Bikes Of 2022: Salsa Cycles Ti Mukluk

It's the end of the year and time to review what's up with the bikes I used over the course of 2022. You'll get a brief overview, any changes made, and what the future has in store for each bike listed. Enjoy!

The titanium Mukluk I own, which I have dubbed the "Ti Muk 2", because it is the second titanium Mukluk I have owned, was refreshed over the course of late Summer and Fall here. That may remain fresh enough in you reader's minds that I may not have to go over much of that again here. 

Briefly, the drive train is new, including a new bottom bracket, but the Rohloff rear cog is the original one yet. At some point I can take that cog off, reverse it, and continue to use it in the reverse direction until I wear it out completely. I don't foresee that happening anytime soon though. 

So, besides that I did install the new Schmidt Edelux II light unit and here is what I think about that so far. I had been using a Bausch and Mueller light until that failed on me. So, the Schmidt light is different, most definitely. I am still dialing it in on my commutes, but I am very close to having it where I feel it will stay for the duration of its service life. This has to do with aiming the light, by the way.

The Schmidt light "throws" light a LOT further up the road than the previous light did. I wouldn't say that this is necessarily the brightest light, but it illuminates the road in a broad stroke which covers both lanes and I would say that it easily illuminates up to two blocks ahead of me, much as if you were in an automobile, in that respect. I can also see the light reflecting off traffic signs even further away than that, so I am sure approaching motorists are seeing me! That is, unless they are not paying attention. 

By the way, this is at speeds of about 12mph.

The Ti Muk 2 currently.

I also added the Scoutset rack out front which has come in handy for commutes, errands, and I hope for some Wintertime outdoor coffee runs. I did a review of this rack which you can find linked to the page for the rack. (See my link above) (Standard Disclaimer applies) 

In the future I'd like to upgrade my fender situation. What I have now 'works' but it looks horrible. Hopefully I can work on something for that this Winter. Other than that, the Ti Muk 2 is ready to roll.

Look for more Bikes of 2022 soon!

Bikes Of 2022: Salsa Cycles Ti Mukluk

It's the end of the year and time to review what's up with the bikes I used over the course of 2022. You'll get a brief overview, any changes made, and what the future has in store for each bike listed. Enjoy!

The titanium Mukluk I own, which I have dubbed the "Ti Muk 2", because it is the second titanium Mukluk I have owned, was refreshed over the course of late Summer and Fall here. That may remain fresh enough in you reader's minds that I may not have to go over much of that again here. 

Briefly, the drive train is new, including a new bottom bracket, but the Rohloff rear cog is the original one yet. At some point I can take that cog off, reverse it, and continue to use it in the reverse direction until I wear it out completely. I don't foresee that happening anytime soon though. 

So, besides that I did install the new Schmidt Edelux II light unit and here is what I think about that so far. I had been using a Bausch and Mueller light until that failed on me. So, the Schmidt light is different, most definitely. I am still dialing it in on my commutes, but I am very close to having it where I feel it will stay for the duration of its service life. This has to do with aiming the light, by the way.

The Schmidt light "throws" light a LOT further up the road than the previous light did. I wouldn't say that this is necessarily the brightest light, but it illuminates the road in a broad stroke which covers both lanes and I would say that it easily illuminates up to two blocks ahead of me, much as if you were in an automobile, in that respect. I can also see the light reflecting off traffic signs even further away than that, so I am sure approaching motorists are seeing me! That is, unless they are not paying attention. 

By the way, this is at speeds of about 12mph.

The Ti Muk 2 currently.

I also added the Scoutset rack out front which has come in handy for commutes, errands, and I hope for some Wintertime outdoor coffee runs. I did a review of this rack which you can find linked to the page for the rack. (See my link above) (Standard Disclaimer applies) 

In the future I'd like to upgrade my fender situation. What I have now 'works' but it looks horrible. Hopefully I can work on something for that this Winter. Other than that, the Ti Muk 2 is ready to roll.

Look for more Bikes of 2022 soon!

New Rack, New Weather

I reviewed the Scoutset Bag Brace recently on Riding Gravel.

