Surly Bikes

The Man

2010-08-24T14:22:06Z

We've all had the odd run-in with the Man, right? You're doing something on the edge of stupid and on go the red lights. "Can I get your license and registration please?" " Sir, can you please get down from there?" "Where are your clothes son?" That sort of thing.

I was recently reminded of one of my all-time favorite interactions with Johnny Law. It was the Snowball's Chance Formula Ice Race and Snowy Dash for Cold Hard Cash about three or six years ago. We were doing our thing, riding bikes on the frozen figure eight of doom, knocking the crap out of each other, warming by a raging bonfire, drinking canned courage, and generally being dumbasses. This is in the middle of the day in the middle of winter in the middle of the city in the middle of a frozen lake mind you.

Well, someone noticed that we were having fun, and being a person that hated fun they called the cops. Luckily, we were about finished anyhow, but I looked up just in time to see a uniformed officer of Minneapolis's finest sauntering across the lake having left his squad car on the street above. Now, I've been in these situations many times (because, well, look at the people we hang out with, right?) and I know that confrontation isn't the way to stay out of jail. So, I was working on the cleverest thing I could say to the officer as he walked up - when I got trumped.

"You just made a fat cop walk down a big hill."

The funniest, best thing I have ever heard a cop say.

He was cool. We cleaned up. We started to leave. He said, "Where are you headed?"

I said, "We're going downtown to get some pizza and warm up."

He said, "Good, good, good. Downtown is out of my precinct. You have a nice day." And off he went. Why can't all cops be as awesome?

Then just the other day I had the opposite experience...

One of those days…

2010-07-23T18:53:20Z

Open Bar Just Arrived

2010-07-22T15:13:43Z

A limited number of Open Bars just hit stock at our distributor, so get to your dealer and order one now or wait until the next load arrives in late August. They are available in 40mm and 0mm rises, and are 666mm in width.

60 bucks, which is less than you'd spend on a wedding gift for your niece. It's what all the classy kids are riding you know.

One More Time With Feeling

2010-07-15T16:58:53Z

Don't forget, tonight is Bike Night at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Bicycle Film Fest Movies are screening as BFF launches the Minneapolis leg of it's tour at the MIA on this night. There is a ride meeting at 5 at Gold Medal park in MPLS and riding to the MIA. There are lots of other things planned too, not to mention a whole passel of giveaways, including the chance to win a Surly Long Haul Trucker for doing nothing more than being there. Several Minneapolis custom framebuilders will be there, showing off their own works of art.

One On One, The Hub, Freewheel, Dero racks, Twin 6, BFF, Surly Intergalactic and more are all helping out in one way or another as the beautiful people at the MIA welcome with open arms and big smiles the MPLS cycling people. Bikes, movies, cool people, beautiful works of art. You should really go.

Oh yeah, plus Peter saw this on the front page of the Star Tribune Twin Cities and Region section this morning:

The story is about a pilot program for neighborhood compost recycling. Click on THE STAR TRIBUNE'S PICTURE above for the full story. Thanks to the Strib for letting me use that photo even though I didn't ask. And thanks also to Mikey Weitekamp and Sonya Ewert for riding Long Haul Truckers to get the job done. You guys are rad.

Sapporo aka The End of an Odyssey

2010-07-14T02:43:09Z

I have taken no shortage of grief from my co-workers that this last Japan entry is late. Truth is, it’s been written for over a month. In a twisted way I don’t think I wanted to post it because it wraps up the trip and somewhat painfully reminds me that our incredible voyage to Japan had to end.

But here you go, fair readers. Feast on the conclusion of Surly’s Japan Tour 2010:

We didn’t have to pack our bikes for the trip from Nagoya to Kurashiki, but as we disassembled them in the parking lot of Farm in preparation for the flight to Hokkaido, it was apparent the process was once again becoming familiar. Packing the Travelers Check can sometimes seem like a chore. However, once you have it down it takes 30-45 minutes either way – building or packing. That’s a small price to pay for riding your own bike anywhere in the world – a bike that fits you and is outfitted the way you like.

