↧
Striking off in bold new stupid directions
↧
Cyclocross is for Jerks, Awsome Jerks
I am rejuvinated and made whole again when I know that there are people out there in the world who get it.
If you get it too, would like to learn to get it, or just like to watch people getting it, you'd be well served by getting to Philadelphia on December 16th of this year. On that date, you will witness things as they ought to be.
Here's the flyer:
Here's the reason to go:
And one more:
Bilenky is a place I often refer people who want to get their Surly retrofitted with S&S couplers since they provide that service - and from all reports, they do it real nice. They are good people with beards who know what's what. If I were to be reincarnated as a bike frame I would want them to cut me in half and do magic stuff to me and send me back where I came from, but that's just me.
-Skip
↧
↧
The Surly Blog Is Dead. Long Live The Surly Blog
Hello. I’m the brand manager for Surly. You might be asking yourself, “what in the hell is a brand manager?” Or, maybe not. Either way, that’s my title, and being that the title is easier to say out loud than it is to explain in written form, I offer you this flow chart.
There, see? Much clearer now, eh? Pretty much everything I do in life can be represented in a flow chart, and I’m pretty sure that this is true for you (the reader) as well. So, now that we’ve established a common means for communication (i.e. the flow chart) I’d like you to take another look at the flow chart. Look at the box in the center of the chart that reads, “Brand Positioning by various marketing measures” Now, look to the left of that box and you’ll see another box inside another box that says “Emotional Component – Brand Personality” That’s what I’m writing to you about today: brand personality. Well, not so much brand personality as the things that help enhance brand personality. And, not so much the things (plural) that make up brand personality, but thing (singular). And what I mean by "thing" is the Surly blog.
Let’s not lie to ourselves. The Surly blog has "sucked" for a while now: Not so much the content itself (though we should never rule that out), but the frequency at which we’ve written them. This “sucks” because we really like to blog; we like how you laugh at our jokes, compliment us on our sweet suntans, and send us grain alcohol to show your appreciation for the entertainment we provide. Given that said shipments of grain alcohol have dramtically decreased in the past year one can assume the we have not been entertaining you (the reader) nearly enough to serve our selfish needs. I guess this is what the flow chart is referring to when it says “brand personality.” We also know that our blog has served the purpose of providing you (the reader) with some insight into who we are and what motivates us, and frankly we are shocked that you put up with all our quirkiness when we just need a day at the mall, and that you ask us to write more often.
During a recent Surly meeting we discussed ideas on how we might do better at serving you (the reader) with more frequent submissions of the useless information that you’ve come to expect from us (the people of Surly). Yes, we really do have meetings (sure they’re always held under a bridge, huddled around a barrel fire while passing around a bottle, but we can’t all have the same definition for the word "meeting" now can we?). At this recent meeting we landed on a plan wherein we would all (each of us that works for Surly that is) blog about things like our adventures, our rides, our trips to the super market, the crazy amounts of shit we carried on our Big Dummies, the cool sound it makes when we skid our tires on fresh asphalt, or that one time when... "we was all wasted."
Sounds pretty exciting, huh? Yeah, we think so too. After all we have no shortage of things to say about bikes, poop, farts, barfing, or sharing our favorite photos of people with guns. We’ll also be sure to include lots of youtube videos of our favorite black metal bands and everyone’s favorite: LOL cats!
Hey, did you notice that the cat in the picture is riding an invisible bike? How'd they do that? I mean, for one, there's no such thing as an invisible bike, right? If this is true, what form of Steven Spielberg movie magic was applied to this photo to make it look so convincing? This is the heady stuff a brand manager thinks about as he (or she) sits at their desk waiting for the future to arrive. Which brings me back to the question, what’s a brand manager? That’s too difficult to answer, so please don’t ask again. My point in bringing it up in the first place was to illustrate what my role in this whole thing is: setting the tone. So, if it’s my job to set the tone, I’m here to declare that we (the people of Surly) will concentrate in earnest in providing you (the reader) with what you so dearly deserve: more distractions from daily life.
I'm not making any promises that you (the reader) are going to get lots of quality wriiting and interesting things to muse about with your friends, but I can promise that you will experience more quantity of the collective stupidity that we so enthusiastically dole out. If in the end (of the world that is) we have failed to provide you (the reader) with copious amounts of mediocre content about us (the people of Surly) and the world we occupy, we’ll probably have to call another meeting to discuss a plan B. That plan just might be the subject of my next blog, coming up in three weeks or so. Whatever you do please don't unlike us on the Surly facebook page for this, OK? We really really really want you to like us.
↧
Is it possible to wheelie the Big Dummy???
Short answer, yes.
Long answer....
This weekend I wanted to figure out what it would take to wheelie the Big Dummy. In my opinion, it has two wheels and therefore it can do a wheelie. Now for those of you who have ridden a Big Dummy, you know it is virtually impossible to do any sort of a wheelie by yourself. Yes, you can hop and get the front wheel off the ground for a split second, awesome, but I don't think that is "riding" a wheelie. To ride a wheelie, you need to balance on the rear tire, and to do this on the Big Dummy, your going to need a counter weight.
Fortunately, Surly recently hired a new counter weight named Andy (A3). Like me, he is an enginerd for Surly and also recognizes that wheelies are rad. The weekend after Thanksgiving, Andy was especially plump with counter weight and he rolled over to my house to tackle the Big Dummy wheelie experiment.
A couple days earlier, I was in my garage trying to figuring out ways to waste even more late night hours and I came up with a great idea. The Boxxer fork being neglected on my garage wall, would easily mount up to the Big Dummy. Opportunities like this don't come around every day and I had to try it out.
To my surprise, the long travel sus fork on the Big Dummy was actually pretty rad. First, the longer wheel base of the Big Dummy allows it to accept drastic changes to the front fork length with minimal change to the head tube angle. Second, because the weight bias on the Big Dummy is much more forward than the average bike, a lot of pressure gets put on the front tire and I was seeing about 50% sag in the Boxxer fork. As a result of the sag, the bike had about 4 inches of positive and negative travel and it road smooth like a big old Cadillac.
