hi again from birmingham. last day of the show, got to talk to lots of cool folks from all over the UK. the pugsley is of course the eye catcher. have been learning lots of UK slang: bog snorkling (snoggling?), tuggling, stupid git, prat, that sort of thing. two countries separated by a common language. people of the UK: give the karate monkey a try! if more people tried the KM, i think you'd realize that 29 inch could do very well on these trails. just ask chipps! everybody knows chipps, right? you should. visit Singletrack UK to get the scoop on what's happening here. my travelling companion devo has taken ill and lost her voice, but seems to be finding it now. i'll write a wrap up when i arrive home. oh, the weather has not worsened, though the locals seemed surprised by the snow. come visit us in minnesota, we'll show you some REAL snow. cheers, mate!

I gotta give props to George Barnes and Brian Schuster. Last weekend, these guys completed Alaska's Little Su 50k race on Large Marge-equipped unicycles built by George. They didn't finish first....but, they didn't finish last either. We'll have 3.7" tires for them to ride on next year.

Check out their reports and photos on George's website.


The Arrowhead 135 mile Winter Ultra Race is going on, right now. John Evingson, Matt Evingson and Pierre Oster are using samples of our new 3.7" tires at the event. There's no better way to test them. Typically, they'll be running tires pressures of 5-10 psi most of the time. We're hoping to see that the sidewalls hold up under these conditions. If they pass the test, I'll approve 'em for production. We'd love to have our tires arrive around the same time that Pugsley framesets come into stock.

Sample inner tubes, made for the new Surly tires, were shipped last week. Hopefully, they'll pass our tests, so we can get those into production, too.

We're going to offer an offset-drilled Large Marge rim (6mm from center, offset to the drive side of the wheel) to go with Pugsley. The offset drilling makes a big difference in the spoke tension of offset wheels. Don't bother building Pug wheels with regular Large Marge rims....you'll be disappointed with the final product....the spoke tension will be whacked. The offset-drilled rims won't have eyelets, but you're not going to need 'em. We put eyelets in the standard Marge rims, because they're used for DH bikes and unicycles that need 'em. Offset-drilled rims should be available around the same time that Pugs arrive.

greetings from birmingham england. i am here to represent surly for our UK distributor, ISON, a merry bunch of blokes, at the Corebike tradeshow. so far england is basically like minnesota except even more polite and ten degrees warmer. there's snow flying, but green grass too. hmmm. will be hanging out chatting with dealers, and then driving norf to go for a ride with chipps. not much to report otherwise. i'm sure it's much more interesting where you are. you think i'm kidding? the plane ride sucked major ass, and it's still really chilly here. i've slept about 4 hours in 36 and that's on top of 2 straight weeks of work, no days off. travel is good, but so is home.

So we just got our first real prototypes of Pugsley framesets and the yet unnamed 3.7" monster tire last week and are getting our first rides on them. I rode home last night at fairly high pressure, 30psi! These things roll pretty well at that pressure and I eventually got myself back into the city where there are frozen creeks and lakes nearby my house. I dropped the pressure and started on the creek, in the dark, unable to see much in front of me. It was blind faith that I didn't crack through and roll into the water. It was so icey that I decided to come up to the paved path and roll over to the lakes. Again I dropped more pressure from the tires to see what happened. There was a creek linking Lake Nokomis to Lake Hiawatha and I dropped in to ride along the other tracks from people, dogs, raccoons, squirrels, XC skis and WHAT?! Another bike?! No way. This was some fairly thick snow, how could anybody else possibly ride on this stuff without massive tires? Upon further inspection, the tracks were exactly like my tread pattern. It was evidence Brother David Sunshine had been there earlier in the day. The tread pattern may as well have read "Dave was here". I followed his tracks, saw where he slid out, saw where he was testing his traction and saw how close he was going to get to the open water just ahead. I veered away from his tracks and rode straight across the snow covered lake. When looking directly across the lake, you could not tell you were moving because there were no reference points like shadows, lumps of snow, or anything clearly visible. Yet my legs were pedalling, so I had to look to the side to see the trees to make sure somebody hadn't spiked my water bottle with LSD. I was not trippin', but rather, in a state of movement and tranquility one could only experience out in the middle of a frozen lake on a bike. As I came to the other side of the lake I dropped into a low gear and cleaned this embankment. Much to the surprise of a couple out on a walk, they said "look at those huge tires". I stopped and chatted with them and told them these were prototype tires for adventure riding that we designed. And that it was my job to be testing them, and that I really didn't feel like I was done working yet. So I turned back and went out on the ice again, zig-zagging as if I were on drive pavement. It was so badass!

