Velo City: Bicycle Culture and City Life

Salsa Mukluk

Salsa Mukluk

Adam Macbeth is one of those people who love to ride. They don’t care what they ride, being on a bike—any bike—is their natural state. Adam will gladly take a road bike out on a 100 kilometer pre-breakfast ride, demolish some single trail for lunch, ride trials for dinner and take his garage-beater fixed gear out for a few ales at the local for dessert. On the weekend he’ll gladly carouse around the countryside, exploring dirt roads and fire trails in the Central West of New South Wales. His latest obsession is endurance rides, the reason for his latest build, a Salsa Mukluk fat bike.

The Mukluk was engineered as a bicycle capable of riding happily through snow, mud or sand, thus becoming an ideal vehicle for endurance mountain bike rides such as the 2,350km Freedom Trail in South Africa and the Great Divide Route from Canada to Mexico. Salsa categorize it on their website as an Ultra Snow Racing bike and an Adventuring bike. Adam built up his Mukluk with SRAM XO Speed Twister shifters and rear mech, while a Middleburn crank set, rings and a Shimano derailleur provide primary drive and front transmission. The 3.8 inch Surly Larry tires tend to act as non-damped, zero-rebound suspension so a Cane Creek Thud Buster seat post has been installed ‘to take the edge off’. The setup negates the need for a backpack, with three bidons providing more than a hydration pack’s capacity, and the front rack can store a musette full of muesli bars, bananas and other snacks. Rest assured, despite the urban background, that no spray-on mud was used in this photo shoot, it’s the real stuff, and Adam mercilessly intends to get his Mukluk a whole lot dirtier.

Many thanks to Adam Macbeth and the boys from City Bike Depot in Sydney.

Salsa Mukluk
Salsa Mukluk
Salsa Mukluk
Salsa Mukluk
Salsa Mukluk
Salsa Mukluk
Salsa Mukluk
Salsa Mukluk
Salsa Mukluk
Salsa Mukluk