Dogs. You've gotta love them. But when a dog chases you on your bike, they're no best friend of mine. I was 2 blocks from home the other night, basically on bike cruise control, when a fur rocket comes bolting towards me across the street from my left. If I was doing 18 MPH, this mutt was doing at least 25 and inline for the T-bone of the week. What was this little dog thinking it was going to do at 25 MPH, settle a score? Prove he's surly? Defend his turf? Or just smack into my bike? Either way he mistimed the T-bone and flew behind me. By the time I looked right he had not only stopped, but had changed directions and was building steam . My instincts said GO, so I went as hard as I could and dropped that pooch. Fortunately for me he was a short-legged style and couldn't keep up. He barked for a block down the busy street and finally gave up. Score 1 for the Long Haul Trucker, zero for mad dog 20 20.

It's me, Mr. Crabby Ass. writing to tell you to stop asking for free stuff. I'm really, truly happy to hear you all ride alot and break things and think you're the best person to test some stuff out. But asking for free stuff won't get you anything from Surly. In fact, the last three items I've given away were for nice people that didn't ask for anything.

So anyways, the Long Haul Trucker got 2 feet of air the other day. My commute to work has a shortcut through a park with a perfect launchpad off the basketball court and into a goose poop minefield drop. If the poop is frozen, no worries. If it's thawed, watch out! The Trucker handled the air with flying colors.

Although this bike hasn't really wowed me like the first time I rode the Karate Monkey, it's been slowly impressing me with how "normal" it feels during my commutes. It carries junk, bunny hops curbs with $30 worth of groceries, handles tight road corners well, blasts across gravel and dirt. It's no-handed record now is 9 blocks. In a short period of time, it's become the nicest commuter bike I've ever had.

Since it's kind of a no frills commuting/touring/all-purpose bike, I can only imagine those freeriders yawning at the LHT. For the rest of us, I hope you can wait the 4-5 months for this ride.

Duders
There is art showing RIGHT NOW at the One On One Studio downtown MPLS. Steve Smith is the artist. See him jiggy at his own corner of the digital divide, www.drunkingham.com. Show closing party this friday, the 21st. Drinks (or was that drunks?), mad laffs, good art, bikes, etc. 7 til whenev. Get thee heiny down dere.

I've put on some serious commuting miles, aboard the Long Haul Trucker, in the last two weeks. Sometimes, I just load it up with junk to see how it handles with some weight strapped on.

I built my Trucker with a pretty conservative kit...nothing too weird, compared to the rest of my bike stable: Sugino XD 74/110BCD triple crankest with 26/36/48t chainrings, 12-28 seven-speed cassette (respaced to index with 9spd Shimano barend shifters), SRAM PC-69 chain, XT rear derailleur, LX front derailleur, full SKS fenders, green Brooks B17 saddle, Salsa Bell Lap bar, Cane Creek C2 headset, stainless Axiom rear rack, Topeak Rack Mule front lowrider rack, a cheap nameless seatpost out of one of my junk bins, Deore hubs with Mavic MA3 rims, and Panaracer 700c x 37mm T-serve tires. The wheels are too light for expedition touring, but I had a pair lying around, so I'll use them for commuting. I'll lace some 36-hole Salsa Delgado X rims onto some XT hubs, when I have some time.

It handles like a touring rig should. It's stable and predictable. It's a comfortable, all-day rig. No surprises. That's a good thing.

I'm a good test monkey, because, this time of year, I ride in size 48 Lake winter shoes with Gator winter booties, and a leopard-print thong...back to basics. With my Sasquatch-like stompers, it doesn't take a lot of riding to discover toe overlap issues and pannier/heel overlap issues, if they do exist. I'm happy with the clearances that the Trucker provides. And, I like the way the B17 conforms to my cold, bare ass cheeks.

At this point, I'm confident that the Trucker is good to go into production. But, we're waiting on some more samples, in different sizes, just to make sure everything fits like it should. Production should start in a few weeks, if all goes well. That means they'll be in stock in 4-5 months. I wish it was sooner, but there isn't much that we can do about it.

Propaganda time. Chris Welch runs a site called Revolution Freeride, which looks to be a fairly new site dedicated to hardtail freeriding, covering DJ, DH, etc, etc. and asked to do a review of the Instigator. Read the review here and be sure to check out all the other stuff at the site as well. This review is more of an interview of us, but we'll take that.

Ride Phat also reviewed the Instigator a while back, but I can't find that in their archives. I do recall that Dr. Ray tried hard to litter the trail with bits of the bike but was happily unsuccessful, although he did say something about breaking his crank arm. Yeah! Subsequently, Dr. Ray has informed us that he is now a full fledged dentist, which means he will now have more money for bikes but less time to ride them (insert Nelson Muntz: "ha ha!).

Went to the ChortBowl250 single speed rally this weekend. The word of the day was MOIST. The trails, the air, everything. It wasn't too much of an actual ride, although we did hit some trails. The trail to beer ratio was quite low overall. Proper recognition to EvilCycling.com captain Dave A., who gave it his best shot having NEVER ONCE ridden offroad before. His ability to eject from the bike and into the brush both with and without grace was a real learning experience. Also notable was BRose and his strange combination of Croll single speed, small tires, and Shiver front end. Is XC Freeride a category? It is now. Me? I was second to arrive, rode o.k. considering my front only braking (I keep forgetting to hook up the rear brake), lost the Bike Pull (think tractor pull), came in almost last and got the hiccups. I hearby declare that I won!