The day Andy came over, we needed to figure out a cockpit for him to hang off the back of the bike and perform his counter weighting duties. We put our heads together to create something stunningly simple with breathtaking beauty; Surly proto bars, a random stem, a 1X1 fork, a bent metal tube, black duct tape, a tie down strap, and one bungee for good measure, wow. The beast was ready.
We headed out to the street confident in our design, wary of our abilities. As we expected, it wasn't difficult to get the front tire off the ground. A 3..2..1 countdown and me and the front tire were headed skyward. The problem was side to side balance. It felt like neither Andy or I had any control over the bike tipping. I couldn't get much control up in the air on the front and Andy didn't have a chance maneuvering the bike and me around from the rear cockpit.
Regardless of the challenges, we continued to ride up and down the street trying to harness our collective Evil Knievel wheelie abilities. Fortunately, we didn't have to worry about flipping backwards because the frame behind the rear tire would hit the ground. On the other hand, when the frame hit the ground, the front wheel and me would fall back to the ground in a hurry. This is where that Boxxer fork came in handy, soaking up the entire imapct. It would have been a rough ride on the stock rigid fork.
In the end, we did managed a few legit wheelies. We got the bike up to the balancing point and then got a few decent pedal strokes in before we toppled over. A lot of it may have been luck and it wasn't as far as we had hoped, but we were pretty happy with our first round results. We figured out that it was indeed possible to ride a wheelie on the Big Dummy, but it was just far more difficult than we had expected.
This is not the end of our Big Dummy experiement. The bike will stay setup this way for a while and we will definitely try riding wheelies again. Honestly, this is the first of many things I really want to try on the Big Dummy. Jumps and two person downhill come to mind first... really the options are endless, ha.
Stay tuned for more Big Dummy fun in the future....
↧
Size Matters
Are you taller than 6'5"? Do you have a hard time finding a bike that fits? Guess what? Surly has you covered. Being tall is awesome, but finding a bike that fits among the mainstream bike brands can be frustrating. Mainstream bike brands design bikes for average height. That’s like eating generic bread. I suppose that anyone of any size can ride whatever bike they please just as long as they can turn the pedals. I am 6'8" and can ride a 16" but why should I? Funny thing is that bikes don't know how tall you are. At Surly we recognize that there are all sizes of people that just want to ride a bike that’s well designed, affordable and fun. If you are tall and have gotten away with riding bikes 2 sizes too small then look again. We make bikes that fit – most of you anyway. Little critters of the forest, beware of the bike riding giants. We will crush you.
↧
↧
Stop and Smell the Flasky
I recently read this article on “Zen Cycling”. The definition of which is either pretty self explanatory or (if you read the article) slightly confusing. I gleaned a couple of things from the article in the way of reminders though.
When I first started “seriously” riding my bike I was a big fat dude (I still am, but slightly less so now) and I made some rules for myself regarding the ride. Nothing complicated, just rules like: If you feel like you want to stop and rest, or drink some water, do that; or if you need to stop and fall to the ground and catch your breath and sleep for a while to avoid a heart attack, do that. When I first started riding more, I took my time, I didn’t push myself to get places fast, I experienced the ride. Somewhere along the line though, I got away from that, especially when I’m on my way to, or from, work. My tendency on the commute is to try to get it through as quickly as possible. I want to get home to get shit done, or I want to get to the office to get shit done. The sad part about that is on my way to (or from) work I ride by some really amazing stuff.
So back to this Zen cycling thing…one of the things the article said was, “There must be no sense of urgency.” When I read that line, it reminded me how nice it is to stop and smell the flasky (or roses or what ever). I know it can sound like a bunch of hippy-dippy bullshit, but it really does make for a more enjoyable ride. Not to mention that the idea of my slow fat ass getting anywhere on a bike “quickly” is a bit of a laugh.
So that’s what I did on my ride yesterday. I went out of the way, I slowed down and looked at the world and listened to the world and drank some bourbon and watched some planes take off and watched some planes land and drank some bourbon and talked to some construction workers and climbed a tree.
I took the concept of slowing down and “experiencing” the “world” pretty far, but the process (as it went on) excited me. Excited me in my deepest warmest parts.
I ride my bike because it’s fun. Sometimes I forget though, just how fun it can be. So on your way home this week, stop and talk to a construction worker, or drink some bourbon (or beer if you live in a warmer place than me) and smell the smellables and check the world out.
Or be an asshole and don’t.
Just don’t forget, bikes are fun; and the trouble they can get you into keeps that fun going on and on.
Hugs and Kisses
↧
GP’s Ultra New word Find
When sending your email answer you must Label the subject line “Surly Word Find,” get it? Okay!
Seriously, do it or all of your hard work will be for nothing.
1. Which of our models uses a 17.5mm offset wheel?
2. Wheel slipping in the dropouts? Maybe try one of these.
3. Name Surly's new fast rolling dirt tire for your fat bike.
No, its not a Larry.
4. Steer clear of this angry primate.
5. Bill’s totally excellent brother, also a hualin’ work horse.
6. Dirt touring rig, 26 wheels, endless possibilities.
7. Always keep this little guy close to your chest.
8. The spacing on this model is simply Gnot-rite.
9. 44mm head tube, proprietary yoke. Hide your children. Believe the Hype.
10. This guy is 82mm wide and comes in lots of fun colors, and is guaranteed
to keep you ROLLING.
11. Does Surly carry touch up paint? Two letters.
↧
Phiddlin’ with Phil vol 1
HI, I’m Phil, Phil Raitt, I procure the bits y’all in turn acquire from our esteemed dealer network. Sometimes while consulting the magic 8-ball and staring blankly into my future tellin machine, I listen to some good ol’ music (NOTE: it aint’ the music most here listen to, but whatever, I ain’t like most of my cohorts no how)…here are a few tunes that have recently been kickin around the Pandora listenin box…
Hank III – Not Everyone Likes Us
David Allen Coe – The Ride
Johnny Cash – Devils Right Hand
↧
Blaze Orange
I’m Bob, I’m a weirdo and I’m in good company. Everyone that works for Surly brings a little bit of themselves to the brand whether they mean to or not. That happens to be a really good thing. There is no shortage of bizarre ideas that get kicked around the office on any given day. I happen to hunt and in the fall, when deer season starts, you can’t get me to shut up about it. I hunt with a bow, black powder (muzzle loader), and modern firearms so my season starts in September and ends in January (that’s just deer hunting by the way!). That being said, I shouldn’t have been surprised when one of the guys asked me why I hunt.
