To celebrate the holiday season this year we’re going to throw a big fat Video contest.  The prize will be…

No, not Thor jumping his bike in your living room... a KRAMPUS!

Here are the rules:

1. Theme: “Holidays with the Krampus” (kind of on the nose I know). It’s pretty general so use your imagination and make it hilarious.
2. Team of threes. (The winning team will receive a Krampus for each of their participants. Green Sparkly, not Ops)
3. Teams must partner with a local bike shop that has a QBP account.  The shop will be where we send the bikes and we’ll credit the shop for the builds. So there will be a touch point for future service or questions. Please make sure you have contacted the shop and cleared it with them prior to submitting your video.
4. All three team members must appear in the video.
5. Once your video is complete, upload it to YouTube and send me an email (tyler@surlybikes.com) with.
   1. Team members names
   2. Team members email addresses
   3. Team members bike size
   4. Name of local bike shop sponsoring, and name of contact there
6. Video must be submitted no later than Dec 12^th at 11:59 PM CST.
7. Videos will be judged on the merit of how much we like them, or if there are none that we like, then we’ll pick the one we dislike the least.

Here are the Terms and Legal Stuff.

1. By participation in the Surly Krampus Video Contest and submission of images or other content, the submitter agrees to be bound by these Terms of Use.
2. Only non-commercial work may be submitted.
3. Video may not contain profanity, nudity, pornographic images, violent images, anti-competition messages, illegal material, or material that violates the rights of third parties. This is not an extreme stunt contest; entrants should not take any undue personal risks to create any content and do so at their own risk.
4. Video may not include confidential information, trade secrets, trademarks or copyrighted material belonging to any person or entity other than the entrant, or feature individuals who have not agreed in writing to appear in the image. Proof of a suitable licensing or other agreement may be required.
5. Video will be deemed submitted by the authorized entrant at the email address submitted at time of entry.
6. The submitter agrees to release, defend and indemnify QBP and its subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, directors, officers and agents from any and all liability, claims or actions of any kind whatsoever for injuries, damages or losses of any kind arising from, or in connection with, the submitted video or content including, but not limited to, liability arising from, or in connection with, the web-page including but not limited to, liability arising from copyright infringement, improper use of likeness, personal injury, death, damages or monetary loss.
7. Surly reserves the right to remove submitted content at any time and for any reason. All decisions about eligibility, disqualification, and selection of content to be displayed are within the sole and complete discretion of Surly.
8. Any claims of third parties regarding the images or other content should be submitted to Surly for resolution.
9. By submitting a video or other content, entrant agrees to be contacted by Surly with future promotional offers. Information provided by entrant to participate in this Video Contest is subject to privacy policies of QBP and Surly.
10. Any dispute arising out of or related to the Surly Krampus Video Contest shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Minnesota (without regard to conflict of law principles). Should a dispute arising concerning the submitted content or these Terms of Use, the parties agree that jurisdiction and venue for resolution of the dispute shall be the Federal District Court for the District of Minnesota.
11. Should any part of these Terms of Use be held invalid or unenforceable, that portion shall be construed consistent with applicable law and the remaining portions shall remain in full force and effect.

It’s that time of year. There’s a nip in the air, the children are readying their scary Halloween costumes and you can hear the barf splashing onto the leaves that lay upon the ground in the forest. That’s right, Homie Fall Fest is just around the corner, so you best have you a single speed up and running.

My trusty old 1x1, long the staple steed for the HFF has recently hit semi-retired status so I figured I’d try something new this year and grabbed myself one of our new Pug SS bikes to see what it’d be like to ride a fat bike with one gear. I usually ride around town and commute on a single speed but it’s been a little while since I’ve ridden a single speed on the trail, what with the Instigator 2.0 kicking as much ass as it does, so I figured it’d be a good idea to do some sort of shakedown ride to make sure riding a fat bike with one gear wouldn’t be a mistake. I've never done it, who knew? I generally like single speeds for all the reasons most people like single speeds. There’s not much going on with them so all you have to do is just ride the thing. It's a single speed. What could go wrong?