So I had asked for some SSWC photos. One person thusfar has come forward. One 'Hippy' writes to us and sends photos of.......the party. No trails, mostly just the party, which I should warn you contains a brief nude scene...of some (presumably) drunk bastard with his pants down. There are also a few photos out in the sunshine of a bike, I'm guessing it's Hippy's. I dig the tensioner. Thanks Hippy! Who else has something to share with the rest of the class? Trail photos? Carnage? Bring it on! We long to live vicariously through your experience since we sadly could not be there ourselves.

In other news, we have received word from Chris "Chrisdemeanor" Clements that there is to be a rally here in the MPLS metro the saturday after Thanksgiving (that'd be the 29th). Stop by One On One Studio for more info, or write to Chris at alufus@yahoo.com and he'll get you the hookup. The usual suspects will be there, and somebody please take out Brauer for me as I'll be in Iowa visiting the fam.

Hey, I was thinking about some things we have that you may not know about. Earlier, we told you about the new Surly offerings. A couple new things have happened since then. Vis:
Singleator Upgrade Kit. Yes, the Singleator is new and improved. The body has been redesigned...it is now cold forged, so it's stronger, plus it has side plates to keep the chain from jostling off instead of the metal loop over the pulley. The guide plates allow you to use either 1/8" (wide, BMX, track) or 3/32" (narrow, like on bikes with derailleurs) chains; previous models were designed only for narrow chains. Plus, the new version utilizes an 11 tooth pulley for smoother, quieter action and better chain wrap using the push up spring, which is still included with Singleators (the springs are also transferrable from old type to new type and vice versa). The upgrade kit consists of an 11t pulley, the sideplates, and a bolt to hold everything on your old Singleator body. Think about it. And don't forget that the Singleator requires an 18mm cone wrench to apply tension. This seems to mystify people, but geez, it needs one that big to fit over the spring sleeve. Geez, quit writing to me asking why and either buy a frickin' 18mm cone wrench or pay someone to install your Singleator.
Also coming soon is a track hub (over locknut-spaced 120mm) that has fixed gear and lockring threading on one side and freewheel only threading on the other. Let me repeat that: a track hub designed for a freewheel AND a fixed gear. And it doesn't cost a ton of dough. Dang. Gene, are you listening?
And just to spell some things out: our warranty is 3 years on frames, 1 year on parts, we don't have an EP program, and email works better than a phone call. We write back right away. See ya.

"Somebody at one of these places asked me: "What do you do? How do you write, create?" You don't, I told them. You don't try. That's very important: not to try, either for Cadillacs, creation or immortality. You wait, and if nothing happens, you wait some more. It's like a bug high on the wall. You wait for it to come to you. When it gets close enough you reach out, slap out and kill it. Or if you like it's looks, you make a pet out of it."
- Charles Bukowski

So what's new with you, fool? Went out to a couple movies this weekend, went to an art sale at a friend's house, dropped about $200 on some nice handmade jewelry, a photo, a painting, and assorted stuff. Did not ride. Well, one little excursion to the cash machine, liquor store, Chipotle and home, and another down to visit GeneO at One On One Studio, where I ended up helping out with a repair on some brother's Schwinn Continental while all the backroom lingerers gabbed. Felt just like a bike shop.
Hey, who can give me the scoop on SSWC in Melbourne? Did anyone survive? Did anyone go? Photos? Stories? Rumor? Innuendo? Spread the dirt. mail it to derby@surlybikes.com. If I can figure out this Blog crap i'll try to post photos i get. if any.

Been riding Long Haul Trucker protos here. Not too many miles on any of them yet, but Nick and I had a convo about them. Mine is set up like you might expect a bike geek bike to be. Nitto North Road bar (a wide mustache, but turned up like 3 speed bars), bar end shifters, 700x37 Pasela tires, cantilever brakes. 2x9 shifting. Due to corner cutting on my personal parts spec (i am just a poor boy), it ended up on the heavy side. Have not weighed it oaf-icially, though it's gotta be in the upper 20s at least. Rides like a dream, however. Even normal everyday stuff, like my route to the beer store, is a bit smoother. I'm not kidding. And considering the long stays, it handles remarkably well. It corners and tracks very smoothly. So confidence inspiring, I took it offroad down by the river. It was gonna happen anyway, as the trails are carpeted with red, orange and brown leaves, and the water is lapping at the sandy bank only for a bit longer before the big freeze moves in. Pastoral. Peaceful. The tires were a noticable handicap, since the trails down there are a bit soft, but there were only 2 other things that made me realize that the LHT is not in truth a trail bike. The climbing was one...long stays + slick-ish tires+ leaf carpet = wheel slip. The weight and gearing didn't help that either. But the more telling thing was the BB drop....much lower than even the Crosscheck. This makes it a really stable ride, but a bit of a pedal catcher on the more canted turns. I'm using 175mm arms. All is as it should be from preliminary testing. I have not had it fully loaded, which is when it ought to shine, though I have had both (large) panniers stocked with beer and groceries on several missions now, and it's stability shines. Now for some more aggresively treaded tires and ride it all winter. Yeehaw.

Dave's been riding some Large Marge rims (I only took his bike out for a short jaunt, but did manage to get the whole thing airborne off a speedbump). They do not feel all that heavy...seriously. Street traction was noticibly improved, but I can as yet only imagine the offroad grip. More as developments warrant.