Why do I hunt? It’s a pretty simple question but there’s nothing simple about the answer. The easiest way I can explain it is that I’m not content to just observe nature but I have the need to be an active participant within nature itself. I am compelled to fully immerse myself in the natural world and literarily feel what is taking place around me. There is something very primitive within me that needs to be satisfied and going to the grocery store to buy a steak just isn’t going to cut it. I feel drawn to the solitude and self reliance of hunting as well as the challenges and the hardships that are involved. When I am stalking an animal I feel completely alive and hyper aware of everything that is taking place in those moments. All of my senses are peaked and my heart is pounding in my chest. Often, I need to calm my body down as adrenalin is screaming through me causing my hands to shake. Then, when I am getting ready to take my shot, everything suddenly stops. I feel the awesome responsibility I now have in my hands when it comes to taking the life of another living being. That is not something I have ever taken lightly. I owe it to that animal to put it down as quickly, and painlessly as possible. That only comes with practice.
Trail camera got me.
You’re probably wondering what the fuck this has to do with bikes, am I right? Well, over the course of the next year or so I will be working on several bicycle related projects to incorporate with the way I hunt. I’ll be blogging about those projects (and more) here. You’ll just need to stay tuned to see exactly what I’m talking about.
Lonely nights at the Split Hand Hunting Shack
I’d also like to add that I know that not all of you agree with hunting. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, even when it’s wrong.
That's all for now,
Off
↧
↧
Hero Worship Doesn’t Make Sense Without Dopers
I grew up in a bike shop. I have worked in shops and on the ‘supply side’ of the so-called bicycle industry most of my life. In all my years riding bikes, selling bikes, fixing bikes, and helping create bikes and the culture they generate, I have never seriously raced. Many of my friends and customers race or at least follow bicycle racing. Not me. I have been to races and twice even sported a number plate. I like to go fast and push myself, but spectating bores me and I’m not interested in competing with strangers. I compete with the clock, with the terrain, with myself and with friends, but in general I avoid races and racing.
Most people who race are not racers. They are average Freds and Betties looking for a bit of challenge, camaraderie, distraction and fun. People like sports. People like competition. They like to test themselves. People like role models as much as they like competition. Role models let people dream a little. For many people it ends there, admiring those who do it better. For some, the bug of bikes or competition bites hard, or the lure of fame, money, and prestige is a siren song they cannot ignore. Beyond that, of course, those who ascend the higher ranks beyond regional competition are truly gifted athletes.
The last few years we have all watched the passion play surrounding doping bubble up as unignorably as a boil on the nose of sports. The basic dilemma is that of honesty, human desire and weakness. Doping, the argument goes, is cheating, plain and simple. Can a person be a proper role model if they cheat? What if this sort of cheating is institutionalized and normal, even if it’s hush-hush? Can we –should we—try to fix something that many think is wrong, but which seems to be a flaw not just of cycling or sports but of the very heart of what makes us human?
The big fish that everyone is angling for in this latest drama, of course, is Lance. As in No Last Name Needed Lance. Is he one of the greatest competition cyclists ever or is he the best ever at cheating and hiding it? It’s been a nail biter for years. Now that the dam of denial he built has begun to crumble, conversations about whether he doped have given way to his vilification. People believed him, believed in him and in the idea that he was in some way a physical and moral superhero, but now that it looks as if he was lying all along, cycling fans are bummed.
It all strikes me as hugely hypocritical. Lance didn’t get where he is simply by racing, or even by doping. Fans put him there. Companies with financial interests in him did too. Anybody who follows racing, who followed the Tour, who bought a team kit to emulate their cycling heroes put him on that pedestal. This does not remove responsibility from Lance or other top-level racers…they pursued their dreams and made their choices. But the better they raced and the more they won, the greater the incentives and the greater the pressures. As pressures and incentives increase, so does the need to find ways to compete. If you’re a competitive person who is inflexibly driven to achieve your goals (I think it’s fair to say that about top level racers in general or else they wouldn’t be where they are) and you’ve put in the kind of blood, sweat, and tears it takes to compete at a significant level, it is unlikely that you would quit before you were good and ready. So when not only your income and notoriety but that of the team are at stake, when your manager and team and your doctor are putting it in front of you, and everyone seems to go along with it, and the payoff is high, you take the dope. And we as fans set the stage for this scenario. At a certain point we are the ones putting needles into arms and paying off doctors because we demand entertainment.
I’m sick of hearing about racing, but more than that I’m sick of hearing people despondent over the fate of some idol they wanted desperately to believe would shine a light in the world. Shine your own damn light. Racing can be fun, but it’s not where heroes are born. Failures are a dime a dozen. In fact, the bigger racing gets, the more I see it as a place where criminals are forged in spite of themselves. The road to fame is paved with hardship, temptation, mostly unattainable desires and the adulation of complete strangers. That’s a pretty lonely place to be, and people do desperate things when they’re lonely. For decades we have mostly ignored itchy issues we knew to be endemic. We spent our hard-earned dollars (or else we raked it in) on products that made us feel connected to the athletes, teams, and culture we were enamored by. We paid for their habit.
If all you want is tragic drama and repeat performances of everything we’ve already seen before, then by all means continue as you have been. Just please accept your role as an active participant in the degradation of whatever promise bicycle racing offers. Accept doping and cheating as a natural, if unfortunate, facet of the human character and quit wringing your hands and bitching.
But if you’re truly serious in your concern and disgust around the doping scandals, then stop being a spectator and fan of professional bicycle racing. Turn off the Tour. Don’t buy the kit. Don’t spend time on chat forums discussing him or her or this or that. Instead, stage crits, time trials, and hill climbs with your friends. Attend or enter local races. But whatever you do, don’t get a racing license, don’t let someone categorize you, and don’t support regulatory organizations by attending their races.