Thursday night some of the crew here went to our special little spot and set up camp. It was lovely; we heckled people in spandex, ate food, and slept outside. As the old adage goes “maybe partying will help.” We proved, yet again, that it never does, but you do it anyway. Then you wake up and cook your breakfast.

Turns out riding a fat bike with one gear is exactly like riding any other bike with one gear. You just pedal your ass off at the appropriate times and everything will work out just fine. Good thing about the Pug SS is that it’s got a freehub, so when my spirit breaks and I get tired of hulking one gear around, I can go pull a shifter and derailleur from my vast ocean of bike parts and just put gears on it, real easy like. Don't be stupid. Get yourself a single speed and get yourself to Homie this year.

Usual awesome bikes, in awesome places. Making me pine for the little shack in my backyard.

Now with Ice Cream Trucks!

Did you know it was ok to just pack a whole-lot-a stuff into bags and go camping on your bike? Weird huh?

You can successfully pull a poop ton of stuff and still have a great ride. You don’t need experience packing, picking the just right equipment. You don’t need to worry about forgetting something – pack it all! Pack two!

I highly recommend anyone interested in bike packing go fully loaded at least once.

Don't forget the wine.

Do forget about mph, weight, distance, cadence, time, looking pro. I can tell you from experience going at a distracted pace, pulling a whole campground worth of stuff for an undetermined distance and looking like a vagrant is a damn good time.

It also makes for a comfortable night’s sleep.

I enjoy riding my bike to bridges that I can drink a few beers under. I also like to bar hop by bike, ride on twisty fluid singletrack, and fly down the Kessel-Run in Fruita as well as ride my bike to the local grocery store. I’ve seen a lot of great and horrible things on those types of rides. I’ve seen a coworker run smack dab into a signpost breaking his collar bone as we were making our way to the bar. I’ve seen another friend ride a Moonlander down a ravine that I wouldn’t climb down, at break neck speed and pull it off like a champ. I’ve seen people ride through bonfires and I’ve seen even more people ride directly into bonfires. I’ve even had my wife ride up to me to proudly show off her new black eye that she got on her first ride, and crash, on singletrack.

Betsy after her crash.

Lately, my riding has been of a much different type. I’ve been going out later in the evening to some of the local bike paths around town to just wander around. Sounds boring, right? Well it certainly can be. At some point I started to bring some good ole’ Triflow chain lube with me because apparently people don’t understand that their bike needs to be maintained from time to time. It drives me crazy when someone gets on my wheel with a squeaky ass bike and refuses to pass me no matter how slow I go. So I started stopping people and offering to lube their chain for them. You’d be surprised at some of the reactions I’ve gotten. I’ve had people look at me like I’m crazy and ride away. I’ve had people thank me, I’ve had people thank me and offer me a beer, and I’ve even had one guy sprint away from me like I was going to murder him. Remember, this is well after the sun has gone down.

I’ve met some rather fascinating people doing this. This guy I waved down to offer him some lube told me that he hated fat bikes (I was on my Ice Cream Truck at the time) because they were giving “real” mountain bikers a bad name. One lady I helped was wearing what looked to be a business suit offered me a pull off her flask and if that wasn’t up my alley she said I could take a hit off her bowl. Needless to say I took her up on her offer. The conversations you can have with complete strangers as you work on their bike can be pretty remarkable and sometimes very entertaining. You never know what’s going to happen when you try to pull someone aside as they’re riding their bike and offer to fix something that they didn’t know needed fixing. I'd highly suggest trying this for yourself. 

The one thing I’ve never done is told anyone that I was helping out that I work for a bicycle company. I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe it’s because I don’t want to be pestered with questions or maybe it’s because I don’t want it to seem like this is something I’m pulling off for work. I think I like to remain anonymous because people tend to act a lot differently when I tell them who I work for. Some people have gotten really defensive or they try to apologize about what bike they’re riding. I really don’t give a shit about what they’re riding – I just want some god damn peace and quiet while I’m riding my bike.

Keep the rubber side down,

BoB

I got nothing clever to say about the image dump this week.

I suppose you could argue that I never have....

Ouch!

