The Mukluk is our fatbike, designed to provide extreme tire floatation in soft conditions. It rides where other bikes can’t. Soft surfaces such as beaches, snowy singletrack, frozen lakes and rivers, and intriguing gametrails are its home. Floatation, floatation, floatation…a fatbike is nothing without floatation. Wide rims, and wide tires run at proper pressure for the conditions, make the difference between riding and pushing. But effective frame geometry is equally important. Mukluk handling is stable and rides comfortably at slow speed, allowing riders to avoid dabbing in tough conditions. Mukluk 3 features a powder coated finish that is both beautiful and durable. Aluminum is also very resistant to corrosion so melting snow and adventures below the high tide line won’t ruin your frame. Want your Mukluk 3 to be more than one bike? Turn it into a 29er mountain bike with a switch in wheel set. The frame is front-suspension compatible as well. Ride where other bikes can’t, whether frozen, slushy, sandy, or downright dreadful.
Submitted by
girani
a All Mountain Rider
from Venice, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: March 22, 2012
Strengths: Rides where nothing else will - snow, mud, sand, gravel, mulch
Weaknesses: For this kind of bike, not much. I'm not a fan of twist shifters
Bottom Line:
I deliberated over getting a more high end version of this kind of bike and I'm glad I didn't. These bikes take on terrain other bikes just can handle, but they are slower - much slower - and the moves are gentle and mellow. My speed of wet sand and groomed snow is about 10 mph. Over 6" deep untracked snow - nearly zero! You really need to find compacted snow to ride this thing - but I'm a novice to this kind of riding. IMHO, there's really no need to trick them out like our XC or DH bikes. The cheapest components in the world wouldn't make a discernable difference on these machines unless they simply didn't work well. These components do work well (even though I hate twist grip shifters in general - but again, on this kind of bike where I shift rarely it's not an issue.)
The abuse these bikes do take is that they need to get washed down after every ride unless they are only used in clean snow. To that end, I really wonder how the internals will hold up. So far so good though (after only about 6 rides on sand and snow), and if you're accustomed to servicing bikes that see a lot of mud and water, these should be at least as durable.
The Mukluk has really well designed geometry and clearances for the intended use. That said, it has sluggish steering due to tire mass and friction so technical terrain is not going to be as much fun. Tire pressures are low so the bouncing basketball effect is pronounced. I personally like the idea of having a short travel fork for these because groomed snow trails and even wet beach sand can be bumpy and uncomfortable compared to my full suspension bikes. The Muk3 is a fun city cruiser (again - not fast for long commutes), beach cruiser, trail cruiser and yes, it rides across all but the softest beach sand with no problems. The things this bike doesn't do well so far are steep climbing over snow or even mild climbing over dry sand. So I choose rolling or flat terrain - no steep hills.
My Muk3 doesn't give me chain rub problems in any gear and it even has enough room for the bigger tires (4.5") apparently. The stock rubber is fine though.
I recommend this bike for having lots of fun in all that stuff you never thought you could ride on - particularly in the winter when fast riding is uncomfortable anway, and slow riding over groomed snow trails will take you places even XC skiers wouldn't have the stamina to reach.
Submitted by
dgw2jr
a Cross Country Rider
from Davenport, IA, USA
Date Reviewed: February 14, 2012
Strengths: Fat tires! Plows over everything like a tank!
Weaknesses: Clay accumulates on the frame until it's too heavy to lift. Should come with fenders or at least the option of fenders.
Bottom Line:
This is the most awesomest bike ever! I ride it everywhere, through everything, all the time! It's so awesome, my girlfriend had to have one so she got this years model and she loves it too. No longer mtbers, now adventure cyclists!
Strengths: Not knowing what to expect, I was really surprised at how easy it was to adjust to riding a fat bike. There wasn't any real adjustment needed, it was more of a pre-concieved notion of how a bike with 4 inch wide tires would handle and pedal that needed to be overcome. The ride position is very comfortable and felt completely natural compared to my other bikes. At first the grip shifters seemed like they would be a let down but with winter gloves on they really perform quite well. In fact, I would go with a similar shifter on a snow bike in the future having experienced them on the Salsa. Not being used to a rigid bike, I was impressed with how the frame and fork and those huge tires absorb the trail noise. I will admit that the speeds that I am riding in the snow, slush and mud right now are not that condusive to beating up a rider so a better overview of total ride quality will have to wait until the ground thaws. The price is one thing that makes this bike a definite winner. It is amazingly fun and the fact that is costs less then a downhill race fork is awesome. The powder coat is also appealing. The photos online and in magazines don't do it justice. In person it is really cool. I compared the Mukluk 3 to a Pugsley at a shop and liked the aluminum bike and build kit better. I would even choose it over the new Moonlander because of the aluminum frame.
Weaknesses: With tires this wide, drive train compromises sometimes have to be made. The Salsa website talks about possible chain rub issues, and while I haven't notice them, it seems like it could be a problem with more aggressive tires (Nates) or the larger tires (BigFatLarry). One issue I do have is that the BB5 brakes rub. I like to have my brakes set up so the pull is very little before the brake engages; I'm used to moto. Anyway the BB5 outer brake pad resting position is canted in towards the rotor at the bottom while the top is away from the rotor. To adjust the brakes so the brake pad does not rub make the pull of the lever almost hit the bars before it engages. I use one finger on the brake and the lever will hit my knuckles before it engages at all. If I adjust it so the pull of the lever is correct for my liking then it rubs all the time and squeaks when the bike is pushed backwards. The first thing I will change is the brakes but then again I am very particular about brakes.
Bottom Line:
If your in the market for a fat bike, use the buying power of the bike company and get a complete. The Mukluk 3 is a fantastic bike that handles well, is comfortable, quite a nice looking bike, and for the price is even that much better. I do wish it had their adjustable dropouts so I could run it single speed but that doesn't take anything away from the bike being an amazing ride.
Similar Products Used: None. Bought it cause it looked fun and couldn't be happier
Bike Setup: I went with wider bars (750 raceface atlas), platform pedals, removed two small gears off the cassette to make it impervious to chain rub and drilled the rims. Everything else is stock.