After all these years living with bikes, riding them and making a living from them, I still like almost everything about them, from their utility and efficiency to their natural beauty and magical ability to bestow upon a person a feeling of dreamlike transcendence, a feeling that we are not merely anchored to the responsibilities and limits of our world, but rather that we can fly. Bikes are machines that in some small way ennoble us. They make people happy, something clearly evident in even the youngest rider and which does not fade over time. But racing, which some believe embodies (or should embody) the greatest parts of our humanity, has become little more than a cheap, tawdry drama, a tragedy which blackens the eye of cycling because it isn’t about bikes at all. It’s about dope, money, and fame, all of which are more fleeting than the fastest rider in the world.
↧
The Craziest Man I Know
Eric Larson is a truly insane man. He came to Surly a while ago with a plan to ride a bike to the South Pole. From the edge of Antarctica directly into the heart of its warn chewy center, he will ride a Surly Moonlander, through 750 miles of ice, snow and the never-ending blaze of the sun.
That’s the first thing that really struck me when I spoke to him about it. The sun won’t ever set over the course of his journey. He’ll ride, eat, drink, set up camp, cook, blog, change flat tires, then nestle up in his cozy sub zero sleeping bag and go to sleep in full daylight. Light like high noon.
It makes me realize how much I take things like darkness for granted. I like the dark, it’s fun to hide in, ride bikes in and especially sleep in. But Eric Larson will have no such extravagancies. Except for the bike riding, that he’ll have.
Eric is planning on becoming the first person to ever ride a bike the whole journey. You may remember (if you’re into such things) last year a woman rode a beach bike and paraskied across the continent, though she spent almost all of her time on the skis and very little on her bike. Larson is doing it all on the back of a Moonlander; and I for one think that’s super fucking cool!
He’s spent a great deal of time training and preparing for the trip. You can read all about his preparations, exploits, the specifics of each leg of his journey and even follow along with him, here: http://www.ericlarsenexplore.com/
Here are some cool training pictures he sent us. Make sure you follow this guy, it’s sure to be quite a show.
↧
Desert Itinerants
Do you know that feeling when the time is right for a road trip? I'm not talking about that mundane out and back trip to go pick up that '63 Econoline headliner you bought on Ebay, either. I'm talking about the type of trip that materializes when you and some coworkers have an upcoming trade show in the desert to attend and a pile of prototype bikes that NEED to be tested. And by tested I mean throwing this pile of bikes into a van, pointing it west, and stepping on the gas. Our plan was to ride every sweet spot between here and Vegas and see how the Krampus (and we) held up.
First we rode in the van for a bit:
Along our way we found what was at the end of the rainbow (donuts and breakfast sandwiches):
After that we found a place to ride:
We headed for the hills:
And everything was lovely, just lovely:
We rallied:
Adam shredded while we bathed in good fortune and sunshine:
After a while the trails got rocky and cliffy so we looked off some cliffs and threw rocks off of them:
We survived and drank from the chalice of sweet success:
We camped:
And then we repeated:
Eventually we got to Vegas:
Stayed there for a week:
And rolled out. On our way back we made new friends:
We soaked up some bicycle history:
And we completed our desert training:
In short, it was a success. I still have cactus spines in my ass, but it who cares? The Krampus and Knard killed it - next summer is gonna be great!
↧
“Oh Geez Those are Some Big Tires”
“Oh Geez Those are Some Big Tires”
The phrase I hear most often when traveling with my Moonlander.
Every year in the spring, my buddies and I hold a trout fishing tourney near the Boundry Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on Snowbank Lake. The winner takes home a coveted prize that we’ve named Brenda. Now before you get any ideas, Brenda is a coolie/trophy that signifies you are indeed tourney Champion. It is a highly sought after title and the competition is fierce. Last year while making final arrangements, we learned there was at least one foot of water around the shore. I am a bit sketched out by driving on the ice anyway and I don’t enjoy slogging a sled for five miles. Last spring, it turned out to be the warmest March days I have experienced in my life here in the nort-land. It was very surreal ice fishing in seventy degree weather. Cracks had formed, opened and re-froze.
There were even tiny rivers of water creating interesting and somewhat scary mini landscapes. Riding bikes on frozen lakes is one of my favorite winter pass times. So why not use that to my advantage? Fat tires to the rescue! The best part is that set up is easy. All need is some rope, a couple of carabineers and some PVC tubing.
Cut three pieces of PVC. One piece a bit wider than the tires and the other two equal size to run down to the sled to keep the rope out of the tires, chain and spokes. Run the rope through the PVC, tie it to the sled. Attach to the seat rails using two carabineers and you’re off.
My plan was all in place and I was anxious to give it a try. The first night, my friends and I were testing the Moonlander, drinking beer and whisky when SNAP!, the chain broke. The worst part is I had not grabbed my chain breaker tool when I left town. Lesson learned.
The next morning I headed to Ely to see if I could fix my rig. I thought this would be an easy task in an outdoorsy town. After all, Ely does have a bike shop. Though it meant missing time on the ice, I was determined to get my rig repaired. Once in town, I was disappointed to learn the shop was closed for the season. Being that it is a small town, I thought I would ask at the gas station if he knew who ran that store. He thought about it and said, oohh yaaah I know Janet...uh let’s see last night was wednesday right? Oooooh yaaaah you’re not going to catch her. Last night was bowling night so she’s going to be tough to get a hold of. I then headed to the outdoor shop in town. They looked around and tried to call a couple of guys. One of their high school age employees had one but he was in school. I even checked the hardware store in the outside chance somebody might know someone. I must have met everybody in Ely and everybody was really cool, but nobody had a the tool and most of them just gave me a strange look when I tried to describe it.
Dejected, I headed back out to the lake. I had seen a sign on my way in that said 5,000 lures in stock. I thought I would stop and check it out, maybe that would cheer me up and while assisting me, I met the owner of Red Rocks Wilderness store asked me about my fat tires, of course. I took the opportunity to ask him if he happened to have a chain breaker tool. It turns out he used to run that same bike shop in town and he promptly gave me the tool I needed and even let me borrow it for the weekend. Solid. I bought a couple of lures from him and I was on my way.