If you're like me you most likely like to ride in the snow. There are a lot of ski resorts and XC ski trail systems open and friendly to fat bikes. Largely due to events like The Fat Bike Summit that works with the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service as well as private land managers to open their trails to fat bikes. The list is steadily growing and it’s becoming pretty easy to plan a winter get away with your beloved fat bike. If you’re thinking that a nice romantic weekend is in order at Breckenridge you better book something soon. If Breckenridge is not your cup of tea there’s plenty of other places to look at.

Here’s the most thorough list of fat bike friendly resorts and trail systems for winter riding in the US that you’ll see in the next 5 minutes:

Arizona

Flagstaff Nordic Center

California

Bear Valley

Royal Gorge

Mammoth

Colorado

Aspen Snowmass

Breckenridge

Devils Thumb Ranch

Latigo Ranch

Durango

Howelsen Hill Nordic Center

Kremmling

Vail

Winter Park

Keystone

Steamboat

Idaho

Grand Targhee Resort

Minnesota

Giants Ridge

Oregon

Mt Bachelor

Okanogan County

Vermont

Catamount

Rikert

Kingdom Trails

Viking Nordic Center

Burke

Washington

Sun Mountain Lodge

Winthrop Washington

Methow Valley

Loup Loup

Wyoming

Snow King Ski Area

Jackson Hole

Guides

Singletracks guide to fat biking in Crested Butte

Now, please don’t get all bent out of shape and start sending me hate mail because such and such resort is not on the list. This is what I could find in a sort amount of time on the interwebs. I know there’s a lot more out there but this will help to get you started.

Keep the rubber side down,

BoB

The next piece of the Surly softgoods puzzle is our cold weather riding jacket. Here at Surly our philosophy around clothes is this: We want to make clothes that are comfortable all day clothes, that function well on bike, but don’t make you look like you’re headed out to win some sorta race. That means that they are built for a mixture of functions. As in: On the bike and all day off the bike.  Clothes you can put on at the beginning of the day, and not have to change out of to ride, or to work.

So our next venture into this arena is this jacket.

This is the Croatian Bear sporting his waxed piece. He hopes you like it enough to buy your own... Or else.

It is made of waxed cotton and merino wool.  The waxed stuff on the outside, and the wool stuff on the inside. 

It’s vented in the rear, but the vent really only pops open if you’re down in the riding position. (*Dust not included) *maybe

Pockets? Yes, two hand warming outsidey type pockets, and one secret inner pocket for secret stuff that might have long skinny stuff attached to it that needs to come out the little secret pocket secret attachment hole. Secret pocket also includes audio port hole or straw hole if you tucked your juice box in there.

Incorporated merino cuff inserts in the sleeves with thumb loopies are also a pretty neat ad-on.

The combination of the thick waxed cotton and the wool liner makes for a very warm, relatively wind-proof and water-resistant ride.  It is fitted in the way it fits (as in: not baggy nor slim), perhaps "just right" ?!

The jacket retails for $250, which we thought was crazy high at first (so much so we considered not doing the jacket).  But as we did some digging we found very few similar jackets out there, and the ones we did find were far more expensive.  Hell yes 250 bucks is still expensive for a jacket, but considering what you get, we think it’s well worth it.

You may not know this, but one of the cool things about this great land we live in, is that you don’t have to buy shit you don’t like. Consider that!

Comes in two colors, black (kinda dark slate grayish) and green (also kinda grayish). More photos here: http://surlybikes.com/gear/jacket/canvas_riding_jacket

We have partnered with a few trusted Surly dealers who are going to have stock on their floor (for try-ons and what-nots). If you’re nowhere near any of those shops or in this country for that matter, sorry about that. Seriously. Sorry. We understand that it’s a drag, if we had our way every shop on earth would have them, but we don’t run the world (and let's face it, who would want us to?). There will be some rather limited stock that hits the wider world of bicycle shops here in the good ol' USofA but I wouldn't go bettin' all your wooden nickels on that horse race. The only sure bet is to visit these shops who stepped up to help us introduce these fine threads.