 Not long ago I was sent this titanium front rack-brace thingie from Velo Garage & Taphouse from Kansas City, Missouri. They call the thing the Scoutset Bag Brace. So, upfront here, the Standard Disclaimer applies. That's because the kind folks at the Velo Garage & Taphouse let me keep the rack/brace after the review was completed. 

So, I thought about which bike I wanted this thing to 'live' on. I had several choices, but in terms of using the SBB (short for "Scoutset Bag Brace), and using it as intended, I thought of a different bike than my gravel bikes. 

That's because if I ever get to bike camping, as I have threatened to do for years, I would use my Ti Muk 2 fat bike. So, I grabbed the SBB off the Tamland, which I used to review it on, and swapped it over to my Ti Muk 2 fat bike, which I think should be a great choice here. Basically, there was one big reason for going with this bike, but overall I still think it is the right choice. 

A little closer look at the SBB on the Ti Muk 2

As I used the SBB on the Tamland Two, I had a bit of a conundrum in getting a light to live on that bike in conjunction with the big Cycle Pro handle bar bag I intended on using. Even the dry bag would interfere with a handle bar mounted light. So, I had to use the old star nut in a steer tube trick to side mount a light off a fork mounted rack boss. 

While that works, I do prefer my light source on a bicycle to be somewhere closer to handlebar height. That wasn't going to work on the Tamland Two. But the Ti Muk 2 is a better choice from a few different angles anyway, so I wasn't going to keep that SBB on the Tamland anyway. 

The Ti Muk 2 has a Schmidt generator hub and front light which I have the handlebar mount for. There was plenty of exposed steer tube on the Ti Muk to allow me to deck the SBB on top of the head set and get that as low as possible hanging off the front of the bicycle. This will allow for a dry bag to be carried on the SBB and maybe a lower profile bag could work if I wanted to go that way. My hope is that my tent might fit there, but something will work out, and it won't be dangling off the handle bar either. The light head will clear most anything I want to carry for camping, at least, so no worries there.

The Ti Muk also made sense from the standpoint of touring/bike packing since I have a Salsa Alternator Rack on the back, which could haul anything that might obstruct my light up front on the rack instead. So, the bike makes more sense from a bag carrying aspect for camping or touring than anything else I have at the moment. Plus it has the Rohloff, so I can take this down about any road without fear of ripping off a derailleur. 

The full look.

Now, for an opportunity and some better weather! Fortunately it seems as though Winter's last gasp has been played out. Boy! What a doozy it was! Saturday morning it was wicked cold and windy, with temperatures in the teens and then by Sunday afternoon it was calm and mid-50's. It looks like from here on out we are out of the grips of Winter, but as has been noted in the comments, I thought that a while back too! 

I'm not sure when I'll get this out for the trial run, but at some point I do want to do a fat bike century, and there is a route I have in mind which features a ton of dirt roads and hardly anything for resupply until Mile 70. That would suit this bike well since I could carry a lot of stuff on it. We will see.... There has been another idea suggested to me that concerns a rail trail and camping too, so I have ideas to work with here. 

Anyway. I hope to be out on the gravel roads this week. Stay tuned...

New Rack, New Weather

I reviewed the Scoutset Bag Brace recently on Riding Gravel.

 Not long ago I was sent this titanium front rack-brace thingie from Velo Garage & Taphouse from Kansas City, Missouri. They call the thing the Scoutset Bag Brace. So, upfront here, the Standard Disclaimer applies. That's because the kind folks at the Velo Garage & Taphouse let me keep the rack/brace after the review was completed. 

So, I thought about which bike I wanted this thing to 'live' on. I had several choices, but in terms of using the SBB (short for "Scoutset Bag Brace), and using it as intended, I thought of a different bike than my gravel bikes. 

That's because if I ever get to bike camping, as I have threatened to do for years, I would use my Ti Muk 2 fat bike. So, I grabbed the SBB off the Tamland, which I used to review it on, and swapped it over to my Ti Muk 2 fat bike, which I think should be a great choice here. Basically, there was one big reason for going with this bike, but overall I still think it is the right choice. 

