Where did this Pugsley come from?
This is the first of its kind, perhaps one out of the very first production run of Pugsleys to be belched from the fire unto this earth back in 05'. It was used and abused as a demo for a number of years before Trevor adopted it and brought it home. This bike introduced the masses to the possibility of riding snow and sand where it just wasn't feasible or as fun on any other bike.
Tell Us About This Build.
This particular build came about from the necessity of replacing failing, corroded and decaying old components that were originally hung on the bike. The decision to move to a fixed gear vs. replacing the original 3x8 drivetrain was born of a desire for this bike to function as a go-to winter cruiser, set up for extreme neglect and negative temps. I would mainly be riding this around the neighborhood bars, out to dinner and occasionally haul a small load of firewood or take out. This bike did all that and more for me over the years. Finally switching the old Large Marge rims out for some much lighter Marge Lites was a real game changer. Less weight and nothing to worry about made the bike just feel more mischievous...
Interesting Rack and Cranks, Trevor. Tell Us More…
The two coolest bits worth mentioning on the bike are definitely the rack and the cranks. The rack was custom made by A-Train Cycles ages ago and was the first A-fit rack solution for the Pugsley's offset nature. Now, of course, the Pug 2.0 has standoffs to mitigate rack fitment but you have to admire the simple elegance of this rack. I definitely overloaded it and crashed it often, but this rack took it all in stride. The crank at first glance is just an original Mr. Whirly crank for 100mm BB, but on closer inspection, you see that the chainring is not of the original modular spider variety and is directly bolted to the Whirly's 58mm BCD hole pattern. This alloy single speed chainring offers clean aesthetics, lateral stiffness and a perfect chainline for Single Speed or fixed hubs. This was a prototype that never came to market due to it being silly expensive (for a chainring).
When did you know it was true love??
Myself and some other ne'er do-wells from Minneapolis used to pilgrimage East every year for the Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee. Thus the "Healing Power of Beer" sticker on the downtube. This was the pinnacle of booze cruising and mayhem back in the day. It was during one of these visits where an old Surly friend, we'll call him "Zitox" to protect his identity, said we really need to check out the shoreline just north of downtown on these bikes, just to see what we can see and see how far we can make it. The all-day ride turned into a crazy mix of riding sand of all consistencies, rock fields, knee-deep water, and kelp rich tide pools. I couldn't get enough of it! We ran out of food, beer and just had the most fun ever. That was when the sleeper awakened within me and I saw that these 4" tired monstrosities really opened up a whole new world of exploration on two wheels.