Here are those shops with links to their website:

One On One Studio: Minneapolis, MN  http://www.oneononebike.com/

Angry Catfish: Minneapolis, MN  http://angrycatfishbicycle.com/

Box Dog Bikes: San Francisco, CA  http://boxdogbikes-3.myshopify.com/

Salvagetti: Denver, CO  http://www.salvagetti.com/

21st Ave. Bikes: Portland, OR  http://www.21stbikes.com/

Old Spokes Home: Burlington, VT  http://www.oldspokeshome.com/

NYC Velo: NYNY  http://www.nycvelo.com/

Bicycle Revolutions: Philadelphia, PA  http://www.bicyclerevolutions.com/

We brought a small number of these in so get them while you can.

End Bloggomercial Now.

Turkey Death Day is upon us, and with it, our last dump of the month.  I'll take next week off from this because I'll be like a beached whale on the floor between my bathtub and toilet (a yearly tradition for Black Friday).

Enjoy.

In the 8+ years I have been the brand manager for Surly, and in the 6+ years before that when I did international sales for Surly, I have never owned a Cross-Check.  I have owned (and still do) a Traveler’s Check, which is an S&S coupled version of the Cross Check, but it has always been set up as simple as possible (single speed with flat bars) to make it easy to build and tear down for travel use, and because of the way that bike is built I haven’t fully experienced the Cross-Check as it is intended to be used.     

I don’t know why I decided to build this bike.  Maybe it’s because I get the itch to build a new bike now and then, or maybe it’s because I saw the new orange color and decided I had to have it.  It could also be that I’ve had a lot of parts in my garage that I wanted to use for some time now.  Or, more than likely it’s a combination of these things.   

The best part of building this bike was meeting the challenge of building it up completely from parts I had in the garage.  I’ve included a list of parts highlights below in case you like to nerd out on that kind of thing.  I discovered the only things I didn’t have were finishing tape for the bars and one road brake cable.  I was able to find the cable at my LBS and the tape at Home Depot, so within the span of 24 hours I had finished the bike and was out test riding it.   

While I’ve never owned a Cross Check I have ridden one.  Actually, I’ve ridden a Straggler, but by my comparison they feel identical, and everyone else I’ve talked to who has compared them says the same.  Last year on the Japan tour I borrowed Sov’s Straggler and fell in love with it.  The feeling I got on that bike stuck with me, so when I got on my new Cross-Check for its maiden voyage the ride memory from last year instantly returned.  This bike is so comfortable and forgiving of road chatter that I just want to ride it all the time now.  I am aware that our fan base has been writing to us for years declaring how much they love their Cross-Checks, but for me looking at the bike never wowed me enough to want one for my own.  Maybe it’s because I’ve always preferred mountain bikes and have always gravitated toward that range of our bike line.  As I’ve gotten older mountain biking has gotten the better of me via lower back pain, so I have found myself unable to ride on trails as often as I used to.  My perception of the Cross-Check changed dramatically once I rode Sov’s Straggler.   

At Surly we often say that riding is believing, and my story is living proof of this.  The Cross-Check is a phenomenal ride.  Our bikes are not flashy or conventionally sexy, and there’s a reason for it.  We don’t try to lure people in with fancy paint jobs and trendy parts on our bikes.  I recall a few years ago a competitor offered a Cromoly based copy of our Cross-Check, but with a fancy paint scheme (i.e. panel graphics) and a Brooks saddle.  The bike was also cheaper than the Cross-Check, which made me wonder how they were able to include a Brooks saddle and not lose money on the deal.  Upon closer inspection it became apparent that the cost savings came from the frameset.  Cheap, laser cut dropouts, straight gauge tubing, minimal braze-ons, uni-crown forks and only 4 size options were all part of the scheme.  I guess they thought that flashy parts would be enough to distract unsuspecting consumers from the fact that the frame was not very good. 

At Surly we invest a lot in making sure our frames offer a balance of fit, function and fun.  You’ve likely already read similar words in other blog entries on our site, so I’ll just step off my soap box by saying that all of the investments we have made in our framesets cost a lot of money, but for us the most important thing is the ride quality, and to get this you can’t cut corners.   

Here are some photos I took of my bike.       