We landed in Chitose outside of Sapporo and began shuttling around an airport that more resembled a shopping mall. Sam, our dealer host, met us and we wheeled our baggage to elevators and carried it down flights of stairs to his van. No sooner had we pulled away from the airport than I became instantly enamored with the landscape. We were on a wide plain. In the distance, mountains rose above the table, many still holding snow in the upper elevations. I later asked about snowfall and was told they get about 2m standing in the winter, but temperatures are much milder than the Midwest. Sounds appealing.

Our lunch stop was down an out-of-the-way gravel road. We pulled up to what appeared to be the outbuilding of a dairy farm. Indeed it was, but it had been transformed into a pizzeria. This place served the most wholesome pies made from cheese cultured on premises. We were also introduced to Sapporo Classic – the signature beer of the famous brewery – only available on Hokkaido. Already Hokkaido seemed like some heavenly home away from home.

Afterward we proceeded to the shop, Sam’s Bikes, to settle in and rebuild our bikes. Here we met Nami, Sam’s partner and the person who really holds things together. The shop had a great collection of gear including a lot of awesome vintage stuff.

Off to the hotel we checked into a suite that accommodated all four of us. This place was way nicer than we deserved. Dinner was sushi but it happened at an entirely different kind of restaurant for me – a place where the fish rode a conveyor belt in front of you. See something you like? Pluck it off and chow down. The server counted plates at the end of the meal to tally our bill. Awesome.

We awoke on Saturday and headed back to Sam’s on bike. A quick stop at a bakery and the 7-11 meant we were ready for action. Gathered at the shop were an eager group of riders who accompanied us on a day trip. One quick note – you can eat out of convenience stores in Japan and I don’t mean just drunken late night snacks. Wholly nutritious meals that don’t cost a fortune are available, along with liquor and beer. All the essentials are there.

Our urban route took us to a high point outside the city, to a nature park near the Centennial Monument. This spectacular steel structure was erected in the 60s to mark the 100-year anniversary of the settling of Hokkaido. It made for some fantastic freestyle tricks exhibited by our friends. Including jumping the moat.

We lunched on Chicken Pecker in the field of the nature center and afterward rode many laps on the trails – most of which were to stage photo ops. Our souls were stolen thousands of times on this trip. Good thing we’re not superstitious, eh?

We rode back to Sam’s where a block from the store we discovered one of the riders, Hajime, had contacted a car, broken his camera and was bleeding. He was okay, but a rather long interaction with the police was necessary to settle things. At least the police attend to bike-car crashes in Japan. Often that’s not the case in the US.

Meanwhile customers and shop staff were busy putting things in order for one of the best barbeques I’ve ever attended. The temperatures dropped and we felt the spring chill, not unlike Minnesota. It was nice. Soon food began emerging from hot, wood-fired grills – fresh bamboo (that was dug for us that morning), scallops, fish of all kinds – all washed down with ice cold beer.

The band set up inside and soon rocked out. Jamoo was their name and Sam, our bike shop host, thumped bass.

After the band played out the garment signing began. I decided to turn the tables and request that everyone sign my jersey. It went over very well and I now have a reminder of all my new friends who signed it: Ninja Shuji, Takao, Sam, Nami, Ray, Hajime, Naoya, Erina, Takako, Cyber-T, Yugo, Hanako, Yusuke, Emi and Rie.

I know for a fact that I gave away two hats and Gay Travis gave up one on this trip.

We wrapped up the night with a Swervy (luv you, Nick) ride back to the hotel. We had chauffeurs the next morning for a very special treat. I was not quite sure what was going down, but I soon realized we were on a leisurely drive into the mountains to an onsen, or hot springs.

I’m from East Tennessee and the mountains on Hokkaido reminded me of the Smokies – majestic, gentle and quite green. Our driver was playing chill-out music as we ascended to our destination. Trevor and I were assured no one cared about tattoos at this hot spring, so we wouldn’t be booted. All that awaited was relaxation.

I have to say America is remiss in that we don’t have this same sort of experience. Wandering into a humid room to bathe and then lounge in the springs, clad only with a hand towel (if you choose), is a magnificent experience. It is a celebration of water – and water, my friends, is an awesome thing when you have tubs of it in varying temperatures and mineral content spread around for your enjoyment. Unlike bathing in an American bathroom, you don’t have to try to keep water in the sink or tub. It splashes out of the huge vats and runs all over the floor as you scoop bowls of it to pour over your head.