My friend Natedog just called to tell me he saw a 2005 Surly catalog for sale on E-bay. We give these catalogs away for free, so nobody should be getting charged for these!!! I'll mail you one for free, as long as you DON"T PUT IT ON E-BAY. What is lamer, the seller (greed) or the bidders (stupidity)? All of you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Wow. Lots of news today.
First up, a big congrats to our pals Gene and Jennifer Oberpriller who are new parents to a baby girl, born over the QBP Frostbike weekend (ie, not the ideal time, but hey, it's a baby. babies are so inconsiderate. sheesh.). No name yet, so I'm voting for Surly. Surly Oberpriller. Yeah. Gene, Jen, we love you guys & hope everybody's doing well.
Next up, this coming weekend here in MPLS is the 2nd Annual Ski Bike Competition, brought to you by the barely organized Funkin' Monkey Collective. This Sunday, the 27th, at the deer pen bowl down by the VA at Minnehaha Falls. This was an absolute blast last year. Show, yo.
Troy and Jen from Over The Edge Sports in bee-yutiful Fruita, CO were here this weekend for the aforementioned Frostbike dilly-o and plastered...well, themselves with liquor, but also everything else in sight with stickers and flyers to remind people that this year is the big one-oh for the fat tire fest. Over The Edge Sports has all the details you need.
Lastly, Surly pal Takya Kodama from KAZE Messenger in Kyoto, Japan, sent photos of a bike he worked on not long ago. An Englishman named Alastair Humphreys has been riding around the world. He started off on a bike donated for sponsorship by one of those big name bike companies, but the rigors of loaded travel killed it before long (as would happen to most frames, really), so he picked up a frame that looks quite familiar to us ;-). Prudence keeps me from mentioning any brand or model names, but Takya reports:
"After traveling Alaska and Siberia without a proper maintenance, his bike was in a miserable situation. So I worked on the bike, and found every single parts on the bike is f*cked up or about to be f*cked up except the frame and the fork. Actually a Brooks saddle and Thomson seat-post and stem were also fine."
Then this last weekend I ended up talking to Joel from Bike Gallery in Portland, Oregon, who had also met Alastair before the Alaska/Siberia stint. Alastair's website (of course he has a website, everybody has a website nowadays) spells out his mission this way:"The Guinness Book of Records defines a journey around the world as one that covers 16,000 miles and 4 continents. Now I am doing the job properly: 50,000 miles, 5 continents, 50 countries. Alone and on a bicycle. No buses, no hitching, no support vehicles. My expedition itself is entirely self-financing; every penny I raise in donations will go directly to Hope and Homes for Children to support their outstanding work. "

Check it out, www.roundtheworldbybike.com
That is all. Go ride now.

We've been out of stock on some frames and parts for a while and we're still awaiting some new items to come in. Keep in mind, the "E" in ETA stands for estimated. We don't know exactly when these products will be available, but this is just a guideline.

ETAs:

• Cogs in all sizes- We're still waiting to approve the final samples and we're hoping to see them in stock in May.
  
• Karate Monkeys in brown or black in all sizes- We should see these around April.
  
• Pugsley- we just got our first real prototype frames last week and will be riding/testing them soon. They look great and we'll post ride updates as soon as we get some miles on them. We still do not expect them to be ready until later this summer, perhaps July-ish.
  
• Tire for Pugsley- we also just got our prototypes of the big fat tire, it measures 3.7" and we'll get more ride/test info out in the next few weeks. These should be available around the same time Pugsley comes out to play.
  
• Steamrollers in some sizes- Probably April.
  
• Stainless chainrings in all sizes- Probably May.
  
• Hubs in most styles/sizes/colors- Hopefully soon, I don't have an exact date.
  
• Torsion bar- April or sooner.
  
• Nice racks, front and rear- We're hoping for 2-2 1/2 months, perhaps May.

• Wool jerseys in all sizes- Should be here in the next week or so from New Zealand.
  
• Special surprise coming this spring too. Don't ask, you'll find out soon enough.
  

Again, these are guess-timates, so don't cry if you were waiting for something that wasn't here when I said they might be here. We're doing our best to get these things available to you and sometimes we all just have to wait. Thanks for being patient!!!

What a weekend! We displayed our fancy products in a booth at our distributors annual tradeshow this weekend to over 1,000 bicycle dealers and vendors. This meant we actually had to set up our booth last week, work the entire weekend and squeeze in some partying with our out of town pals that came for the show. So if we didn't call you back right away or return your e-mail as quickly as we normally do, we apologize. Things should be back to normal (normal isn't really normal, it's just not abnormal) soon.