Here are some of the spec highlights: 

Frame:  Surly Cross Check 62 cm (available in 10 sizes from 42cm to 64cm) Dream Tangerine 

Tires:  Surly Knard 700 x 41 - 27 TPI  

Stem:  SimWorks Tomboy (by Nitto) Cromoly w/chrome finish

Stack Spacers:  SimWorks With Me Titanium 

Handlebars:  Nitto Noodle 48 cm 

Brakes:  Paul Touring Cantis  

Brake/Shift Levers:  RetroShift for 9-Speed Shimano  

I should mention that the SimWorks parts listed are not available in the U.S. as of this writing.  I have included the link to the Circles Bike Shop web store.  I know some folks there speak good English so if you are interested in ordering from them don’t be shy about asking.     

The reason I call it "Pink" Wednesday is:

Because I want to. Jerk!

Pink is cool. Since it's not really winter yet, but here it really is. I chose a wintery theme this time around.

As you can clearly see below, fatbikes are the only bikes that can be successfully ridden in the winter.

Sorry everyone else.

If you don't like it...go screw!

I went to Japan.

It was neat.

Here is what it was like.

I know that December is just starting and there’s lots of folks out there who say that winter has not yet begun, but to those people, I say…

Shut the hell up. It’s winter enough. Even if it’s going to get worse, even if it’s going to last four months, even if  (insert argument that I don’t care about); It’s still winter enough.

Winter around here means a certain type of riding.

Whether commuting, or off-road gallivanting, the -4ºF  (-20ºC) temperature that I awoke to today requires a different kind of mindset while pedaling.

There are many volumes out there on how to achieve “the best” winter cycling…whatever. How much of it is gear? What is the mental/physical  toughness breakdown? How much should I be drinking when I stop under a bridge? Are sweet liquors more appropriate than beer? Should I bring mulled wine?  You can find answers to all those questions out there. Type “winter riding tips” into your favorite search engine and pick your poison.

I would argue, as I always do, that fun should be at the height of the experience.

Personally, if I can’t figure out a way to have fun, I won’t go back out the next day (or the day after that, for that matter).

This time of year the thing that keeps me out more than any other, is the views I get if I dive off-road, down to/around/near our precious river-bottoms. The piece and quiet that I find, along with the beautiful views (a scant 25minute ride from my front door) is enough to always get me back out again. I usually see tracks from other wanderers out there, but seldom do I actually come across one. I like that feeling and it’s one that’s hard to find in, even a small, a metropolitan area.  That’s my fun. It’s my reason.

If you can’t find a reason, get a roller.

Either that, or spend weeks getting your legs back this spring. Which is the other “fun” reason I ride all winter.  Those weeks in the spring when everyone around me is getting their “legs” back …it’s the only time of year I can pass any of them on the Greenway.

Fat man coming through!!

Until then…get out and ride.

Or at least set up the roller in front of your porn machine and try to solve that riddle. Please share your results.

Cheers.

This week I interrupt our regular Friday Dump Day, and dedicate this one to the Krampus!

With a reminder, that we have a Krampus Video Competition going on right now. You can read all about that here: http://surlybikes.com/blog/post/merry_krampus_video_contest.

The gist is, we're giving away three Krampus (the plural of Krampus is Krampus), to the team of three people who submit the best video. 

You've got till the 12th to get the video in.

Lacking a "best" video, we'll give the bikes to the team who's video we hate the least.  If we hate them all equally, we'll pull names out of a hat.

And now gratuitous Krampus glamor shots…

At my house when I was a kid we used to start every Thanksgiving with each person at the table listing all the things that they’re thankful for.

It’s something I think about every year at this time.

Now I know that Thanksgiving has passed,  and I should move on to bigger and better “Holidays”, but I just can’t. Today I walked into work with that same question on my mind.

What am I thankful for here at Surly? It’s an easy question for me to answer.

I say: the people. Since starting here I have had the opportunity to meet and ride bikes with some really amazing people, from all kinds of places. Here is a collection of people I’ve met over the last three years. I'm thankful I met you all, these are just the ones I have pictures of, and/or the ones who hooked me up with weed...

Disclaimer: As I was getting ready for this little tome, I looked through my pictures to find that many of my favorite people that I’ve had the good fortune to meet and play with, I don’t have pictures of.  (Sorry Rich and Shona & Wayne and Jane). And some I do have pictures of, but they aren't really appropriate for this venue (begging the question: What would I find inappropriate?).  (Taz, Dave, Charlie, Tyler(not me, another one), everyone at BDO).  Plus shit loads of people my weed addled brain has simply let slip out of one of the holes.