The outdoor hot pools were sculpted to feel like a natural rock bath. Inlets allowed one to touch the scalding, sulfur-saturated water bubbling out of the earth. The whole experience was sublime, as if bathing naked with Grayboy wasn’t surreal enough.

After the soak we had a tasty curry lunch and were on our way back to Sapporo. There was still riding to do. We were about to be introduced to polo. Funny that none of the four of us had played polo. This was no pick-up game though; our hosts trucked in chairs, coolers and a sound system to set the mood.

We screwed around for a while and got the feel of the mallets. It’s easy to see why the moto brake set-up popular in Japan lends itself to polo since you’re braking the rear with the left hand while wielding the mallet on the right. Fortunately, my brakes were slack anyway, so using the front was fine. We all seemed to catch on pretty quickly. Halfway through the tourney Snackey began channeling his former hockey glory days and was really racking up the points.

In the end, it came down to the Surly 4 vs. Team Japan. Man, the pressure was on. We played hard and took the honors. Maybe they let us win, but it didn’t matter because we were awarded our very own copies of the Jamoo CD to bring home to America.

Afterward we handed out schwag and embarked for the BMX restaurant where we had a very tasty buffet-style dinner and plenty of suds. We signed some walls, made semi-coherent speeches and posed for more photos. Then it was off to Don Quixote to procure a few souvenirs. Downtown Sapporo was impressive with neon and billboards. It felt like a corner of Tokyo in some ways, except the streets were 4 times as wide. Riding there was not unlike an American city.

Back at the hotel sleep did not come immediately. We had to pack bikes for our flight to Tokyo and then onto Minneapolis – meaning we had to do a proper packing job.

Trevor, dubbed Gay Travis on the trip, invited a couple of our new Hokkaido metalhead friends over for a send off. We shared lots of laughs with Naoya-san and Mr. Su. I gifted them my Girls of Nagoya calendar and a couple of Mpls bike maps along with an invitation to come and crash at the house anytime. Goodbyes were bittersweet.

Like much of the trip the night was epic and the morning came early.

The bright sun burned as we waited for the airport bus. I felt an odd pain in my heart to be leaving this magical place, although 10 days had passed and I had anxious family awaiting my return. “I want to stay and ride more and experience a winter here,” I thought. But it was time to go. The bus arrived. We lugged our bags aboard and rolled out of Sapporo.

As far as airlines go, JAL is a class act. The planes have cameras that show you what you’re flying over. Everything is clean and tight, even in coach.

At Narita we said goodbye to Rie, our distributor, and Ninja Shuji, our fearless guide (and former BMX racing star). I am not ashamed to let it be known I would follow Shuji to the gates of hell if he said it was the route we’re taking. He’s as reliable as a Swiss watch. Rie’s hospitality is a continual reminder to me of how I can always work harder at graciousness. I learn a great deal from her on these trips. She’s our leader and often our babysitter. We need that occasionally.

They were two pivotal forces that made this whole trip happen, but it couldn’t have happened without the support of all our many friends in Japan. I departed feeling a residual warmth from the kindness we were shown. Many unnamed folks went out of their way to take care of us and I can only say we all thank you wholeheartedly. I am sorry if I left you out.

Boarding the MSP flight at NRT is always a cluster, but Snackey and I were treated to an upgrade to business class. Hooray, I’ll drink to that! And I’ll offer a second toast to another mighty fine and successful Surly trip to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Arts and Sciences

2010-07-12T16:54:50Z

Art:

If you are a cyclist in the twin cities and you read blogs, frequent bicycle related websites, or have a pulse, you are by now probably aware that this Thursday, July 15, is Minneapolis Institue of Arts' 2nd annual Bike Night. It was fun last year, and it looks to be fun this year as well, starting with a ride from Gold Medal Park (by the Guthrie) at 5. If you can't make that, ride straight to the MIA where the shindiggery starts at 6. There will be valet bike parking by Freewheel and Dero racks, safety check (BICYCLE safety check) by The Hub Bike Co-op, selected short films as the Bicycle Film Fest kicks off, plus a display from local custom framebuilders (Bob Brown, Capricorn, Paul "No Website" Wyganowski, Peacocktail Groovular, Vincent Dominguez, Curt Goodrich, Chris Kvale, and Speedhound). Plus you might even win a Surly Long Haul Trucker. But winners win by playing. All the informations on MIA's Facebook page. My god that was a lot of links.