I was really anxious to pull the sled with my Moonlander and no surprise to me that thing ripped through the ice like the abominable snowman carrying Santa’s sleigh. As always it is important to remember to deflate your tires to 5-10psi to maximize traction. I am always surprised at the number of folks who do not know this so that is why I mention it. The only place I had trouble was on the incredibly smooth, wet ice. If the ice had any crystals on it, I was golden.
Here is a sample of of our sought-after fish. No I did not catch it.
I did lose the tourney but I had one hell of a time doing it. A couple of slimy eel pout was my only reward. Eah, they eat pretty good if you can stand to look at the slimy bastards.
Wow what a machine the Moonlander is. Big tires? Fuck yeah. But we don’t just make em big for no reason, there is a purpose for everything we do. That is one of the many things I love about Surly. We make purposeful bikes to go were no other bikes and do things other bikes can’t even attempt. The moonlander is no exception.
Do you think reindeer pull Santa’s sleigh? Think again. Happy New Year!
.
↧
↧
I’m Old
Well, look at this. The blog is ticking along like a '76 Buick with a fresh bottle of HEET poured in. It's nice to see. If I remember correctly, and I seldom do, I wrote my first entry on this thing using a rotary-dialed phone cradle modem. The Vic 20 that I used had to have coal shoveled in about every 15 minutes and there were Cheryl Tiegs and Burt Reynolds posters all over the office. Man, that was good stuff back then.
Now, sitting here on the ass end of 2012, I'm waxing nostalgic for the old days and feeling a bit aged. I've been doing this stuff for almost 10 years now, though I still feel pretty lucky to do what I do. Back when I became Surly Employee Number Four there were a lot more Wednesday Night Ride prototype testing sessions, we could fit our Interbike booth on Dave's bike, and I had all of our part numbers memorized. We wondered what a blog was and questioned why we'd need one. Who cares what we have to say after all? It felt - and still feels - presumptuous to think that the things we have to say might be even slightly interesting. Yet, there you are all snug in your task chair with your Mac Book Pro astride its Ikea Vittsjo laptop table. Your macchiato steams ever so gently in its demitasse.
Shit, where was I?
Oh, yeah. I'm getting old.
A couple of weeks ago I hit a skunk. I was riding home from a trail committee meeting after (I swear) only two beers and the little varmit ran out of a dark yard and right under my front wheel. My heavy ass went airborne and I speared the pavement with my dome. (I'm no helmet evangelist, but I was wearing one and it did keep my skull in one piece) I've made a pretty good living falling off of my bike, but man, this one hurt. I was pretty sure that I'd made the kind of noise when I hit where people would be opening their front doors wondering how many dump trucks had hit how many bull elephants.
I rolled onto my side in time to see my mammalian speed bump friend waddling south in a limpy hurry. No, I didn't get sprayed. I did, however, sit on the curb for about 15 minutes feeling sorry for myself and making deep grunty labored gasping noises. I felt like shit.
Do you remember when you used to fall down and then you'd get up and everything was cool? I never really grasped what a superpower that was.
In the morning I couldn't raise my left arm, so I assumed that my number on the broken collar bone list had finally come up. Turns out, I'm just a big wuss and the x-rays showed nada. At least I got to wear a tiny ER gown and be pushed around in a wheelchair. That was pretty sweet.
All of the oldness that's manifesting itself in me, however, is being tempered ever so slightly by the fact that I've got a kid now and I can live vicariously through his wipe outs and get-back-ups. He's pretty good at both. So good, in fact, that this year Santa thought enough of the nipper to answer his Christmas letter request for a "sparkly orange bike." Lots of people will see this as spoilng him, but you should have seen the list and what he didn't get.
Since I know people who can do stuff, I worked a couple of angles and wrote a couple of checks to make this happen:
I know, custom paint on a kid's bike is stupid. But, just tonight we went down to Deke's bike shop to show off his new rig and he ended up doing figure eights on the sales floor while we had a couple of cold ones. It was sort of perfect.
Sure, my joints are filled with sand and I make Abe Vigoda noises when I pee, but I get to watch junior make mistakes and come up with some pretty impressive victories over gravity, bad decisions, and a certain genetic clumsiness. That doesn't make getting out of bed in the morning physically any easier, but it does make it more interesting.
-Skip
↧
Nerd, Please…
Last week I was accused of being a nerd by four of my office cohorts. My cohorts are not nameless faceless cohorts by the way; their names are Greg, Tyler, Adam and Bob. I wasn’t insulted by being called a nerd, but I did find it ironic that they were calling me a nerd in response to me calling them nerds after I learned about their previous night’s Dungeons and Dragons nerd fest. I mean they almost got fired for printing out their D&D nerd sheets on the company printer! It’s a good thing they have me as their boss. Seriously, D&D parties are what Surly has come to! Let me ask you a question: After hearing this do you still think Surly is a cool brand? OK, maybe you never thought that we were cool, but my guess is that you never thought of us as a bunch of cloak-wearing shoe gazers. Did you??? Greg tried to invite me to session two by the way. I almost said yes. Almost. He nearly had me with, “…but Peter, we're about to enter the dungeon. Once we go down there it will be too late for you to join.” It was a tough decision for me, but in the end I realized that while I am indeed a nerd I also have standards, and these standards of nerditude have always lead me to draw the line at D&D.
The fact of the matter is that Surly is a brand full of nerds. As I throw the proverbial dead cat around here I can't seem to miss one. Nerdiness is what has brought us together, and in many ways it is what keeps us on the same page. And by us, I don’t just mean the people who work directly for Surly. Us includes us, of course, but it also includes the fine people who sell our products in finer bike shops around the globe. And it also includes YOU. Think about it. Are you a nerd? Do you constantly dream about your next ride, your next bike trip, or your next bike build? Is your bike obsession part of a pattern of nerdy obsessions you have had throughout your life? I bet most of you who love Surly are deep seated nerds. It’s why we love you ya’ know. It’s part of what makes you so Surly.