Saturday night was nuts. It started snowing hard during the day and made for good riding conditions. After this 1st day of the show, we blasted downtown to 1st Avenue to see Hank III/Assjack go from crinkled cowboy hat tear in your f'ing beer drinking songs to mohawked sore throat death rock. The lyrics from style to style could've been exactly the same, for all I know. But I've never seen them before and I highly recommend seeing them if you have a chance. Probably the best $13 bucks I've spent in a while.

After the show, soon-to-be-dad GeneO had a keg of Anchor Steam at OneOnOne bike studio downtown for the pre-cyclocross movie party. A group of probably 20-30 people rode to the midnight screening of Pure Sweet Hell a couple miles away. The snow has amassed to about 5 inches by this time and it was great to see some out-of-towners try to ride through it. The snow was amazing because your wheels would be sliding out all over the place, but somehow you'd keep your traction enough to not fall down. People did fall down though, and it was great entetainment watching somebody in front of you go from upright and in control to sliding on their butt in a split second.

The movie was a blast, even though some of the shakey camera work got me feeling like I was on a 3D ride at Disney. Seeing those skinny lycras ride through mud made me want to ride through mud. But the now 6" of snow would suffice and I had perhaps the most enjoyable ride of the winter going home that night. There were no cars, you couldn't see curbs or potholes under the snow, the flakes were huge and I was all alone in this big city.

Thanks to all you dealers who made it here and participated in the festivities again. We'll see you next year.

Things to do in MPLS this weekend:
FRIDAY NIGHT:
-Otto's Chemical Lounge, Floorshakers, and Mezzofist at the 7th St. Entry. Good stuff, maynard.
SATURDAY:
-Visit Hollywood's new digs. Finally. And while you're at it, don't forget the shop in my own neighborhood in (hands over hearts) NE MPLS, Behind Bars.
SATURDAY NIGHT:
-Hank3 at the First Avenue mainroom, with Assjack and Hazard County Girls.
-Strong Arm Marketing presents the cyclocross film Pure Sweet Hell at the St. Anthony Main Theater, midnight (the witching hour). $5 (!), no advance sales.
SUNDAY:The main day of QBP's dealer open house. We'll be there, looking about as good as we can.

1) The Snowball's Chance In Hell Race did in fact happen yesterday, and it was a wet, sloppy mess. Just as Brauer had predicted, it rained; a neat, misty rain on top of the ice, making for an astonishingly slippery mess. 25 or 30 people braved the weather and derbied and raced their way to some really crappy prizes (the set of tires I found in my basement and donated to the cause were so bad that the winner silently returned them to my trailer and they had to be given away again), and everyone looked happy to be there. Thanks to Matt M for the Wild Turkey balls and everybody who showed for doing so.
I got an email today from a guy asking if I thought the event he described in his letter sounded like something he should try to put on (as if I'm some sort of expert). But expert or not, to him, and to you, I say YES. Big production races and rides are cool, but the heart and soul of cycling is everyday people just riding...you and your pals, those other guys in full racer kits, even that dude on the DUI Free Spirit. Nothing about cycling means anything unless people are out there on their bikes, and a good way to encourage that and to strengthen your local cycling scene is to put on some sort of easy access event. Get a few friends together, come up with some ideas for things to do (take your favorite type of riding and think up 2 or 3 things to make it interesting), do a little planning, pick a date and send out an email. It doesn't have to be a fancy ride, in fact you can just turn one of your regular saturday outings into an event with a xeroxed flier; the point is just to bring your fellow cyclists together. It's good for cycling, it's good for your mid winter blues and the dog days of summer. You don't have to be skilled or especially organized, and you might be surprised how many people show up and have a good time. Just please keep your singletrack single and clean up after yourselves. And personally I'd love to see some ladies organize something all inclusive.
2) Don't forget, Otto's Chemical Lounge is playing this friday the 18th at First Avenue (in the Entry, actually) here in good ol' MPLS, along with Mezzofist and the Floorshakers. This is the annual birthday gig for Dale T. Nelson of Otto's (a sheepish thanks to Alan Schroeter, formerly of MPLS, for correcting my freudian slip in my last post on this subject in which I called him Dave Nelson, not once but twice. I know better, I swear), who was rocking before you and continues with no signs of slowing down.
3) IMBA's Midwest Mountain Biking Summit has been held in Kansas City for several years, but this spring it's going to St Louis, home of longtime Surly slug B. McGruff. This thing is always a good time. Definitely something you should add to your To Do list if you live within reasonable driving (or riding) distance. Start planning now.
4) Sometimes people ask us whether they should get a Long Haul Trucker or a Crosscheck for their light touring. Here's an unsolicited review for the Crosscheck from a guy named Dale Beaumont, who sent this to us out of the blue:
"Last January I drove from Phx to San Diego and cycled back, a six day trip with a 140 mile day. Then in June I drove to San Francisco, and cycled to San Diego. This took 10 days, an amazing trip. In August I drove to Georgia and cycled to Bar Harbor,Maine and back to Boston. My Surly was my commuter bike, just stock until I turned it into a loaded touring rig. Four Vaude water proof bags, Brooks Colt seat, Cain Creek Thud Buster post, XT hubs, 36 spoke Mavic hand built wheels, Continental 2000 touring 700x37c tires with thorn tubes and shields(only one flat), mountain bike cassette, Scott racks, and gear for eating, camping, and living on the road. This all weighed,85-95 pounds,depending on water needs. The long stretches of desert require at least 3 gallons of water. I only needed the stock double crank rings, even in the Rockies. The bike is a little twitchy, but I grew to like the feel [the LHT feels significantly stouter in this aspect...it's designed to be loaded up heavy. -KB]. The strength of the Surly is amazing, I beat this bike to death day after day. With the front panniers the bike takes whatever you hit. In the eastern states, the pot holes are really bad, I hit most of them, but the bike is as true as the day I bought it. The Thud Buster is heavy but it gives you an extra 30 miles on your rear end. I'm 53,and I averaged 68 miles per day while free camping six out of seven days. Steel is comfortable and cheap(like me). The bike is easy to fix, even for me. I got a lot of comments, but the ones I liked were the Surly riders who were all single speed riders. The bike looks cool and is as tough as a tank, and rides and climbs remarkably well. I hooked up with other touring bikes and road bikes and the Surly held it's own. I'll send a picture of me in DC. I hope you will pass on my review. Thanks, Dale"