Science, sort of. This has no music, so I recommend you put on some Yanni while watching it.

For no good reason, here is a Picture of Ron Moffit, who is one of those people you meet on a bike and think "Cyclists are the coolest, hairiest, nicest, drunkest people on Earth."

Here is another picture of Ron, or more properly his back. I think we're going to need more wax.

Here is a video, sent by one Adrian Bostock, who can be seen shredding singletrack with his Surly 1X1 on his hometurf in The Shuswap, B.C., Canada. This video also has no music but bike videos being what they are, it is sort of refreshing just to hear the sounds of riding and not someone else's idea of awesome music.

And finally today, Jeff Lockwood interviewed our man Dave for Dirt Rag Magazine.

No mention of mulch, Dave? The times they are a-changin'.

Ruby, are you mad at your man?

2010-06-30T17:04:57Z

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, through no fault of ours, muddied by some big fish swimming too close in the shallows (metaphorically speaking, of course) and it is an easy thing for us to whack it with the oar and haul it over the gunwale. Viz:

While this sort of communiqué seems to be unusual for Big Q, people regularly send to Surly similar requests, updates, and various other flotsam unencumbered by lucidity. It’s really very sweet.

Despite the intent of the paper it is written on, this was not in fact faxed to us. Johnstonteeno sent this as an actual piece of paper, carefully folded and neatly placed in an envelope which was somehow then correctly addressed and mailed, and which arrived safely in our hands. And he makes a good point, potentially. Send us your drugs. They sound awesome.

At least that one is mostly self contained. I will not share or even try to explain the nuanced tragedy of the many murky and mysterious missives we are occasionally sent by someone who calls himself Linus Cloudbuster. Suffice to know that they involve pictures cut from magazines of swarthy men, references to our Long Haul Trucker, and they seem loosely to be clues in a riddle thought up by lab monkeys testing LSD. Perhaps they are headed somewhere. The clues, not the monkeys.

********************************************************************************

Although I am only getting to it now, no less than 3 people wrote at the beginning of June to alert us to this guy who happens to ride a Cross Check, and who saved 2 little kids from big trouble. Bernie of Trinity Cycles in Ft Worth, TX, was one of the people who wrote in. He said:

I wanted to direct your attention to a customer/friend of ours here in Fort Worth, Peter Canning, who made the local paper. He was riding along our Trinity River trails when he heard a cry for help. He ditched his bike, jumped in the water, and saved two young boys from drowning. Then he rode away without giving anyone his name.

The story is here. Nice work, Peter.

In other news, a long while ago now we donated a Big Dummy complete bike for Dirt Rag’s raffle. The person who won, John Sandlin, is a musician who uses a bike a lot to get to practice, to gigs, and for all sorts of other things. He was so jazzed (I crack myself up) that he wrote to thank us:

Hello, my name is John Sandlin and I am the Dirt Rag Mega Sweepstakes Grand Prize Winner of the Surly Big Dummy. Many thanks to Dirt Rag and Surly for their commitment to the art of cycling, and their dedication to fantastic customer service. Now, after having ridden the BD for 2 months, I can happily say that it has changed my life! If anyone has ever seen a Big Dummy, and thought, 'that's a cool bike, maybe I should get one,' go out and get one now! I can plainly say, it has become my Main Ride. The do all bike, the workhorse, the cruiser, the commuter. I am a professional musician and I can strap my gear on and ride to the gig, how cool is that? I can head to the grocery, hardware store, plant sale, and beer store, all in one trip, with room to spare on the Xtracycle rack. My 25 mile daily commute has become easier and faster than ever before on the Big Dummy. That's right, I said faster. There is some kind of magic built into that big heavy Surly that allows me to ride toe to toe with those light bike drop bar riding foes during a bike path battle. It is a pleasure to pass a roady when I imagine them saying to themselves, 'what is that and how can it be passing me?' That's the Big Dummy and it's unstoppable! Now I'm off to ride; get one now!