But here are some folks I have picture of, that are mostly appropriate.

Sorry if I left you out...

It was probably cuz you called me obese in a FB comment. Ha!

On my way to deer camp for opening day this year I had to make a last minute stop to pick up a few groceries. It was late Friday afternoon on November 7th. I walked into the Target store that was on the way and the first thing I see is a giant sign hanging from the celling that read “Happy Holidays”. The sign was decorated with a snowman on one side and a Christmas tree on the other. I literally stopped in my tracks and stood there a moment looking at the sign thinking “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me”. Can’t we at least wait until after Thanksgiving before we get bombarded with all of the Christmas vomit? Not a chance. I wanted to walk out of the store and go someplace else but I was pressed for time so I did my shopping there. As I was leaving the store with my cans of Dinty Moore stew and chicken noodle soup I looked at the sign one more time and I noticed a guy doing the exact thing I did when I walked in. Now I get to look forward to the “Buy our crap” commercials as well as the commercials that try to guilt you into caring about complete strangers. I’m a jolly fucking elf.

After a weekend of uneventful hunting I get back to the Cities and pop open Facebook to see what people are outraged about now. A post from a friend of mine, BRose, caught my attention : “You think Salvation Army is bigoted? Do you do as much good as they do? I could introduce you to 180 people that slept indoors last night because of Salvation Army and bell ringers. And they do a lot more than that for a lot more people, but you want to boycott them because you don't like there politics? Guess what, it isn't about you.". Brian usually has some pretty good commentary on current events and for the most part I usually agree with him. This post stuck with me and I kept thinking about it and I kept going back to it.

Brian paying us a visit in Vegas.

Now, fast forward to the present day and that Facebook post. I started to think more on the “Do you do as much good as they do?” part. I used to do some good but it’s been awhile now. My wife and I had volunteered at a local food kitchen for a couple of years before we got married and we enjoyed it. It felt good to help people that really needed it. Then we got busy. We got busy planning a wedding then we got busy buying a house and once you own a house you’re always busy. We haven’t volunteered for a really long time now. Neither one of us has a lot of free time any more and I know that’s not a very good excuse.

I want to help so what can I do? Well, if you’re anything like me you’ve probably got a pretty extensive spare bike parts section of the basement or garage cordoned off. Parts that I’ve been saving for one reason or another because they might come in handy someday. I don’t think I need to hang on to almost 40 spare tires or an entire drawer of rear derailleurs. I’ve got bike parts that are still in the boxes that I didn’t even know that I had. Sure, I could sell a lot of that on eBay or Craigslist and get a pile of money so I can buy more bike parts. Or I could gather all of that stuff up and take it to the local nonprofit bike shop and help some people stay on their bikes. I think that you should do that too. I’m not asking you to donate your 1973 Shimano Dura-Ace group that you’ve been saving for that perfect frameset. What I’m talking about are the parts that you’ve taken off of new bikes because you’ve gotten upgrades. I’ve got a pile of tires that came on new bikes over the years that have never seen the road or trails. How many of you have used the saddle that your bike came with for any length of time? Handle bars, grips, seatposts, and spare cables. I’d be willing to bet that I’ve got over 20 26x1.9-2.5” tubes and I haven’t even owned a 26” wheeled bike for years. Just take a little time, go through your spare bike parts and donate the stuff you can’t live without so someone else can get some good use out of them.

This is what I can do right now. This is how I’m starting to help people out again that are not as fortunate as me. I know this is not a lot but it’s better than doing nothing at all. With any luck this could help someone get to work or school and have a positive effect on their life.  My hope is that this will lead to more opportunities for me to make someone’s day a little better.

Or I could just throw my spare change into one of those red kettles next to those annoying people that ring those annoying bells outside those annoying stores that I go to.

Keep the rubber side down,

BoB

More cool bikes, more cool stuff, more places I wish I was.

Such is life.

Have you guys heard of the "Pug SS?" It's pretty cool because it's not very expensive and if you have some spare bike parts kicking around it's pretty easy to put gears on it and ride it that way. It's so easy, we made a video to point out that fact.