sure·ly
With confidence; unhesitatingly.
Undoubtedly; certainly: You surely can't be serious.
Without fail: Slowly but surely spring returns.

Shirley
A first name (female).
Laverne's trusty sidekick.

surley
this is not a word

sur·ly
Sullenly ill-humored; gruff.
Threatening, as of weather conditions; ominous: surly clouds filled the sky.
Obsolete. Arrogant; domineering.
Bike company run by sarcastic spelling nerds.

As expected, the announcement is late in the game and there's not even a flyer to publish. but EvilCycling.com reports the following:

Be Warned:
The Snowball's Chance in Hell Formula Ice Race and Snowy Dash For Cold Hard Cash is ON, this Sunday February 13th on Browney Lake. This is not far from the old Cedar Lake location and was chosen because there had already been a track cut in the snow when the site was determined, but that was before the recent meltdown. This year, show up 11ish at the aforementioned location and wear plastic bags on your feet because it's supposed to be 40 degrees and either sunny with a breeze (if you watch KARE11's weather) or spitting rain (if you talk to Brauer). Either way, wear your full body vapor barrier 'cuz it ain't gonna be pretty.

Bring the bike that's either the most stable thing you own or so rusted already that a day ankle deep in puddles won't hurt it further. And remember your floatation device.

Missed out on those pink 1X1s last year? Here's your chance to get one and help the fight against breast cancer at the same time. $10 raffle tickets for the pinkest bike I have seen since that Huffy girls' dirtbike my neighbor had when I was growing up. Check it out. The bike's a rare beast and this is a really easy way to help a good cause.

Top Five Excuses For Not Finishing The Stupor Bowl:
5) 34/16 on 26x2.1" knobbies (my, er, friend who did this managed to keep up for the most part, though his legs were a bit noodly for a day or so)
4) 50 degrees doesn't feel all that warm when you're soaked from riding through giant puddles(lame but true)
3) Projects at home (lame but true)
2) Started out the race with Wanderer's Punch at the Red Dragon
1) Forgot to register (maybe 'forgot' is the wrong word...)

Photos to follow, but it was a good time. Christian and SuperRookie looked shocked by the 190 or so registered participants (not to mention the maybe 20 or 30 others just along for the ride), but did a stellar job at organizing this thing. Thank them if you had a good time (or if you have photographic evidence indicating that you may have had a good time but are still not quite sure).