Once again, extra special thanks to Dirt Rag and Surly for making me the luckiest guy in all the land.

Big Dumb Winner,
John Sandlin
Albuquerque, NM
Lechatlunatique.com
http://www.myspace.com/thebluehornets

Another person using the Big Dummy big style is Wend magazine editor Rick Olson, who is using a Big Dummy to retrace an old path around 12 U.S. National Parks. As he himself says in his bio, “Rick Olson has never toured. “ This should be good. Follow along here.

And finally today, our favorite dentist/bike shop owner, Dr. Jon, sent a refreshingly lucid update of his recent travels:

“Because I know you guys love all that urban shit and stuff.

Here's a pic from our shop trip to Chicago to 'check out the scene'.
the verdict - they like to have a good time and don't mind if you ride a bicycle.

Dr. Jon
www.dharmawheelscyclery.com"

And with that, I’m off like a prom dress.

An Apology

2010-06-22T15:22:38Z

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:

Father’s Day

2010-06-21T16:47:48Z

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

Japan Tour 2010…Kurashiki!

2010-06-17T20:46:12Z

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 train. Our hotel was close to the station, but we didn’t make it to far before trouble found us.

Peter wastes no time at wowing the local school girls with his smooth linguistics and hip, hot pink cell.

This troubled youth had it in for us from the beginning…I believe he is flipping us the “British Bird”.

We checked into another business hotel that was right off of the tracks. Japanese style Tatami rooms, bed rolls, a kitchen, a dining (read drinking) table and loads more space then we new what to do with. We filled that void with empties after a lovely evening full of discussion about what is better: TaKaRa Chu-Hi strong or Kirin grapefruit Chu-Hi?...the world may never know.

Did you know that the Japanese love anime?…I mean really love it.

Our bikes had been driven to Kurashiki by Eji San from Motocross Intl, which made us very happy to not have to build them up before our evening visit to The Farm.

This is Oda San and his wife Mrs.Oda San(as she introduced herself), they are the proprietors of the Farm; a very attractive and neatly merchandised shop. They were also our gracious hosts for this leg of our journey.

Surlys in Japan come in colors we have never seen and many of you never shall; A benefit enjoyed by Rie San’s customers.

That evening a ragtag crew of about 25 or so cyclist showed up at the Farm for a night ride led by Oda San . It was once again awesome to see the mixture of different Surly bikes spanning multiple riding disciplines all tearing up the streets together.

We stopped in the historic Bikan district for a break and some moon gazing.

That evening we wasted the night away in an Izakaya inside the train station. This is how sexy Dave looks through a huge mug of beer.

Surly Whiskey Cat

The next morning we wrung out our livers and prepared for another big day. We would meet a larger crew of Oda San’s customers for a ride into the countryside . “Chii Sai Oda" was ready to put the hurt on us but decided to spare us the embarrassment and took a nap instead.

We rode to a very picturesque temple with a 5 story Pagoda. The weather was warm and the sun was bright as we wound our way through the countryside and then back towards town with big smiles and bigger sunburns.

This photo might very well be in a Japanese magazine right now.

A freakin huge Torii

During our visit to another temple we tested our luck by selecting a numbered stick from a small barrel. The number corresponded to a drawer containing a paper. This paper gave your fortune and told you what sort of luck you were likely to experience. Dave tied his to a fence securing his destiny for “worst luck” in the days to come.

Riding through Bikan again in the light.

At yet another temple we posed for yet another picture. The rock star treatment in Kurashiki was heavy and totally undeserved. If they only knew what we normally do with ourselves…we are obviously total nerds, as you can see.

This is the legendary Ice Cream Deamon. He hopes you choose the black one.

Lunch of champions. You can eat quite well from a 7-11 in Japan!

