencing was new. 

It might be a good idea to look back and gain some perspective on the original Mukluk that may be forgotten by some folks. First of all, it should be noted that the vast majority of cyclists had never thrown a leg over a fat bike until 2011. 

That was because there weren't any fat bikes that you could just go and buy off a bike shop's floor. It was much more expensive and difficult to obtain one of these bicycles before 2011. The first efforts to make a bike to "float" over sand and snow were spread out across the globe, but most agree that the 1980's were when this idea started to come together to formulate the fat bike as we know it today. You can read a brief history of the fat bike at this Wiki page HERE. 

One of two steel framed prototype Mukluks Salsa Cycles made shown at Interbike 2010

While some say Surly offered "the first commercially available fat bike", I find that to be a bit misleading. Surly offered a frame, fork, tires, and rims. The purchaser was left to finish the build, including building the offset wheels, which was a huge hurdle for many folks, and even some bike shops. Besides these barriers to riding a fat bike, the cost was not "fat bike curious" friendly. It was a big commitment. I remember spec'ing out a fat bike from Surly in 2007 or so and it was going to be over two thousand dollars, and I was getting an employee discount! 

That was a lot for a bike that, well, quite frankly many thought would not work. So, while it is true that Surly made a pathway for many to try a fat bike, it wasn't until 2010 and the announcement that Salsa Cycles would offer an out-of-the-box, turnkey fat bike for a little more than one thousand bucks that interest skyrocketed from all across the USA. 

Surly saw the writing on the wall and so they also went in on offering the Pugsley as a complete bike, but those did not hit the market until a few months after the Mukluk. But suffice it to say, many were now getting their first chances at riding what was, before 2011, nearly a unicorn experience. 

My 2011 Mukluk in its original set up in February of 2011.

Now, with that out of the way, we should think about what these original fat bike designs were all about. There was not a concern for "all-mountain" type handling. In fact, it was more about staying on top of the trail, be that snow or sand, and being able to pedal instead of walking. 

A lot of this can get into the weeds, as far as design, but to boil it down into basics, fat bikes were originally about stability. Weight distribution between the wheels was also a bit of that recipe, for sure, but besides this, it was a typical 26" wheeled design for a mountain bike. There were no "long, slack, and low" designs influencing the earliest fat bike designers. 

Additionally, there was no concern for 1X anything. These were purpose designed to have multiple front chain rings, which - I know - may blow some minds of those younger folks out there. Then you had standard bicycle stuff. Nothing weird or unusual there. So, the reality in 2011 was that this fat bike thing was really about staying stable, moving forward, and that on semi-compacted snow or firm sand. Surfaces that would not support a 2.2" 26"er tire, which would cut into those surfaces and require massive amounts of effort to keep upright and moving forward. 

Fat bikes were not a free pass to ride non-compacted snow, finer, loose sand, or mud. This was a misconception many had at the time when these bikes first came about. That part turned a lot of people off, after a while, and so fat bikes began to be marketed as all-around MTB choices for all terrain. This is when designers started moving away from the previous stability-first designs and more into overall trail handling aspects. By 2015 most fat bikes had lost the older geometry and design specific cues that the original fat bikes had. 

The Snow Dog from a ride last week.

Why would anyone want a fat bike that can only handle up to about a 4.5" tire on 80mm rims, has quick release dropouts, and an axle standard that is not supported anymore? That's the problem with The Snow Dog, but it is still a worthwhile bike if you understand where it will work best. 

I've already given away what it was that slapped me upside the head when I started riding this bike again. Stability. In spades. As an example: My Ti Muk 2, (2015 Salsa Cycles titanium Mukluk) cannot be ridden with no hands for very long. At least not by me! I end up wobbling and swerving right or left not long after I let go of the handle bars. Not so with the original Mukluk. I can ride that thing no-handed with little effort. 

This manifests in slow-speed handling, where I can cut a tight turn, keep the bike upright, and use a lot less effort than I would on my other fat bikes. I wish we had enough snow for groomed trails because I think this bike would really come to life on a packed snow trail. 

We didn't have groomed trails for the first five to six years that I owned this bike, and by the time we did, I had two other fat bikes. So, The Snow Dog kind of got a bad rap for not being great at cutting its own trail, like the Blackborow DS. But then again, these early fat bike designs were meant to be ridden on snow machine tracks and firmer sandy trails. 

The Snow Dog did get ridden on dry single track, and this was where I found the Mukluk was a great trail bike. It handles really well on our typical river bottom dirt trails which wind around the flotsam and jetsam of past floods and the several underbrush plant varieties we have here. 

So, as a plain old mountain bike, it is sort of like an old 1990's mountain bike with 4" wide rubber. No suspension correction either. I was impressed by the single track handling. So much so I wrote a few blog posts back then about why I thought this was more than just a "snow bike".

Of course, it makes a great bike for gravel. If you've ever gotten zinged by the constant barrage of vibrations induced by crushed rock, and thought you might like to try to do something to get rid of that, a fat bike will erase chatter from gravel. Plus these older designs that can only take narrower tires are just perfect for gravel travel. It's the stability thing again.

This bike has its merits. I am coming around to the feeling that it might actually be worthy of some upgrades in componentry soon. Also; if we get any rideable snow late this Winter, I'll try to get out and give an update on this post afterward. 

Stay tuned..