Da Bizniz At Hand:

A) Several folks have been asking lately about using the 1x1 frame with 29" wheels. Is this on a chatroom somewhere? The answer is yes and no.
>CAN you do it? Yeah. 29er wheels will fit, and even have decent mud clearance.
>SHOULD you do it? No, probably not. Not only will it alter your geometry somewhat (notably BB height), but also, since the larger diameter wheels have to sit further back in the dropouts, you lose a bunch of dropout length normally reserved for tensioning the chain. You may get lucky and choose a suitable gear combo that allows the perfect amount of chain, but this will require quite a bit of playing around with rings, cogs and chains and may still be fruitless. So really, no, the 1x1 is not a 29er. But hey, don't let me stop you...
Oh, and you'll have to use disc brakes if you do this, of course.
A better bet might be to throw a 29" on the front and leave it 26" in back. Better up front traction and a stronger, more torquey rear. It's the latest thing. Better jump on it. Of course the 1x1's geometry will be screwed doing it this way, but it'll only feel weird for a little while. Or longer. But it's not for me; I'm sticking to one wheel size for the bikes I ride (as opposed to my many ongoing experiments), if for no other reason than only having to carry one size spare tube. I'm too disorganized to find more than one spare tube as it is.

B) And finally today, since many of you keep asking: no, the Fixxer does not work on your Spinergy, Rolf, whathaveyou "wheel system." The Fixxer replaces the freehub body on most Shimano branded hubs (Silent Clutch and most Dura Ace excepted).
This does NOT mean merely Shimano compatible; Shimano compatible and Shimano branded mean different things. Compatible means that the spline pattern on the FH body accepts Shimano-type cassettes, and there are lots and lots of Shimano compatible hubs out there. The way the FH body itself connects to the hub shell, however, is fairly unique to each brand, and herein is the issue. Shimano branded means that the hub is made by Shimano.
AGAIN: The Fixxer works on most SHIMANO hubs, but that's it. If you got it to work on something else, good for you, but that's your own gig and voids the warranty of the Fixxer and probably also of the wheel (maybe not a big deal, but it's worth noting). Nonetheless, if you did get it to work on something other than a Shimano hub (I know some of you have made it work) and feel like sharing, write in and let us know how you did it. derby@surlybikes.com.
P.S. It's not completely accurate that the Fixxer does not fit on some of these things...in fact, BQ reminds me that the Fixxer will fit on a Spinergy hub and tug down nicely. But you can't redish the wheel, so maybe if you're using it on a 120mm spaced frame it'll work, otherwise no. I admit to ignorance on this to some degree as I have never in my life owned a 'wheel system.' I've always counted on the practicality of regular old wheels.

I didn't go on the Wednesday night ride last night but SuperDave did. His report:

"Early Wed Nite Ride for me. I'm kinda glad the Chatterbox closes at 1:00. My liver is old. The rest of the posse headed downtown for 2:00am bars. Where were you and Fred? [erm...I was comfortably wrapped up on the sofa with the lovely and talented Ms. Bloggins, cuddled up close and watching a movie. Not sure where Eric The Fred was, but I should begin working on him again. He and I used to wed nite ride quite a bit back in the day but he hasn't been on one for several years now. -KB]
"A case of High Life down by the creek started things off nicely. This was followed by icy-as-f*ck alleys with 3 fixies onboard. Trevor, Adam S., and Nick J. threw down fixie style. Some good crashes tonight. Grizzly Jim took a bath in a skanky puddle at the end of an alley. The mud running from his eyes made him look like Alice Cooper."

Good times. You ain't all that and a bag of chips until you ride wet in Minnesota in the dead of winter. Extra points for looking like Alice Cooper.

1) The monster's getting bigger. Local antihero race (messengering is mainstream now, you know) The Stupor Bowl is this saturday. Not only has this year's thing been better planned (for better or worse) than at any time in memory, it's also changed to a different points system, more true messenger-style, with certain stops weighted more heavily than others, so the careful planner can win even if he/she does not make all the checkpoints.

2) Local music legend Dave T. Nelson is having yet another birthday show at First Ave. Friday, February 18th in the mainroom, Otto's Chemical Lounge, the Floorshakers (the only band...ever, in my experience...to actually turn it up to 11 when I yell "LOUDER!" Just ask Bender.), and Mezzofist will make your eardrums bleed, and what's more: you'll say Sir Thank You Sir! May I Have Another! I used to live next door to Dave and I can tell you that this man knows how to rock, and he's got a million true life tales about living the rock and roll life. If you have not seen Otto's Chemical Lounge, you should. Plus Dave might keel over and die at any time. It's amazing he's still alive. Better see it while you can.

3) The Snowball's Chance In Hell Formula Ice Race and Snowy Dash for Cold Hard Cash (more easily pronounced SCIHFIRSDCHC) is reportedly ON. A local deal involving idiots riding on a frozen lake, racing for the crappiest prizes ever. In other words, fun. Flyer as soon as I get a workable version. But plan on mid february on Browneye Lake.

4) Dave's not here, man!