This is us with a gentleman we came to know as “Super Fan”. He owns

everything Surly has ever made and even some things that we didn’t make…

…Like both my and Fleck’s hats.

That night we had dinner at a “Organic Buffet” restaurant close to the station. There we sampled many things we couldn’t quite place “biologically” speaking.

After teary goodbyes and such were done we retreated the the comforts of our business hotel. Shuji San, Oda San and Eji San were in attendance as we wrapped up the evening with a little “imbibement”. Peter had a golden moment.

The next morning we were off to Hokkaido. Our visit to Kurashiki was brief but very enjoyable and quite laid back compared to the beginning of the trip. We found a dedicated fan base here and, as always, super warm hospitality. 3 of 4 cities were now behind us...how could the events so far possibly be topped?! You will have to wait for the next installment of "Ride With Surly Super Awesome Japan Fun Times Tour 2010... Hentai!

Stuff That’s Gone, Stuff That’s Coming, People That Should Be Gone, and Glorious, Opiate Praise

2010-06-15T17:51:56Z

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 not enough of those people out there to justify keeping them around, so off they go into the dog poo bag of history. I had hoped by this time to have video of us blowing up the last Instigator frame but I never got around to blowing one up and now they're gone, so you’ll just have to imagine it.

Recently from the inbox:

"Ladies and Gents
A little over a year ago I purchased a Surly LHT with racks and panniers from Chain Reaction Bicycles in Gainesville, Florida and took off into the wild blue yonder. Or more like "lumbered." At 54 years old and after 27 years of riding a desk for IBM, I'd ballooned up to 345 lbs. a pack of smokes per day and a complete lack of energy or resolve to do anything about it.
Day one on the Surly amounted to a grand total of six miles before I pitched my tent and collapsed inside for ten hours of sleep. Day two - eleven miles. Day three - 15 miles. etc. etc.
4,200 miles and nine months later I was racking up 60-70 miles per day with fifty pounds of camping gear on the bike - EVERY DAY - and weighed 100 lbs. less than when I started in Florida. In the process I'd cycled from Key West, Florida to San Diego, CA and back to my home in Socorro, NM.
Through rain, hail, tornadoes, lightning, blistering heat and freezing cold the Surly never once broke down or had a problem. The only maintenance it required was standard wear items such as tires, tubes, brake pads and chain.
Although it may be a while before I embark on another trans-continental odyssey, I still do a minimum of 30 miles on my Surly each day and take frequent camping trips of 300-500 miles.
THANK YOU FOR BUILDING A KILLER BIKE!!! YOU SAVED MY LIFE AND MADE A LIFELONG CYCLIST OUT OF ME!!!
Randy Clark
Socorro, NM"

Now his praise for us is all well and good, but it's pretty clear that Randy is the badass in this situation. It doesn't sound to me like he'd fully exhausted his motivation to do something about his life. Let this be a lesson to the rest of you: Never get a job.

There is one part in his email that bothers me, though. It is the part where he talks about how little maintenance the bike required. Randy is realistic about the fact that bikes require certain attention. Sometimes bikes do break down in the middle of no where, at the least opportune time. Not everyone seems to understand this, as a spate of recent emails and phone calls attest, most of who do seem to believe that all bikes should cost $100 or less, weigh under 20 pounds, and last for 30 years with little or no maintenance. While this assessment is an amalgum of ideas people have, and therefore something of an exageration, it is nonetheless true that some people believe every one of these things. I bring it up because while there has been a noticeable uptick in bike sales in recent years (not just for us, but in general), and there seems to be a lot more people riding than ever before, this has come with a barrage from people who as far as I can tell believe the aforementioned amalgum of unrealistic things. Most of the noobs are just confused. That's understandable. Any time you get into something new there's a learning curve. It's the self-important jerks who get under my skin. Take this guy for example:

"Your LHT forks suck cock for a living. What a pile of fucking shit. I've had to get both the lower rack mount braze on's welded before even completing Europe. As soon as I got the frame set I could see theirs more spunk in a mouse than weld on those mounts. Why would I even bother with a warranty replacent when there this shit. You and your advertising guff suck."

