Wednesday, May 14, 2014

The Krampluk


What do you get when you cross a Salsa Mukluk with a Surly Krampus? You could get a Mukpus, but the established name seems to be Krampluk. I ordered a 29+ wheelset from my LBS and got it last week. The 50 mm wide Surly Rabbit Hole 29" rims combined with the 29x3" Surly Knard tires sounded very promising for summer use, when you don't need the floatation of fat tires.


I think the setup looks really nice.



I chose the Salsa hubs over Hopes, since I've come to appreciate the silence not offered by Hope. Additionally, the Salsa hubs can easily be converted to other axle standards, and an adapter kit will be available that converts the front hub to be compatible (after redishing) with the 150 mm through-axle of the Rockshox Bluto suspension fork, which I have on order through my LBS.

The Surly Knard is currently the only really wide 29 inch tire, but more are on the way.

Heavy duty smile. I don't want my face to crack.

After a week and a few rides I can confirm that this is great summer wheelset for a fatbike. The lesser rolling mass and lighter weight can be noticed clearly and the tires roll well. The tires, while a lot smaller than real fat tires, are still wide enough to absorb a lot of the bumps on the trails. On easier trails I found no need for front suspension, but most of our trails are fairly rooty and rocky, so I don't doubt that a suspension fork would be nice to have. I have a longer (10+ h) ride coming up soon and will be back with some more impressions after that one.

A short video I made last weekend.



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