2017 Salsa Mukluk X01…

Wish we brought our fat bikes is something we often said when touring with our Surly ECR’s. Not that we didn’t like riding our 29ers, but that we enjoyed riding our Salsa Mukluks a lot more. For us, there is simply a fun factor that we don’t get with any other bike.

I have had every kind of bike there is through the years and I have enjoyed riding every one of them. The road bikes shot me down the road, mountain bikes carried me along the trails, trial bikes gave me skills, and cross/gravel bikes bridged a gap between road and mtb. But they were all business, point “A” to point “B”. They were destination machines. This is where the fatbike differs for us.

The fatbike for us is about the slow meandering journey. Easy going, comfortable, and the ability to ride through anything. It brings back that sense of adventure and freedom I had as a child when I first learned how to ride a bike.

One Less E-Bike…

Since April 2023 we have been living on our Mukluks, from Alaska to Australia and throughout New Zealand. The questions from people are always the same. How far can you go on a charge? Don’t the fat tires make them hard to pedal? That’s a lot of weight!

And my answers are are always the same. There is no motor, no they are not an e-bike, and the fat tires do not make them hard to ride.

Inside I am really getting sick of e-bikes which are not a bike at all but a motorcycle. Humans took a beautiful muscle driven machine and have begun crippling people and raping the land for precious metals just to create a battery that poisons the planet. I am happy to be in the crowd of “one less e-bike”.

I am sure that this thinking doesn’t sit too well for most and they could argue justifications. However, I am very opinionated about it and could easily fill pages with my reasons. In the end it would simply be useless words from an old man living in the past watching people get lazy because their pedal bike is too hard and they want a motor.

VERDICT…

Between April of 2023 and May 2025 we have ridden around 38,000km (23,600 miles) on our Mukluks. I am not sure of the distance from 2017 to 2023 but we had taken these bikes on many adventures during that time as well. They continue to be our favorite bikes and we are glad we chose to tour with them.

What we like:

They are comfortable and a pleasure to ride. It really doesn’t matter what surface is in front of us, they handle well in all conditions. And it is nice having an extra lane beyond the narrow roads if we need to avoid a disrespectful driver.

The combination of 100mm wide rims and a carbon frame have had some nice advantages that our 29er steel bikes don’t have when it comes to hauling the weight of our gear. They are slower but move with little effort.

There really isn’t anything we don’t like about these bikes. However, there are some logistical issues on occasion.

Some Things To Consider:

Public transport has no means to facilitate fat tires. Any rack whether it is in front of a building, on a bus, or a train does not fit our tire width. Another thing to consider is availability and cost. The fat tires are not something you can readily get and it is usually a week or two wait for a shop to get them. Also the cost is almost more than a car tire.

2017 Salsa Mukluk Bike Specifications…

The Salsa Mukluk has now been renamed Heyday! for the woke crowd. If you would like current information, the Salsa Heyday! page is right here.

In 2023 while riding through Tasmania our gears needed to be replaced and so we upgraded our 11-speed SRAM Eagle XO1 for 12-speed SRAM Eagle. That gave us the much lower gears we desperately needed.

BIKE WEIGHT: 12kg (27-lbs)

SALSA MUKLUK FRAME INFORMATION:

FRAME : Salsa Mukluk Carbon
FORK: Salsa Bearpaw Carbon

COMPONENTS…

HEADSET: Cane Creek 40
STEM: Salsa Guide
HANDLEBAR: Salsa Rustler Carbon
- Replaced with a Surly Mokolo Bar on the XL
- Replaced with a Jones H Bar Carbon on the Medium
GRIPS: Salsa Backcountry Lock-On
- Replaced with Ergon GP5 Grips on XL Bike.
- Replaced with Ergon GP1 EVO Grips on Medium Bike.
SEATPOST: RaceFace Turbine - 31.6 x 400mm
SADDLE: WTB Volt Pro 142
- Switch out with our old Brooks B-17

DRIVETRAIN…

FRONT DERAILLEUR: N/A
REAR DERAILLEUR: SRAM XO1
CASSETTE: SRAM XG 1175 - 10-42T
SHIFTER: SRAM X1
CRANK/CHAINRING: Raceface Turbine / 30T
CHAIN: KMC X11
BRAKE/ROTOR: SRAM Guide RS / Centerline 160mm
- Switched to 200mm Front Rotor and 180mm Rear Rotor on XL Bike

WHEELS:

FRONT WHEEL:
- Hub: Salsa 32-hole - 15mm Thru Axle
- Spacing: 150mm
- Rim: Whiskey Carbon 100mm
- Spokes: DT Swiss DB - Aluminum Nipples
REAR WHEEL:
- Hub: Salsa 32-hole - 12mm Thru Axle
- Spacing: 197mm
- Rim: Whiskey Carbon 100mm
- Spokes: DT Swiss DB - Aluminum Nipples
TIRES: 45NRTH Dillinger 5 120tpi