Man, you’re going to have a heart attack. So have some more coffee and cigarettes. Look, I'm not saying stuff doesn't sometimes go wrong. It does, that's the way of the world, but why wouldn’t you have tried to contact us to talk about the situation? Anyway, it doesn’t much matter. Randy Clark, like thousands of other people, have used the LHT and loved it. And in fact a while ago Outside magazine saw fit to include the Long Haul Trucker in their Annual Best Of gear guide. So that’s nice. Thanks Outside.

And as if that wasn't enough, just today this comes in the email:

"Hi there I just want you to know I bought An LHT in Kalamazoo at Alfred E bike and took it back to Australia where I am from and at the moment I have nearly finished a ride from Cairns Queensland where I live to Mt Isa known as the reef to the outback 1300ks my brother is doing it with me also on a surly lht he is 66 I am 56 I am blogging for the radio station I work for at www.4ca.com.au click on locco [me] and go to the blog feel free to use the material for your own use as we are so happy with surly'
yours
Mike 'Locco' O'loughlin"

Hot dog, we have a weiner! My point, if I must have one, is that the LHT fork does not in fact suck cock for a living, though that charming colloquialism does paint quite a picture. Nor does the rest of the LHT. All the haters can suck donkeys. The rest of us will be out riding.

As long as I’m crowing about all the crowing, I’ll share this one too. We got an email from an entity called Bestcovery.com, which, according to their logo, helps people Discover The Best Of Everything^TM. Apparently their reviewer chose our Steamroller as their pick for best single speed commuter bike. I was pleasantly surprised to find this.

As usual, Simpson’s has a quote which sums all this up quite nicely for me:

Bart: I feel so full of...what’s the opposite of shame?

Marge: Pride?

Bart: Not that far from shame.

Homer: Less shame?

Bart: Yeah...

Oh, and one more thing: we will soon have available some of our New hubs in 48 hole, which ought to make a lot of bike polo players happy. Soon (end of July) we'll have 48h front non disc, rear 135mm free/free, and rear 120mm in both free/free and fix/fix threading. Also coming with these will be non disc 36 hole fronts. All are black, and all have nutted axles. And yes, later (August?) we'll have 135mm fix/fix too. Remember to adjust those bearings.

The Monday After Dirt Burger

2010-06-14T13:31:34Z

Dirt Burger was this past weekend. This was the second installment of what we hope are many, hosted by Sov and his firefighter homies of Decorah, Iowa. I wasn't supposed to be there at all, but at 6:00 on Friday morning, as I was getting ready for work, my loving wife came to me and in her endearing sleepy-eyed bleariness, gave me the green light. Within minutes I was packing my camping gear and biking stuff. I phoned Reverend Jim at 6:30 but he was still asleep, and Fleck's last known correspondence had been at 3:09 a.m., so I knew I'd have to wait a while until any movement would occur. After brewing coffee Jim called me back and said that they would not be ready to roll out until around 10:30 or so. This was good because I needed more time to prepare and chill out with the wife and kids.

It turned out that we did not hit the road until noon-ish. The drive from MSP to Decorah is only around 3 hours, so this would work out just fine. As we were still around 45 minutes from Decorah I received a text from Sov which read, "I'm two beers in at checkpoint alpha. This thing is on." By the time we arrived he was more like four of five beers in, and was acting more like the Sov we all know and love.

We shared a beer with him and then staked out our camping spots. As we were pitching tents more folks rolled in, like Fiona and Chewy, Pieplow and Dirty Cop.

And then a couple of beers later a VW bus driven by Nate rolls in and guess who's riding in the passenger seat?

Nick Fu%king Sande!

He flew in from Portland and managed to keep it a total secret.

More folks rolled in...

Then Chewy took some of us on a ride up on Palisades, which was a steep, rocky, rooty trail that was as fun as the day is long. It was the perfect way to forget the monotonous drive down. I was so stoked to ride that I forgot to bring my camera, but I did take this photo of some very pale Minnesotans bathing in the river post-ride. This one is for the ladies.

By this time we were all getting hungry, so we hopped on our bikes for T-Bock's, where we proceeded to offend just about everyone we came across and then some.

Note the expression on the face of one very impressionable young man in the background as several grown men examine their nose hair.