Now that I’ve got your attention.

Have you ridden a Krampus yet? If you haven’t you’re really missing out on a spectacular ride. When I had first heard about the Krampus a few years ago I’ve got to admit that I didn’t get it. Surly has had the Karate Monkey for years now so why did we need to make another 29er with a bit more tire and invent another standard, 29+? I love the Karate Monkey and I was not going to be easily convinced that the Krampus was going to be all that different. This was a pretty large project that not only involved a completely new frameset but a new rim and tire as well. The drawings I had seen weren’t too impressive to me. The Knard tire seemed to me to be gimmicky throw-back to the earlier days of mountain biking. The tire looked boring and like something I’d immediately swap out for “something better”. Then, of course, we had to create another rim for this new platform, the Rabbit Hole.

The first sighting of the Krampus ever recorded.

Let me sidestep here for a moment. We get a lot of questions about the names of our products. Some people love them, some people hate them, and some people just get really confused by them. But the most questions we get about the names are “How did you come up with the name for the such and such?” I’d like to tell you how easy it is for us to name one of our new do-dads, but I can’t. We start discussing names when a project gets to a certain point. What that point is only god knows. EVERYONE that works for Surly participates in this process that can take up to 6 months to complete. It starts with an email being sent out from our marketing manager asking for a name for these projects. So let the battle begin. I’ve always told people that working for Surly is like having a second family. A dysfunctional, stubborn, opinionated, passionate, brilliant and inspiring family. The conversations that take place around the naming or products can really fall into that “epic” category. In the end Tyler, who is our marketing manager, picks one from a very short list that we’ve been whittling away at for the last few weeks. I don’t believe that everyone is always happy with the name but we all come together at the end and hug one another for an uncomfortably log time.

Something important is being discussed.

Back to the Krampus. The day finally came when I got to ride a complete Krampus for the first time. I took the bike home and before even getting into the house I took it for a spin around the neighborhood. Big deal. I put it in my garage with the rest of my bikes, went inside and forgot about it for a few hours. After dinner I decided that I needed to get the Krampus on some dirt so I could find out what the hell the Enginerds were thinking. I also decided that not only was I going to bring my Krampus to the trail but I was also going to bring my beloved Karate Monkey. I figured that was going to be the best way for me to get an understanding about how these bikes were different. I did my first lap on my Karate Monkey, then I took out the Krampus on that same loop. Within two minutes I think I said “what the fuck” out loud. Why was I needing to reign this beast in on this flowing single track? How was it possible that I was hitting the corners harder and with more control than ever? Why did I feel like I was suddenly a better mountain biker? This bike was so fast on the slight descents that I didn’t know how fast I was going until I came into a corner, but somehow took that corner like a champ. When I got back to the parking lot I thought I should ride the Karate Monkey one more time just to make sure that it wasn’t a placebo effect I was having on the Krampus. It wasn’t. This bike was made for me and I wanted to hug Adam whose baby this was.

Genius

The bottom line here is that to fully understand the Krampus you probably need to ride the Krampus. You may very well ride one and decide it’s not for you but I’m betting you won’t. Find a demo in your area and if there isn’t one, ask a shop to set up a demo event. We’ve got a fleet of demo bikes that are begging to be ridden and it isn’t all that hard to get them from us. We want you to ride our bikes and caress them lovingly, just like I do.

Now if I could only get the chance to ride some Dirt Wizards on my Krampus.

Keep the rubber side down,

BoB

With all the cold and the holidays and the long nights and short days and the eggnog and the mulled wine and the alcoholic drunken family arguments and the music and the bell ringing and people saying it’s all about peace on earth and it really being about how much new shit people got gitted and riding bikes in the snow and the places where there is no snow and my hating of all the people who live in those warm places and the never-ending stream of people thinking that they live alone on this planet and the rest of us just being reflections of those people’s subconscious desires to not be alone and fruitcake and turkeys and tofurkeys and almondurkeys and fishurkeys and ham and meatballs and holiday office parties and dressing up like hookers and smiling at cameras and making new friends and saying goodbye to old ones who the hell has time to write an introduction to a picture dump blog?