So a stock Mukluk is a weighty thing. I decided it was time to address that and being me I wanted to do it (relatively) inexpensively.
Luggage scale. No guarantees on accuracy but it says Samsonite on it dammit, that's a fine upstanding brand!
Step one was the great Rolling Darryl Rim Drilling Project. Been wanting to do this since buying the bike. But a combination of time constraints and sheer terror put me off it. However our own Michael.su suggested a step bit instead of a hole saw. As hole saws and I don't get along this was the push I needed.
I condensed this into one picture. Here's some tips.
Made a wheel holder out of scrap wood. Now doubles as handy fatbike stand. Maybe I would have made it narrower to hold the wheel a little tighter if I did it again, but otherwise worked well.
Speed matters. The step bits seemed happiest at lower speeds with some torque. I was tentative at first as I didn't want to burn the bit but it held up well.
I went with 1 3/8 although many have done 1.5. Got the bits at harbor freight. Set came with a smaller bit that drilled way faster so I started with that and finished with the larger.
I used an 18v dewalt cordless drill and killed both batteries before finishing. Sucks to clean up twice so either use a good corded drill or have more battery. Ended up using a 40 year old, smoking and screaming black & decker antique to finish.
Making a reusable template out of tape and using an automatic center punch saved a tremendous amount of time laying out wheel #2.
I got really lucky and didn't drill opposite the valve, which is the weld. Don't drill the weld.
It's a really messy job. Just so you know.
I saved about 220g per wheel, so about a pound total. Was it worth the time? JimV says hell no, 😀 but I'm happy with the results. I used an upside down strip of duct tape for orange-ness with a layer of gorilla tape over that. Still tubes in there.
Almost forgot! Coolest tool I'll never use again is the internet-suggested swivel head deburring tool. It's like carving aluminum only better.
http://www.generaltools.com/482--Swivel-Head-Deburring-Tool_p_156.html
During all this a buddy offered me a used set of Vee Snowshoes. I had no idea a 4.7 tire fit on the Muk. That saved a pound per wheel over my Nates! I've run HuskerDu's and the tires were fine but smallish, which exacerbated the Muk's low BB issues. I have some self steer issues in the dry but otherwise I'm pleased with the Vee's traction and size.
After pic:
The last thing was the fork. Found out salsa now sells the Beargrease fork separate so I thought about that or a Carver maybe. I also looked into eBay Chinese carbon forks but aside from general sketchyness they all use the newer Muk and BG length not my older, shorter. I almost pulled the trigger on a new BG fork but a used one popped up on pinkbike with a very favorable exchange rate. My frame will run a tapered steerer using a new lower cup, which salsa was nice enough to research.
http://salsacycles.com/culture/rockshox_bluto_fit_chart_for_salsa_fatbikes
The fork was good for another pound of fat shedding fun.
So finally the results. Weight with pedals and stuff: 32.30 lbs. I thought it was going to be in the 31lb range but I overestimated my stock fork weight. Math is hardness. I could take the pedals off.
Costs:
$60 tires
$135 used Beargrease fork, shipped. Yay Canada!
$33 Lower headset. Thanks to John at cycle craft for doing it while I waited. Had a gift card so, free? Need a ruling here.
$20 drill bits (I should include the hole saw I bought a year ago for this...)
$248.00 total. $62.00 per pound. Not too bad. "That'll be $700 dollars." "Wow, what a great price, I just saved 20 grams!" 😉
The bike is faster and definitely more fun. Although the newer stuff is close to this weight (or less) out of the box I already own this and for not all that much cash made a big dent. Result.
Luggage scale. No guarantees on accuracy but it says Samsonite on it dammit, that's a fine upstanding brand!
Step one was the great Rolling Darryl Rim Drilling Project. Been wanting to do this since buying the bike. But a combination of time constraints and sheer terror put me off it. However our own Michael.su suggested a step bit instead of a hole saw. As hole saws and I don't get along this was the push I needed.
I condensed this into one picture. Here's some tips.
Made a wheel holder out of scrap wood. Now doubles as handy fatbike stand. Maybe I would have made it narrower to hold the wheel a little tighter if I did it again, but otherwise worked well.
Speed matters. The step bits seemed happiest at lower speeds with some torque. I was tentative at first as I didn't want to burn the bit but it held up well.
I went with 1 3/8 although many have done 1.5. Got the bits at harbor freight. Set came with a smaller bit that drilled way faster so I started with that and finished with the larger.
I used an 18v dewalt cordless drill and killed both batteries before finishing. Sucks to clean up twice so either use a good corded drill or have more battery. Ended up using a 40 year old, smoking and screaming black & decker antique to finish.
Making a reusable template out of tape and using an automatic center punch saved a tremendous amount of time laying out wheel #2.
I got really lucky and didn't drill opposite the valve, which is the weld. Don't drill the weld.
It's a really messy job. Just so you know.
I saved about 220g per wheel, so about a pound total. Was it worth the time? JimV says hell no, 😀 but I'm happy with the results. I used an upside down strip of duct tape for orange-ness with a layer of gorilla tape over that. Still tubes in there.
Almost forgot! Coolest tool I'll never use again is the internet-suggested swivel head deburring tool. It's like carving aluminum only better.
http://www.generaltools.com/482--Swivel-Head-Deburring-Tool_p_156.html
During all this a buddy offered me a used set of Vee Snowshoes. I had no idea a 4.7 tire fit on the Muk. That saved a pound per wheel over my Nates! I've run HuskerDu's and the tires were fine but smallish, which exacerbated the Muk's low BB issues. I have some self steer issues in the dry but otherwise I'm pleased with the Vee's traction and size.
After pic:
The last thing was the fork. Found out salsa now sells the Beargrease fork separate so I thought about that or a Carver maybe. I also looked into eBay Chinese carbon forks but aside from general sketchyness they all use the newer Muk and BG length not my older, shorter. I almost pulled the trigger on a new BG fork but a used one popped up on pinkbike with a very favorable exchange rate. My frame will run a tapered steerer using a new lower cup, which salsa was nice enough to research.
http://salsacycles.com/culture/rockshox_bluto_fit_chart_for_salsa_fatbikes
The fork was good for another pound of fat shedding fun.
So finally the results. Weight with pedals and stuff: 32.30 lbs. I thought it was going to be in the 31lb range but I overestimated my stock fork weight. Math is hardness. I could take the pedals off.
Costs:
$60 tires
$135 used Beargrease fork, shipped. Yay Canada!
$33 Lower headset. Thanks to John at cycle craft for doing it while I waited. Had a gift card so, free? Need a ruling here.
$20 drill bits (I should include the hole saw I bought a year ago for this...)
$248.00 total. $62.00 per pound. Not too bad. "That'll be $700 dollars." "Wow, what a great price, I just saved 20 grams!" 😉
The bike is faster and definitely more fun. Although the newer stuff is close to this weight (or less) out of the box I already own this and for not all that much cash made a big dent. Result.
