2015 Salsa Mukluk 2 Suspension - First Rides, First Impressions

On Thursday, October 11th at 10:47 AM, I got a text message from my boss. It simply said "Ur bike is here." I shoved some food down my face hole as fast as I could and hurried over to Earl's Bicycle Store. When I arrived, there was an oversized bike box sitting at the back door. It was my 2015 Salsa Mukluk 2. My coworker Rylan had gotten me into fat bikes at the end of last riding season, and I had bought a Surly Pugsley, which served me well through the winter. It was great for riding in the snow, but it had a fairly low end spec and the geometry left a little to be desired for trail riding in the non-snowy months. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I wanted a more serious year round bike.

In the time between the end of winter and when I had a chance to preorder a 2015 Salsa Mukluk, tons of things came out on the market. Rock Shox came out with their Bluto suspension fork. Multiple companies were now making carbon fiber fat bikes. Hell, Salsa was even coming out with a full suspension fat bike! I had a lot of decisions to make about what I was looking for in a fat bike, but luckily Salsa made it easy for me. Their 2015 Mukluk 2 suspension was just about everything I was looking for in a fat bike. If I built it up from a frame the way I would want it, this how it would be built with a few small changes. And the geometry looked much better to me than my old Pugsley. Much more slack, for a little more stability in deep snow, and since this is also my rowdy trail bike, good for maximum brappage when shredding the gnar.

On the back of the jeep ready to come home.

The build kit is pretty nice on this bike featuring a Sram X7/X9 drivetrain with a Type 2 rear derailleur, a Surly OD crankset, Thomson seatpost and stem, Rock Shox Bluto suspension fork and wheels built using Salsa hubs and Surly Holy Rolling Darryl 80mm rims with Nate 3.8" tires mounted to them. The only thing I might change about this bike is that eventually I may add a dropper post to it.

After I built it up I took it out for a ride in Bald Eagle State Forest. Since the snow isn't here yet, I can only comment on the trail manners of the bike. The route I took for the first ride had a little bit of everything. Fast descending, long chunky uphill rock gardens, gnarly single track climbs, and nice flowy sections. It was going to give me a good feel for how the bike would perform.

I really like riding fat bikes fast on trail. They are really good at crawling through ultra-techy rock gardens, but I feel like they really shine when you point them downhill. Now that I have one with a good suspension fork and a descending friendly geometry, this really has never been more true. I need to find some bigger, rougher, steeper stuff to ride this thing on. I'm having crazy thoughts like, "Maybe I should take this thing to Mountain Creek Bike Park." On the descents, this bike just makes everything feel slower than it is. It really reminds me of the first time I got on a downhill bike. The only hint of feedback that tells you that your mind is playing tricks on you is that you can hear the wind whistling past you. I was hauling the mail on this thing on descents. It really is a playful bike when descending. Four inch wide tires give the confidence to corner hard at lightspeed on primitive trails with no berms. I set multiple PR's on several single track descents on my first day out on this thing. I really think the slack geometry has a lot to do with it, with short chainstays it's easy to loft the front wheel, and the handling is very playful.

Mukluk in it's element at Rock Heaven

The Rock Shox Bluto suspension fork is amazing. Though it only has 100mm of travel, 100mm of travel on a fat bike feels more like 140mm on a skinnier-tired bike. The most significant thing it adds to ride quality of the bike is dampening, which means I can charge rough stuff and not get bounced around out of control like I did on a rigid fat bike. It feels super plush and was simple to get dialed in. I was originally planning on converting the fork to 120mm, against the cries from Salsa's legal department that I would probably die if I did this, but 100mm is plenty. The fork enters it's travel smoothly and is very progressive in it's stroke. I can run this thing at 25% sag and it feels good. I need to get some bottomless tokens for my 2014 Reba if they'll make the travel feel like this.

Coming off a a Pugsley running a 120 tpi Larry in the front and an Endomorph 120 tpi rear (those are tires, for uninitiated), the 120 tpi Nate tires are a huge improvement and a great choice for a stock tire. Lightweight and supple, with plenty of aggressive tread, these things are perfect for fall riding when the leaves like to make everything a little slick. The 80mm wide Holy Rolling Darryl rims are nice and I think they'll be good for the snow, but for trail riding I think I'd prefer Marge lites or another narrower rim for a little more protection for the rim from rock strikes.

