If you are a dyed-in-the-wool bicycle 'enthusiast', you likely know by now that Surly’s pimp is bicycle components distribution monolith QBP.  That Surly exists as the thought balloon within the Family Circus cartoon that is Big Q (as they call it there) is one of life's little paradoxes.   We, being us, have a hard time sitting still and being good because they do things like call themselves Big Q. They, being them, behave like an exhausted teenaged babysitter coping with a toddler that won’t go to sleep. But sometimes as if by divine intercedence the pristine tranquility of Big Q’s Valium-like ambience is,…

I would just like to take a moment to apologize for the overly sappy and pedestrian post you see below. Sure, it was Father's Day and I was able to ride a bunch of miles on super boss gravel roads, but it's no excuse for light-hearted puff-pastry shiny-happy pablum. In order to properly rectify the situation, I thought I'd post this:

Spent Father's Day with a good friend of mine and some gravel. Awesome.

Ok, So where were we last?..........Something about Tenga© Jenga© and Fleck going native? Or... wait, no, it was Peter doing his Godzilla® impersonation to a bunch of horrified 2nd graders as he decimated their Lego© villages. Uh...ok, now I remember, we was all on train to Kurashiki! After enduring Yokoi San’s relentless thumb boxing….  we dined on some amazing bento boxes bought at the train station. We passed through Kyoto which made me cry a little inside because I knew we were not stopping there to enjoy it’s wonders.  We arrived in Kurashiki feeling somewhat refreshed after a rest on the…

It is with no small sadness that I must announce officially the discontinuance of our Instigator model.  This makes two models in the last year that we've had to axe, the Conundrum muni frame being the other.  Neither had strong sales, but this didn't bother us too much.  We have always tried to supply well designed stuff to niche markets. Overbuilt steel hardtails is by any measure definitely a niche market these days, and there are still a lot of people who ride, love and want the Instigator, big dudes who break everything else, huckers, and Bama among them.  Unfortunately there are…