Goat in a Turtle Shell: January 2013

So let's recap the past 2 months in a brief summary...
My last ride before I stopped was somewhere around November 25th.
My fork started leaking negative air pressure, DU bushings in the rear shock were shot
I bought a house. The sewer line collapsed. I had to pay mucho dollars to have it repaired...blah...blah...blah..

Fast forward to December 30th. The local Annual Beerd Belly Ride was on January 1st and I wanted in. So I rented a Salsa Beargrease..a fat bike and it was tons of fun...

So if you don't understand Fat Bikes...here's a quick idea of it.. Fat bikes have specially made frames and forks to run 3.7 inch wide tires or larger. These tires are generally held by rims in the 47mm-100mm width but 65mm and wider are generally the rule of thumb for winter riding.

What's the point? Well those wider tires do something special. Most normal mountain bike tires run anywhere from 20psi to 35psi. I usually run 22-25 psi myself. Those huge fat tires on a fat bike though. Well on dirt they can run 9-11psi comfortably for my weight. These huge tires have so much volume that they act like a sort of suspension in themselves. But the real idea behind these tires is snow. Drop the air pressure to say 4-6 psi and these tires flatten and widen their footprint and snow that would be difficult on a normal mountain bike becomes easily doable on the Fat bike.

The Fat Bike and its tires do have their limitations though. Riding uphill or even flat through deep powder is near impossible but get the right conditions or even a powdery downhill, they are bliss. Perfect for whats needed to continue riding in the Front Range and beyond of Colorado.

So my wife saw how much fun I had on the fat bike and said," Lets see what we can do about getting you one." I though she was crazy at 1st. We had just spent mucho dollars on a new home and on a new sewer line. But we have a rule around here that we don't spend received christmas money on bills. I found a 2011 Salsa Mukluk frame and fork cheap at Treefortbikes.com and that bought that. But I still needed parts. I had a few odds n ends but still needed wheels, tires, Fatbike specific crankset since these run a 100mm wide bottom bracket with a specific chainline, in my case 67.5mm for my Salsa Mukluk.

To fund this I'm selling my Road Bike which is a Salsa Podio, full Dura Ace 10 speed and all kinds of Goodies. If your interested email me at: jeremyarnold33 at gmail dot com. I'm looking for $1600 but am willing to negotiate a bit.

I talked to Golden Bike Shop which used to be the regular shop but in my humble opinion as well as many that I've talked to, is that Golden's Rep as a shop has gone down since their General Manager Adam left them for Rocky Mountain Bicycles. Their attitude about building wheels and buying parts from them left me feel wanting so my buddy Greg turned me onto Pedal of Littleton.

The owners of Pedal of Littleton just moved to town from Georgia about a year ago and the head honcho, Andy has owned a Surly Pugsley (fat bike) since they came out. They are super excited about Fat Bikes and have tons of stock. I got them to build my wheels, and then ordered everything I needed from them.

So here it is...In it's glory and all done.

Salsa Mukluk Frame 19"

Wheels
Hope Pro 2 EVO Fatsno Hubs, Blue
Salsa Blue Skewers
Surly Holy Rolling Darryl Rims, Silver
DT Swiss Double Butted Competition Spokes
DT Swiss Brass Nipples
Surly RimStrip
Q SL Tubes

Tires

45NRTH Husker Du 90 tpi front/rear

Brakes
Avid BB7
Avid Ultimate Brake Levers, Silver
Alligator 160mm rotors
Jagwire Reinforced Kevlar Braided Brake Housing, Sterling Silver
Jagwire Teflon Coated Brake Cable

Components
Sram XO Shifters
Sram X9 Rear Derailleur
Sram X7 Front Derailleur
XTR 12-34 Cassette
45Nrth Willful Neglect chain
Jagwire Steel Braided Shift Housing, Sterling Silver
RaceFace Turbine Cranks 175mm/RaceFace 36/22 T, Gray
RaceFace Team XC BB
Shimano XT Pedals
Chris King Silver Headset with blue top bearing race
Kona 90mm, -6 degree stem, silver
RaceFace Atlas Bars, 740mm, Blue
Ergon GP1 grips
Salsa Seat post 27.2-330mm
WTB Pure V
Salsa Lip Lock Collar, Blue

It's 1st voyage was dry dirt during the local night ride. It was an awesome experience but this bike was built with snow in mind and snow it had.

I talked my buddy Torkima into riding Georgetown. I had no idea what the snow conditions were but I was hoping for something on the ground that was rideable.

We found what we were looking for and more...

I'm faster then a train...whoo...whoo

Same idea as in the summer. It ain't Fat Biking without a little hike a biking

at 10,000 ft it was decision time. head down some sweet singletrack I know of back into Georgetown or head up to Waldorf Mine. We headed up.

At 11,200 we started to run into some really loose sugar snow. We were both getting whooped and kept going to 11,400 before time finally got us and we had to head down.

Riding down from 11,400 ft

Looks like winter just got a little less depressing and a whole lot more fun! Weeeee!!