"Andy tells me the next step is to go offroad on a fixie, but I can tell you right now it doesn't sound too appealing to me." I didn't say that exactly. Rather, it was more that when you start riding fixed gear, riding offroad is at some point inevitable, so perhaps it's better to get comfy with obstacles sooner than later. Say, that reminds me: yesterday my trusty 1x1 proved yet again that it may be the most versatile bike I have ever built. To recap: I wanted the Do-It-All bike, so I built a 1x1 up as fixed gear, with a front hydro disc brake, Maxxis Larsen tires (good on road, great offroad, a little heavy but tolerable), upright bars, Wellgo pedals (which are THE best clipless/pinned platform flip/flop pedal I have found so far) etc, etc, blah blah blah. This bike looks sort of grandpa, sort of old Camaro, and acts as townie, bar ride, actual high performance offroad machine, winter (and sometimes summer) commuter, EVERYTHING bike. I ride it on the trails at the same speeds as my front suspended 'mountain bike' and to the store to get beer and beer accessories. Doing yard work yesterday, it was determined by the lovely and talented Ms. Bloggins that I would need some field stones for the fire pit and various other projects, so I put the chain on the easy gear (has 17t and 19t gear options), hooked up my aging Burley trailer, threw in a shovel, some gloves, and a large plastic tote, and headed to the railroad tracks by the river. I brought back two loads of rock, each weighing more than me, the bike, and the trailer combined. I'm guessing I hauled 500+ pounds of rock in 2 loads. The place I went for the rocks is pretty close and only really accessible by foot or by bike, so driving wasn't an option. Once loaded up it was slow going, with the Burley well past it's recommended weight limit, but the 38/19 fixed gearing worked perfectly (the fixie aspect allows you a great deal of control, even heavily loaded up, because you can't really get going fast) and the disc brake was exactly as powerful, low effort, and reliable as always in those few places I needed to get the whole thing stopped, such as intersections. It's rare, I have found (because I am a bike nerd), that you end up with a bike so perfectly suited to such a wide range of duties. Sure, this isn't the bike that's going to race the Tour (maybe Paris-Roubaix...), but then you're also not going to pull a trailer full of rocks with your Trek Madone 5.9. Not if you're smart, anyway. No, when I have tried in the past to build the ultimate utility bike I always seem to find some area that needs improvement, but this time ...I don't know, maybe because after all these years I finally know what I'm doing, maybe I just got lucky, or maybe I'm numb enough in the mind from finally getting some warm weather that I can't tell the difference, but I seem truly to have built a bike so useful, so enjoyable, and so reliable that I expect to keep and use in it's current incarnartion for years to come. Maybe I'll pick it up a shiny new stainless steel chain. To say thanks. I cannot tell you the feeling of satisfaction when you know that you hauled so much stuff with your bike. I had my tea on the porch this morning so I could stare at the pile of rocks. -----

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Snackey's First Bloggy Well, here it is. My first blog entry. I'm being forced to do it. No, really, I am. Emily tells me she is sad that I'm not blogging. That's enough pressure on me to give me a major guilt trip. We can't have Emily feeling down now, can we? I have been riding Surlies for years but only last week built my first Steamroller. In fact, about a month ago I built my first fixie, a Bianchi Reparto Corse road frame in a tasty celeste color and an even nicer ride. I was scared shitless at the thought of riding fixed gear, but it had always intrigued me so I figured I'd try it since I had the Bianchi frame lying around and already had a Pacer geared road bike in my stable. The first ride on it was as scary as I had anticipated. But it completely blew me away, and I must admit I am now hooked. Now that I work for Surly I figured the next logical step would be to build a Steamer, so I did. It's awesome. I rode it in today. Here it is… I'm a total noob at this, but I don't care. It's just a blast to ride this rig and I know if I can ride it as much as possible it will make me an overall stronger rider. I'm riding it with flats right now but am gaining enough confidence that I foresee putting SPD pedals on it in the near future. I'm also riding with a front brake, mostly for the purpose of scrubbing speed on descents when I feel like I'm starting to get a bit wound up. The 48T x 18T gear is just right for most situations around here, but I won't lie and tell you it's an easy thing to make it to the top of the steep hills. I will tell you that when I do make it to the top there is a greater sense of satisfaction knowing that I did it without using a gear cluster as my crutch. I think my favorite thing about riding fixie is how quiet the bike is. This has its negative side as well, as I find myself sneaking up on folks walking on the bike paths and I don't have a bell to warn of my approach. The cool thing is I can use this advantage to creep up on animals in the Park without spooking them, even though I'm sure this makes me seem kinda creepy to the animals. Andy tells me the next step is to go offroad on a fixie, but I can tell you right now it doesn't sound too appealing to me. To be continued... -----

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Here's how this works: I type "Hey look! The Swedes have a website! SSWC06 is happening!" Then you, in a pavlovian reactionary lather, see only "SSWC06" before shouting something incomprehensible to your significant other as you trip over the dog in your rush to the garage, where you spend half the night drinking and staring at your collection of bikes, deciding which one to turn into a single speed, and the other half of the night stealing stuff from your other bikes to build (but never finish) your dream machine for SSWC, which your friend's sister's boyfriend heard about last year and said was the ultra rad super cool next big thing. You may find it perplexing that rules surrounding this event are scarce but hi jinx are not, but damn them torpedoes! For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, SSWC is code for Single Speed World Championships and is in Stockholm (!) this year. I have been to several SSWCs and have not yet had anything but a good time. This in part owes to its collectively self-appointed stance as an anti-race, and I am something of an anti-racer, so it works out nicely. If you're put off by a lack of gear options, if your heart rate has dropped unacceptably while you've read this, if you think carbon fiber chainrings are a good idea, or if you just really like spandex 'kits' that look just like what your favorite pro doper...erm, make that 'racer'... wears and you don't sense any irony in this, well SSWC may not be the thing for you. But if you feel that riding to have fun as fast as you can muster is the way it should be, there isn't a finer excuse to get your swerve on. No derailleurs or whiners allowed. -----

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Bomb Proof

A lot of bicycle companies claim that their stuff is "bomb proof." Hell, I've probably said it about our stuff. What are the chances that there's a plot of land somewhere where we could get some bike parts and some bombs and test the theories? Just sounds like fun. -----

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Phil Wood tapered bottom bracket for Pugsley

Brent, from Phil Wood, informed me that they've manufactured 145mm bottom bracket axles for you Pugsley owners who want to use a tapered axle/crank system. $180.00 complete. Yep, that's a bit of dough, but it's Phil Wood. You know it's gonna last. I'll raise a glass or two or three to Phil Wood for offering another component option for the Pug. -----

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