Anyway, this blog is supposed to be about me, so stop thinking about yourself for a moment and focus back on me. I’m the nerd Surly brand manager and I wear this title proudly. I could explain this in prose but it would put you to sleep, so allow me instead to put you to sleep with some photos of what I’m talking about.
I like lamp (Grateful Dead lamps, or just lamps in general). I don't collect them, per say. I just have a deep appreciation for them (especially the classy ones).
I have been seriously into music listening since I was just a wee lad. This is my man cave. As you can see I just cleaned it.
My love of music goes beyond just the music. I believe that in order to appreciate music to its fullest it should sound good. Really good. This has lead to a healthy nerdy obsession with high quality audio gear.
Here is a shot of the current office set up. We have a turntable in the office but right now I don't have room to set it anywhere. That will change soon.
And here is the turntable I rock at the home office.
When I started working in the bike industry in 1993 I began collecting bicycle related stickers. Here is a very small random sampling of my collection. For some reason I simply cannot bring myself to get rid of them. Brose once offered me $100 for the entire lot and I said no.
Here is my current bike build: a Travelers Check. The frame is waiting on custom decals. Once they are done it will go in for a clear coat and then I will build it up. Look for a blog dedicated to this in the future.
This summer I built up my Krampus prototype and it has become my favorite mountain bike ever. Here it is posing on some local single track.
These photos are exhibits of a small portion of my nerdiness. I have other things I geek out on. I'm sure you do as well. That is what nerds do, afterall. It's Okay to be a nerd and be proud of it. Even you D&Ders need not be ashamed. Just don't expect me to join in or be your friend you for it, you silly nerds.
↧
Survival Kit
I’ve been carrying a survival kit for many years. It goes almost everywhere I go: on my bike, in the car, when I travel for work and pleasure...domestically and internationally, and certainly when I’m camping. Why do I carry it? Because it’s practical. And it gives me some peace of mind.
As our weather patterns become seemingly more unstable, our government becomes less reliable, and our dependence on vulnerable technologies increases, it seems more appropriate, each day, to carry a ready-made bug-out bag that can provide some basic amenities if/when they are needed...
My kit varies a bit as I add and subtract items over time, but it always contains tools and supplies to make fire, procure food and drinkable water, construct shelter, and add a bit of comfort to a less-than-ideal situation...
First aid: topical ointment, alcohol wipes, adhesive bandages, gauze pads, Steristrips, Dermabond, iodine, Imodium, Benadryl, Sudafed, lanolin, Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Aleve, aspirin, small knife w/scissors, caffeine pills, ephedrine pills
Calories: Honey Stinger waffles, energy gel… 500 – 600 calories, fishing kit, snare wire, slingshot band and pouch
Tools: Leatherman, folding saw, diamond knife-sharpening plate
Water treatment: 2-part liquid chlorine dioxide water purification system, chlorine dioxide tablets, titanium cup for boiling water
Water storage: 1-liter Platypus bottle, unlubricated condom
Fire: Light My Fire firesteel, REI waterproof matches in waterproof match case, Duraflame firelog chunks, firepaste, disposable lighter, pieces of inner tube (firestarter), 36” tube for blowing coals into flame, char cloth and tin for making char cloth
Kitchen: titanium spork, aluminum foil
Shelter: plastic poncho, reflective emergency blanket
Repair: 50’ 550 paracord, 2mm accessory cord…various lengths, electrical tape, duct tape, inner tube rubber bands, sewing kit, dental floss
Pen/paper: all-weather journal, stamps, ultralight pen
Rescue: signal mirror, whistle, compass
Lighting: Princeton Tec headlamp, mini LED keychain light, 12-hour beeswax candle, Skully front and rear LED bike lights, spare batteries
Misc: house key, handkerchief, toilet paper, $20.00 bill, blank check
Small zippered pouches are used to consolidate like items.
I also carry spare clothing: Montane Pertex smock, Cannondale vest, Golite vapor barrier socks, Mt. Borah balaclava, WSI skull cap, Pearl Izumi headband, OR mitten covers, neoprene face mask, wool Buff.
This is my winter-oriented selection. I don’t carry as much clothing in the summer.
The survival kit items go into a zippered sil-nylon bag, and the clothing fits in a sil-nylon stuff sack. The beer is there for scale…and author refreshment.
In my pockets, I carry a knife, a lighter, and a handkerchief.
Of course, it doesn’t make much sense to carry all this stuff, if one doesn’t know how to use it. That’s another reason I carry this gear with me. I use - and maintain - many of the items on a regular basis, so I know that they will be in good working condition when I need to depend on them most.
I can get by without most of these items...even in an emergency. I can make fire with friction and percussion (literally, sticks and stones), I can weave cordage from natural fibers, I can build shelters with found natural and manmade materials, and I can procure food and purify water without purchased gadgets and gizmos. But having a basic kit provides comfort that practical knowledge, alone, will not...at least, not in the short term.
You might think it’s odd that I carry all this gear. You're probably right. After all, that new iPhone survival app you just downloaded is guaranteed to guide you safely through any problematic situation. What more could you possibly need?
↧
It Feels Just Like the Real Thing
The winter is in full swing here in the Middle West portion of the country, and riding in the snow and on ice has been one of my favorite activities since I first discovered it’s peaceful allure. I love to ride in the snow. On roads, on trails, or wherever and the more snow coming down from the sky the better. I like the full rainbow of snowfall, from the light dry fluffy stuff that you can blow away to the wet heavy back braking sludge, it’s all fun to ride in. There is something so magical about the quiet and stillness that can be found outdoors in a snowstorm especially on a bike. The bike can get you to places that are even quieter and stiller. Usually that quiet begins with the strong sense of isolation that comes with this activity. When the weather gets foul (or as the news casters would have us believe, “deadly”) people tend to stay inside, which leaves the cold and snowy outside to me, and others who share this strange passion.
