Welcome to the latest (depending on when you're reading this blog of course) installment in our Surly Make it Your Own series where we take a deeper look at custom, one-of-a-kind Surly bikes. This go-around we hear from Graveljesus about his unmistakeable Surly Midnight Special, 90's Yeti cycles tribute bike. Read on to learn the background story on this two-tone steel machine and to have a look see at some purty pictures of the bike.
Mid-March 2020
Usually, a time where you think about the upcoming season and what kind of adventures you are going to tackle during springtime. Suddenly the world is closing down, throwing everyone in a status of the unknown. Leaving us with a restless and raving mind. Diving into the world of bikes has always been a great way to escape reality for me. Let it be physically, or virtually if you don´t have the chance for some saddle time.
I was blessed to have the chance to get a first taste of ultra-cycling at the Atlas Mountain Race in February- the harsh brutality of the Morrocan rock fields brought up the first ideas for this project. Rocks and smaller stones hitting my frame and rims for hours let me think about how I would repaint my bike after the race. After dusting off the bike after the race the damages did not turn out as expected but I still had the idea of Yeti tribute paint scheme. (Before Yeti had the same idea with the ltd ARC tribute model).
Raised with mountain bikes in the 90's, I have always been lusting for these beautiful frames but my pocket money and the paperboy job just could cover the costs for all those trashed parts from the first shred attempts as a kid. So this stood as a dream.
Covid-19 kicked in and I needed some procrastination to rest my mind and soak up some positivity - thanks to the great Flickr Account from Bluelug and Radavist I found a well of inspiration.
Immediately I cleared out the [bike] cellar to fund some new projects. Luckily, I came across a Surly Midnight Special frameset during that time, and still having the Yeti idea in my mind a ProFro tribute build manifested itself.
Setting up a Graveljesus-worthy do-it-all machine dictated the following weeks. Hunting the internet for some CNCed blingy anodized parts and keeping it as close as possible to the original ProFro. Always taking me out of the madness for a couple of hours/minutes of my day.
Finding a powder coater to take the frame onto the 90ies level turned the project into reality. We had to skip the original fluoro yellow paint scheme for the fork. Otherwise, I would have been forced to buy 5 kg of yellow powder. But an alternative solution was quickly found matching the purple anodized parts.
A couple of beers later the Covid19 brainfart machine popped out of my basement - ready to be punished on the gravel tracks and trails of upper Swabiofa and southern Germany. Just the perfect machine for escaping a few hours/days or just to pick up your groceries.
Riding this always brings a big grin to my face.
The Surlyeti Build Kit:
- Surly Midnight Special Frame and Fork 58 cm
- Sram Force Drivetrain with Garbaruk Cage
- Sram Force Cranks with Garbaruk direct mount Chainring 42 teeth
- SunRace 50 teeth Cassette
- Acros Road Disc SP Carbonwheels
- Bruce Gordon Rock´n Road Rubbers
- Zipp Service Course stem - custom painted
- Zipp Service Course Carbon Seatpost
- Selle San Marco Regale Saddle
- Chris King Headset
- King Cage Bottlecages - custom painted
- Minoura Gamoh front rack - custom painted
- Ritchey drop bars
Special thanks to my friend photographer and tattoo artist Marc Alter for preparing this nice picture set.
https://www.instagram.com/fivedaggersphotography/
https://www.instagram.com/fivedaggersphotography/
as well as Mr. Jon Woodroof https://www.instagram.com/jonwoodroof/ encouraging me to showcase this special project and not to hide it in the woods.
Get in touch for some blessings in the church of Gravel https://www.instagram.com/graveljesus/ and keep up your PMA.
Yours truly,
Graveljesus