While we're on the topic of the rolling stock on this bike, I guess I might as well get my one complaint about this bike out of the way. I hate the low number of points of engagement of the rear hub on this bike. Part of this is my own fault. I recently built up a dedicated singlespeed wheel for my El Mariachi Ti with a Profile Racing Elite SS hub. It has an utterly ridiculous 204 points of engagement. I've been really enjoying riding it/annoying everyone I ride with because my bike sounds like we're in the middle of commercial bee farming operation. It's also a $700-ish hub. I certainly don't expect Salsa to put a hub of that grade on a bike as stock equipment and I understand the unwritten rule that the wheels on every new bike are just place holders, but these are fairly nice rims, it would be nice if they could build them onto something with at least 36 points of engagement. I've had Hope hubs before and I was fine with the engagement on those. I'm not saying they need to spec Hopes on these, but it would be pretty cool. I'd pay extra for that. Even a made in Taiwan Bitex or other cheap hub with decent engagement would be acceptable. Enough about that though, if you aren't riding high engagement hubs, this probably won't bother you anyway. If you are, you probably already knew you were going to have to do something about the stock wheels anyway.

On the plus side, I think I know where the money that they saved by using uber cheapo hubs went. The bike comes with a Thomson stem and seat post stock, and this is awesome. I have always been a big fan of Thomson stuff. It's stiff, strong, reliable stuff that I place in the same lofty esteem as Chris King headsets and Brooks Saddles. They are tried and true designs that have been perfected, beautifully machined out of aluminum alloy, and no longer need to be redesigned or changed. I would bet that 10 years from the writing of this, you will still be able to buy a Thomson X4 stem, and it will still be the exact same thing as what comes stock on this bike. Awesome move by Salsa here.

I'm really happy that Salsa went with a SRAM drivetrain on this bike, I'm always been a big fan of SRAM in this department. In my experience, their drivetrains have been bombproof, and the only issue I did have they quickly replaced under warranty. The 2x10 is perfect on this bike. I don't honestly know if I would want to go 1x11 on this bike. If I did I think I would need a snow chainring and a trail chainring and then swap them out seasonally. I ride XO1 on my El Mariachi Ti when it's in geared mode and I love it for that application, but a fat bike really benefits from super low gearing, and the 38x11 combo gets used a fair bit as well. The X9 Type 2 derailleur is...pardon the pun...clutch. This thing is super quiet, I only get a hint of chain slap when riding the rowdiest of the rowdy at speeds that are neither sane, nor recommended in the slightest. The clutch also makes the shifting feel a bit more snappy and crisp compared to a non-type 2 unit. The rest of the X7 kit on the bike is functional and does it's job. As much as I've love to see some X9 shifters on this bike, I just don't think it would be worth the added cost, though the action the X9 and up shifters is pretty slick.

This bike came equipped with SRAM Guide R brakes, which are a brand new design. For those not in the know, SRAM is killing the Avid brand off, at least when it comes to hydraulic disc brakes. The Guide series is their replacement for the mid to high end Avid Elixir trail brakes. The ones that come on this bike are the lowest end version of the Guide series, and I would say they are comparable to a Shimano Zee brake in quality and stopping power, but slightly lower in cost. So far they have been problem free for me, they have plenty of bite and power but good lever feel and modulation. I have always been one of those weirdos that liked Avid hydraulic brakes, mainly because I don't really like the on/off feel of Shimano brakes. Being a mechanic has something to do with it too. I know how to install and properly take care of a brake that uses DOT fluid, and a lot of people don't. I do understand that some of the lower end Avid stuff had serious problems though and that's why people avoid them. The noise of the Elixer brakes was what turned a lot of people off as well. I'm happy to report that my Guides have been dead silent, even when wet, which was a happy surprise. If these things turn out to be as reliable as I think they will, knowing what I do about hydraulic brake design, they're a home run. Only time will tell if these will hold up though. For now, all I can say is I really like them so far.

After taking this bike out and thrashing it pretty hard on trails, I have to say that I am very satisfied with it. It is exactly what I'm looking for in a fat bike. I liked my Pugsley, but I had a hard time getting as rad as I wanted to when trail riding due to it being a rigid bike. It was a good bike for what it was designed for, but it wasn't the bike for how I wanted to use a fat bike. The Mukluk 2 Suspension is exactly what I wanted in a fat bike for trail riding. It may even get to do a little enduro racing next summer. Aside from the low number of points of engagement in the hub, this bike is pretty much dialed and just waiting for a dropper post.

Stay tuned, I'll update my thoughts on the bike as I get more time on it in the fall trail riding and some thoughts on how it does in the snow once we finally get some. Meteorologists are predicting the Revenge of the Polar Vortex this winter, so I should get in some great snow riding in the coming winter months.