It’s funny, I grew up in the Midwest, and I don’t remember the snow, and storms causing quite the amount of panic that they seem to cause today. Blame it on the media, or the government; hell, blame it on me, if you’re into blame. But back in my day (oh yeah, when I was a young fella I never thought it would feel so good to blurt those words out with the bitterness of age firmly entrenched in my soul) we were tougher in the cold and snow. No one on the news ever told us to lock ourselves in our houses and pray for the weather to pass. Perhaps it’s because we would have run them out of town on a rail. Maybe the weather is worse now than it was then, but that’s not what I observe. It is less predictable perhaps, but not worse. Though my powers of observation are far from Sherlock Holmsian.
But I digress. The subject is riding my bike in the snow. It’s important that at this juncture that you understand that what I am about blab on about is the street/neighborhood/commuting/bar runs style of riding and not off-road snow/fat biking. That is awesome too, but that’s not where we are at the moment.
The first year I “discovered” the allure of this activity, I road a multiple geared comfort bike and then an old mountain bike converted to single speed. I ran studded snow tires (which are all the rage these days) and did pretty well. After a couple of years of success combined with laziness, I put off the time I changed the tires on my bike more and more. The last two winters (the former was pretty snowy, but the later was by no means a rough one) I ran slicks the whole time and did just fine. Sure I wiped out, but I do that in the summer, often times while getting on or off my bike. I called out to my friends and anyone who would listen that studs in the winter or any other time of the year were a waste of money, that they were at best a placebo and at worst, a con.
I find and have found that the durometer and compound of the rubber has far more to do with how well it grabs the road in slick, wet or icy conditions. Not to mention the PSI you run the tires at; the lower the pressure the wider your footprint and the better traction you have (Shocked? I know, someone at Surly talking about low-pressure fat tires, unbelievable.). I have ridden studs that slid all over, and slicks that really grab the ice and hug it close. For my money it’s all about the rubber. Or at least that’s what I would have told you three weeks ago.
This winter in Minnesota we’ve had a couple of moderate storms, nothing too spectacular. The first storm we had went on for quite a long time, and by the time the trucks came out to plow, it was too late, and we’ve been left with lots of ice, ruts and mounds to try and maneuver our way through, around and over. This has lead to me doing lots of riding over the ice, and occasionally, I may have had a beer, or a long conversation with Flasky, so I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time on my ass and face kissing the ice all intimate like.
I got to the point where my confidence was a bit shaken. So I started the process of trying to figure out how to get my juju back. While thinking about this the other day, it occurred to me: clearly confidence is a mental issue, so I need a mental solution. Something like….DUH DUN DUH, a placebo. Something that will make me feel better and give me confidence. Sure I’m not convinced that the studs will do me any good, but somehow having those little pieces of tungsten in my tires makes them seem like they should do a much better job of keeping me on my bike and off my ass. Just the way the tires look inspire a bit of extra confidence. Sure I’ll still fall, I always do, but when I need my juju back, I’ll do whatever it takes to get it.
So here I am, taking my placebos and smiling like I’ve got the real thing. Does this make me week? Probably.
I’m a week, week man, and I like placebos sometimes, and I make fun of people who use them other times, and that’s how I am. A jerk.
Here is my fixed gear 1x1 that is my winter steed now. Best one I’ve ever had, by a long shot. At the moment I'm back to studs, we'll see how it goes from here.
Go ride in the snow, enjoy the silence and serenity. If it takes a placebo or two to get you out there, who cares? Do what you gotta do to keep that juju.
↧
↧
Minnesota River Bottoms
The "River Bottoms" is a network of official and un-official trails just south of Minneapolis along the Minnesota River flood plane. They're pretty flat, mostly straight, with plenty of sandy, and full of itch weed in the summer. What more could you ask for? How about flooding? They do that regularly as well.
Fortunately for me, the trails are positioned in a way that makes them part of my preferred commute to and from work. 6-10 miles of single track on the way to work, 365 days a year, is pretty rad, no matter what trail you are riding.
I am a berms, bumps, and jumps kind of guy. The River Bottoms has none of this. However, with all the time I have spent on this trail system, I have learned to appreciate it. If I want to make it more exciting, I ride my stripped down SS Karate Monkey and sprint through the woods wide open. If I don't have the legs to hammer, I ride the Moonlander and crawl the river banks looking for mud, sand, and snow.
Basically, I have learned that any trail is what you make of it and you don't need a bad ass trail to have a great time. If nothing else, you can always fall back on wheelies and no-handed offroad riding to keep things interesting.
Below is an assortment of pictures I have taken over the years while riding the river bottoms. If you get the chance, swing down and give them a try. It isn't the best trail system, but you will be on your bike, in the dirt, and that's all you need.
My usual route is between J and C.
SS Karate Monkey with Knard 29x3 front.
The service road always works well for wheelie practice.
Pulling the Bob trailer with my Krampus doing some trail work.
Barge traffic is always something to check out.
Foggy morning on the Krampus.
Surly product manager, Adam, riding one of the infrequent obstacles on the trail.
Surly brand manager, Peter, ripping between some monster trees.
Nearly every ride has a few deer sightings.
"The raft" is used to cross 9-mile creek. This picture was taken while the water height is just above average I would say.
When the water gets low, the raft is almost useless. However, those who have tried to ford the creek know that it is almost always a bad decision, ha. Inevitably, you loose 50 pounds of food, 2 wagon wheels, and somebody gets dysentery.
This is the highest water level I have managed to ride the trail during. This is no where near how high the water can get though.
When the raft isn't functional, the tree crossing gets the job done.
A little water over the trail doesn't stop us.
Tell me this doesn't look like a playground.
Gets a little tight through the buck thorn tunnel.
Here with Tanner checking out the Old Cedar bridge.
A little River Bottoms art work.
Taking a break under the "Swing Bridge" with my Moonlander.
Tire testing in the mud, BRAP!
Breaking trail after a fresh snow. Pure awesome.
Many areas of the trail have consistent traffic all year which makes them great for reliable winter single track.
More fresh snow on the Moonlander.
First tracks on the river bank with my SS Pugsley.
Say cheese.
