Pugsley opinion

Thin Diesel

Thin Diesel

Well-Known Member
I'm considering purchasing a 2013 necromancer. If you have a pugs - what do you like about it? hate about it? If you bought another fat bike instead of a pugs - why?
Thanks,
Rob
 
I like the geometry. It's more like a normal mountain bike and is a blast to ride on all kinds of trails.

Of course it's heavy, the component spec is so-so, and it's steel, so there's the rust thing.

I rode it as my primary bike for 9 months, then built up a Ti fatbike from Twenty2 Cycles. Dropped a good 10 lbs in the process.
 
Thin Diesel said:
If you bought another fat bike instead of a pugs - why?
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I considered a Pugs, Necro and Mukluk. I went with the Muk for a few reasons:

1) Like the geo better...a bit more relaxed angles, more head tube (I'm 6'3" and tired of running high stacks of spacers under my stems)
2) ALternator dropouts...enables you to fine-tune the wheelbase and also run SS
3) Aluminum...wanted to ride on the beach without worrying about salt air/water impact. Ditto for snow riding...lot of moisture collects around the chainstay bridge/BB area.
4) Color....the orange on the 2013's is killer.

That said, a friend of mine and his girlfriend picked up Necro's about a month after I got my Muk and they love them. They prefer more traditional XC geo. As for the rust thing, they treated their frames with Frame Saver.
 
The Pugs just didn't excite me. I liked the aluminum frame idea better, as ice biker mentioned. I'm never going to be anywhere that I need to swap front and rear wheels so the 170 spacing seemed a better way to do the rear end.
Plus the Muk just got refreshed geometry so felt like the somewhat more modern take on fatbiking. But I didn't look at geo side by each, I basically decided on a Muk and luckily found one my size. I mighta even sprung for a beargrease if they'd had one. Maybe.😉

Fwiw, there's a long thread on Pugs cracking at the seat stay but I believe they were redesigned there for 2013.
http://forums.mtbr.com/fat-bikes/pugsley-frame-failure-828024.html

I just saw you're right by me, dunno what size you ride but if you wanted to meet at the tourne or we can hooligan around town one night or something and try the Muk lemme know. It's a medium.
 
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Thin D: I echo Dave's comments on the 170 spacing...forgot to mention that. The Necro is an offset rear 135. I thought I might run my fatbike eventually with a 29er wheelset (e.g. my studded ice tires), but wouldn't be able to do so with an offset rear ,so that was another plus for the Muk.

Same offer as Dave re: trying the bike. I have an XL, and I'm in Morristown, so it'd easy for me to meet you at Tourne, Lew Mo, or Patriot's if you want to give it a whirl when the trails harden up again.
 
Thanks for the offer to ride. I'm a medium so Dave's would be better. actually, I rode '13 Muk 2 & 3 already. Liked them a lot. I'm looking at Pugsley because I may be able to get a deal on one and I also want to setup an internally geared hub.

So anyway, thanks but I'll pass on the offer for now. When I do get my fat bike I would like to get together for a ride though.
 
I have a Pug that I bought as a demo and love it. I think the normal spacing, bulletproof build and relatively inexpensive parts specs make it the kind of ride that you can just enjoy rolling around the woods at a chill pace. The Pug is not going to win any races but if I want to go fast, I just ride my 29er race bike. I think the beauty of the fat bike is elegant simplicity. The steel/snow thing is over blown...if you take care of a steel frame you will get more than your investment back in terms of service before it becomes a rust bucket. Just my two cents.
 
I also purchased the Mukluk for some of the reasons above. Although the steel frame is more compliant, if the bike is on my rack and I am traveling to a snowy place with road salt, I don't want to risk having a steel bike on my rack. Also, the Surly bikes come with an antiquated thumb shifter and I would rather have a trigger shifter like a SRAM or a Shimano-type shifter.
 
So I got the 2013 Necro Pug about 3 weeks ago and got 3 rides in so far. I like the bike a lot. Very fun to ride. Very different. Those friction shifters are different but got used to them after the 1st ride. I have no issue with them at all. I'm used to riding a SS so shifting is somewhat of an afterthought. I do think those types of shifters are easier to use when wearing bulky gloves in cold weather. I'm learning that setting the correct tire pressure has a huge impact on the ride. I bought one of those low pressure gauges to dial this in. That is a "must have", IMHO. My only complaint so far is the braking power. Bike comes with BB7's. I've used them in the past and thought they were fine but here the response just seems lacking. This may also be something I need to adapt to, perhaps after a few more rides.
 

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Thin Diesel said:
My only complaint so far is the braking power. Bike comes with BB7's. I've used them in the past and thought they were fine but here the response just seems lacking. This may also be something I need to adapt to, perhaps after a few more rides.
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Nice bike! Yep, ditto for the Muk. They got better after a few rides, but me thinks the front could use a 180 given the weight of the wheel/tire combo.
 
icebiker said:
Nice bike! Yep, ditto for the Muk. They got better after a few rides, but me thinks the front could use a 180 given the weight of the wheel/tire combo.
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Could just be caliper adjustment. Or swap out those cheep FR-5 levers for some Speed Dials.
 
SD-7 levers online available for $20/pair. will a $20 upgrade really make a difference? that would be great.😀
 
Thin Diesel said:
SD-7 levers online available for $20/pair. will a $20 upgrade really make a difference? that would be great.😀
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Congrats on the ride!
I added the sd-7 levers, it does help dial in the system. More feel and I didn't even do it right just yet. But I'd agree with icebiker it needs a little more. Been shopping rotors myself and wouldn't complain if I ran across a deal on a nice set of hydros. But the bb7's are growing on me a bit.
 
First thing I did with my muk was purchase a set of elixir 5 brakes with 180mm rotors. Made a huge difference. The bb7 With the small rotors Definately did not have good stopping power needed for the huge wheels.
 
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