A little closer look at the SBB on the Ti Muk 2

As I used the SBB on the Tamland Two, I had a bit of a conundrum in getting a light to live on that bike in conjunction with the big Cycle Pro handle bar bag I intended on using. Even the dry bag would interfere with a handle bar mounted light. So, I had to use the old star nut in a steer tube trick to side mount a light off a fork mounted rack boss. 

While that works, I do prefer my light source on a bicycle to be somewhere closer to handlebar height. That wasn't going to work on the Tamland Two. But the Ti Muk 2 is a better choice from a few different angles anyway, so I wasn't going to keep that SBB on the Tamland anyway. 

The Ti Muk 2 has a Schmidt generator hub and front light which I have the handlebar mount for. There was plenty of exposed steer tube on the Ti Muk to allow me to deck the SBB on top of the head set and get that as low as possible hanging off the front of the bicycle. This will allow for a dry bag to be carried on the SBB and maybe a lower profile bag could work if I wanted to go that way. My hope is that my tent might fit there, but something will work out, and it won't be dangling off the handle bar either. The light head will clear most anything I want to carry for camping, at least, so no worries there.

The Ti Muk also made sense from the standpoint of touring/bike packing since I have a Salsa Alternator Rack on the back, which could haul anything that might obstruct my light up front on the rack instead. So, the bike makes more sense from a bag carrying aspect for camping or touring than anything else I have at the moment. Plus it has the Rohloff, so I can take this down about any road without fear of ripping off a derailleur. 

The full look.

Now, for an opportunity and some better weather! Fortunately it seems as though Winter's last gasp has been played out. Boy! What a doozy it was! Saturday morning it was wicked cold and windy, with temperatures in the teens and then by Sunday afternoon it was calm and mid-50's. It looks like from here on out we are out of the grips of Winter, but as has been noted in the comments, I thought that a while back too! 

I'm not sure when I'll get this out for the trial run, but at some point I do want to do a fat bike century, and there is a route I have in mind which features a ton of dirt roads and hardly anything for resupply until Mile 70. That would suit this bike well since I could carry a lot of stuff on it. We will see.... There has been another idea suggested to me that concerns a rail trail and camping too, so I have ideas to work with here. 

Anyway. I hope to be out on the gravel roads this week. Stay tuned...

It's The Little Things

Several things had to come together for this to be rideable.

Recently I shared with you all about how I had a Scoutset Bag Brace to test out* and that I was going to use this old bag I had from my self-supported touring days on the rack. Well, I had an issue.

It was just a few little things.

But these 'little things' can be big problems, especially if you want to actually be out riding a bike instead of fiddling around with it in your shop. 

Maybe you've been there before. A new component or a new bike build is stymied by some bolt, some necessary part you didn't know you needed, or by a specialized tool you need to install or fix a part. It can take you from the high of expectation and anticipation to the dumpster dive of life in a heartbeat. I know......it happens all the time to me. 

So, the first thing I ran into with this bag brace deal was that I had to swap out wheels. Well, 'had to' isn't really right. I wanted to. I had broken the spoke on the rear wheel of the aluminum Irwin Cycling wheels and that prompted me to want to go with the carbon wheels here. Same manufacturer, same end caps on the wheels, but the rotor lock ring cap, that worked perfectly fine on the aluminum wheels, dragged on the axle of the carbon wheels. No-go! 

This low profile lock ring cleared the fork and the axle.

My other rotor lock rings would clear the axle, but weren't compatible with the Fyxation Carbon fork I was running. The edges would drag on the inner fork leg. I needed the low profile of the original lock ring with clearance for the slightly larger axle of the carbon Irwin wheels. 

Bah! So, off I went to order in that bit. A measly ten dollar part kept me from riding that set up. Then when I got that bit in, and my wheel spun freely, I ran into another road block when I wanted to mount fenders on this bike. 

The fork crown of the Fyxation fork was nearly two and a half inches deep from front to back. There was a mounting hole for the upper fender mount, thankfully, but I needed a long threaded bolt, and nothing I had was suitable. It was either juuuuussst too short, or long enough but too big in diameter to fit through the hole. Drat! Another bit throwing a wrench in my cogs! A trip to the hardware store later and I was back at it.