↧
Evening Wood
Do you ever wish you had more time in the day to go for a bike ride? I am not talking about commuting. I am talking about thrashing like Cru Jones in Rad on his paper route but with big boy tires, or even taking your bike out for a nice ride with no destination and no hurry. With a busy job and home life, you have to make the most of your time. For most people, riding during the day is ideal but riding at night is almost more fun. Not only do you feel like you are riding at warp speed, you’re also experiencing something in your sleep. Darkness… if you don’t use lights, your eyes will adjust to the point where you see silhouettes of everywhere you need to go or should not go. If you are a tweaker like me, those silhouettes can trip you out. No worries. If you take your time and trust your instincts you will have no problems. Depends on how technical the terrain is I guess. When you go back and ride the same spot in daylight, you will be able to ride it with your eyes closed. If you have friends they will be amazed. I don’t have many friends and I amaze myself. That counts.
Where I live, I have a nice variety of nighttime riding scenarios. I often ride them all in one night. My bike of choice is the Krampus. I can go for a night ride that starts at my house, winds through neighborhood streets, through the dark park, past the old barn, through the moonlit cornfield, down the gravel road, past the lit gas station, under the overpass, just past the ski hill, onto the dark, creepy single track. I’m telling you. This is a super fun way to ride. There are no rules. Your bike will go wherever you want it to go. I do sometimes take a blinking light that keeps me from getting hit by cars from behind on the busier streets, or if I want to take cool pictures of orbs. Once I hit the dirt I turn them off. This full moon picture was taken in a plowed field south of somewhere on my Krampus. I set the camera on a rock, opened up the shutter speed, set the timer, then rode around in circles. If you don’t ride a lot at night, especially off-road, I highly recommend it.
Be safe if you want too and have fun.
↧
Ogre, Fenders and You
So you just bought a Ogre… Stock complete, fresh outa the box and you decide; because the weather is grim, your pink bits are frostbitten and the ground is a sloppy, salty slush soup, that you want to mount up some full coverage fenders. “Sweet!” you think to yourself, “This should be a breeze”…
You pedal on over to your local bike shop and select what they have for your chunky 29x2.3” meats, likely a set Planet Bike “Cascadia 29ers”. Good choice and plenty of hardware to get the job done even if your bike is a little…How do we say, eccentric(?)
Nice thing about these fenders is the ample hardware to get your fussy rig situated.
So you crooze home with a quick stop at the bottle shop for a 6 pack of hand stabilizers so you don’t drop your fasteners all over the place. You throw your bike in your stand and tear into it. “Crap!” You realize after trying to mount one fender and then the other: “This shit isn’t fitting the way I imagined! The front derailleur and cable are preventing proper snuggage of the rear fender and the front fender is just all sorts of not-fitting at all! I thought I was going to spend 10 minutes on this and then be out the door, heading across town to that metal show my coworker told me about.” Well, don’t fear, you can still make it to the show. Just take stock of the tools you will need and I guarantee you won’t need any additional hardware…er, just an additional component or two (could mean a trip back to that local Surly dealer). But! These may be bits you already have in your parts drawer or on one of your other 7 Surlys. It won’t be too complicated…aren’t you glad you stopped off at the LQ?!
Dang! Not enough room Captain! (Wheel slammed forward in dropouts)
Tools: 5mm, 4mm and 2.5mm hex wrenches. 10mm and 8mm box end wrenches. 4x Surly “Monkey Nuts” or Surly “Tuggnut”. Other “essential” tools not pictured that will come in handy: Heavy wire cutters (to clip your extra strut length down), Hacksaw “Jim Dugout” (cutting a spacer in half if need be), Flasky (enabling fluid), back issue of “Popular Mechanics”, vice and file (also for cutting).
Let’s start with the rear first shall we? I always start there. Remove the rear wheel and M5 bolts from the seat stay and chain stay bridge. Because the fender will have to move back nearly and inch to clear that front derailleur, you will want a proper way to stabilize that axel so you don’t pull it sideways when you come sprinting home from the bar later that night and stack it into a parked car. This will require you using either of two methods: “Tuggnut Mcgraw” or “Double Monkey Nuttage”
Tuggy or Nutty? Tuggy is simpler, cheaper, allows a better axle position and also opens beers on the fly. Nutty looks clean but places your axle pretty close to the end of the dropout. Note: The further back your axle is; the less smooth your shifting will be.
with the wheel pulled back about 24-28mm you will now have plenty of fender and mud clearance.
Using one on the 30mm spacers, mount up the rear fender loosely so you can center it all correct like once you get the wheel back in place. Grease your threads for feck’s sake and read those instructions provided with the fenders!
Using Tuggy I can snug this wheel fairly close to the front of the fender. A panhead 40mm bolt would be nicer.
Plenty of Clearance Clarence.
Once the rear wheel is back in place you will want to adjust the rear brake caliper position as you will find that it is not grabbing as much rotor as it used to. Slide that baby almost all the way back, center it to the rotor and tighten back down. Now go through and tighten down your fender hardware minding the manufacturer provided torque spec (if you are so “analy inclined”).
Before and after brake adjustment.
HOLY BUTTER BEANS ON A CRAP CRACKER! You are almost ready to go to that show. One more fender to go! The front is wonky in two ways: It sits real high off of the tire and the struts don’t want to mate to barrel mounts, also that disc caliper is kinda in the way. If you have the means to do so, cut the other 30mm spacer in half. This will allow you to clear the fork blades and caliper. A few presta valve nuts can do the job if you have no proper way to make a cut.
Spacer cut freehand in a vice with a aluminum hacksaw and filed down a touch, washers and 40mm bolts. All provided.
Yeah, the struts stick out kinda far but hey who cares?! You’re just trying to stay dry.
Yeah, yeah, this ain’t pretty either but this is easily fixed with a slotted or drilled out plate used as an adaptor to drop the fender down and close that gap. This piece will cost you pennies at the hardware store. You can figure it out. I know you can!
So you are done wrestling this beast. Now mount up and go catch that show, I’m sure the opening act sucked anyway.
Ogre with fenders. Now you can keep your fancy pants and shoes clean. Big deal. Did I mention the other thing you could do? It would be to get a direct mount front der and adaptor. We might make that change somewhere down the road.
Did I mention it is cold here in Minnesota right now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Q7TlcXLJ0
↧