Now, fenders mounted up, I thought, "Hey! I should ride this to work tonight as a test ride." But that would mean I would need lights. Okay, I have lots of lights, but mounting one on the handle bar was out of the question due to the height of the bag I was using. Oh boy! here we go again. Another small issue keeping me from using this bike? Not today, bike devil! I'm overcoming your gremlins!

So, I futzed around with a few ideas until I decided to roll with the tried and true bit of steer tube off a fork boss deal. Fortunately, that Fyxation fork had a low rider mount I could use for the mount and it works well enough. I grabbed a light and strapped it on. Good to go!

The front wheel spins, the rotor is secure, the fenders are mounted, and my light is on there too.

Okay, I was glad that was all over! It's always something what wants to throw a road block into your travel to bike nirvana. This time things went my way. They don't always work out that way every time though! 

Ideally in terms of the light, I think I'd want something mounted off the fork crown. That bolt I got for the fender is long enough to accommodate that idea, but I'd have to rustle up a proper mount. I do have a Minoura Space Bar that might work for this, but I have to give it some thought before I get to trying it out. For now, I'm good to go. 

*See the Standard Disclaimer page in regard to the Scoutset Bag Brace.

It's The Little Things

Several things had to come together for this to be rideable.

Recently I shared with you all about how I had a Scoutset Bag Brace to test out* and that I was going to use this old bag I had from my self-supported touring days on the rack. Well, I had an issue.

It was just a few little things.

But these 'little things' can be big problems, especially if you want to actually be out riding a bike instead of fiddling around with it in your shop. 

Maybe you've been there before. A new component or a new bike build is stymied by some bolt, some necessary part you didn't know you needed, or by a specialized tool you need to install or fix a part. It can take you from the high of expectation and anticipation to the dumpster dive of life in a heartbeat. I know......it happens all the time to me. 

So, the first thing I ran into with this bag brace deal was that I had to swap out wheels. Well, 'had to' isn't really right. I wanted to. I had broken the spoke on the rear wheel of the aluminum Irwin Cycling wheels and that prompted me to want to go with the carbon wheels here. Same manufacturer, same end caps on the wheels, but the rotor lock ring cap, that worked perfectly fine on the aluminum wheels, dragged on the axle of the carbon wheels. No-go! 

This low profile lock ring cleared the fork and the axle.

My other rotor lock rings would clear the axle, but weren't compatible with the Fyxation Carbon fork I was running. The edges would drag on the inner fork leg. I needed the low profile of the original lock ring with clearance for the slightly larger axle of the carbon Irwin wheels. 

Bah! So, off I went to order in that bit. A measly ten dollar part kept me from riding that set up. Then when I got that bit in, and my wheel spun freely, I ran into another road block when I wanted to mount fenders on this bike. 

The fork crown of the Fyxation fork was nearly two and a half inches deep from front to back. There was a mounting hole for the upper fender mount, thankfully, but I needed a long threaded bolt, and nothing I had was suitable. It was either juuuuussst too short, or long enough but too big in diameter to fit through the hole. Drat! Another bit throwing a wrench in my cogs! A trip to the hardware store later and I was back at it.

Now, fenders mounted up, I thought, "Hey! I should ride this to work tonight as a test ride." But that would mean I would need lights. Okay, I have lots of lights, but mounting one on the handle bar was out of the question due to the height of the bag I was using. Oh boy! here we go again. Another small issue keeping me from using this bike? Not today, bike devil! I'm overcoming your gremlins!

So, I futzed around with a few ideas until I decided to roll with the tried and true bit of steer tube off a fork boss deal. Fortunately, that Fyxation fork had a low rider mount I could use for the mount and it works well enough. I grabbed a light and strapped it on. Good to go!

The front wheel spins, the rotor is secure, the fenders are mounted, and my light is on there too.

Okay, I was glad that was all over! It's always something what wants to throw a road block into your travel to bike nirvana. This time things went my way. They don't always work out that way every time though! 

Ideally in terms of the light, I think I'd want something mounted off the fork crown. That bolt I got for the fender is long enough to accommodate that idea, but I'd have to rustle up a proper mount. I do have a Minoura Space Bar that might work for this, but I have to give it some thought before I get to trying it out. For now, I'm good to go. 

*See the Standard Disclaimer page in regard to the Scoutset Bag Brace.