In this establishment it is customary to throw peanut shells on the floor. Throwing peanuts into each others mouths from across the bar? Consider it a new Dirt Burger custom.

After dinner we swervily rode back to camp.

Once there we proceeded to burn stuff and relax. At midnight the local cops showed up and told us we couldn't have a fire within city limits, so a bunch of the yahoos loaded up firewood and beer and proceeded to proceed to a place where they could. Not me, however. I was destined to lay down in my tent and get some sleep.

On Saturday after breakfast a group of around 10 did an epic trail ride, which was the perfect way to get the blood and sweat flowing. After the ride it was my time to head home, and thus ends my story of Dirt Burger 2010.

From what others have told me Saturday night and Sunday were even better, but I'll just have to take their word for it.

More pictures on our flickr.

JAPAN TOUR 2010… NAGOYA

2010-06-11T18:29:03Z

A day of riding in the Tokyo rain left black, powdery scum all over our rims and brake pads…which found its way onto the carpet in our hotel rooms as we packed up our Travelers Checks for the trip to Nagoya. Scrubbing at the black silt only pushed it further into the carpet fibers. Hopefully, we won’t see a fat bill for carpet cleaning. Next time, I’m going to pack an old sheet or blanket into my TC case to keep this from happening again.

After breakfast and a short interview with Bicycle Magazine, we headed to Nagoya (Japan’s Detroit…home of Toyota) by Shinkansen - the high-speed train.

We checked into our no-frills business-style hotel and retreated to our rooms to chill out a bit before our next scheduled outing – an evening of fun at Circles bike shop.

We visited Tanaka san’s old shop in 2007. It was smaller - but very interesting and well-organized - and seemed to focus mainly on boutique fixed-gear/single-speed bikes and accessories. The new shop blows the doors off the old one. I was really impressed with the layout of the shop…2 levels (eventually, expanding to 3 levels)…and the product offerings within. Frames from Vicious Cycles, Sycip, DeSalvo, Hunter, IF, Seven, Black Cat, and Surly fill the showrooms and the spacious repair and lounge areas. The display cases house shiny bits from many high-end component suppliers. Clothing, bags, and accessory offerings are plentiful throughout the store. Circles also offers custom paint options and bike fitting. This is a true full-service shop.

The shop tour ended after we geeked out for an hour or so, and the party started to ramp up. We were certainly enjoying the plentiful supply of beer, Chu-hi, and pizza. What else does Circles have? Girls that ride Surlys! This wasn’t the typical bike industry sausage fest that many of us are accustomed to. Seriously, it was nice to see so many ladies (many of them featured in the 2010 Love Wheels Nagoya calendar) showing up on their Surlys. We like talking to the dudes, but the bike industry, as a whole, could use more feminine influence/participation. Don’t you agree?

It was only 11:30pm (early for us) when Rie tried to pull us away from the temptation of partying into the wee hours. It took a while…Rie was noticeably agitated by our transparent stalling techniques, but eventually we were corralled into the waiting van and shuttled back to our hotel rooms so we could assemble our bikes for the group ride the following morning. It was probably the right call.

We arrived at the ride starting point, near Toyota City, around 10:00am. The parking lot was full of waiting riders…many of them on Surlys…with more arriving as we unpacked our bikes from the van. We were pleasantly surprised to see our old friends from Kyoto…Takuya and Chie…who made the trip, along with our new friend Sunta, to ride with us that day. We’ve visited Kyoto (a city I really love) on several previous trips, but we couldn’t fit it into this schedule. Next time.

The ride started around 10:30. We rode bike paths and streets through scenic hills and valleys dotted by small neighborhoods, old temples, and the occasional convenience store where we could refuel as needed. After a long lunch, we parked the bikes and walked to - and through - a historic village where artisans demonstrated their finely-honed crafts and showed their wares. The 45km ride was punctuated by a few big pulls off a large bottle of sake that Takuya generously provided.

What’s better than a long soak after a ride? Some of us made our way to a modern public bath. We soaked for 45 minutes before the “authorities” asked Trevor and Fleck to leave, because tattoos are not allowed in this particular facility. Apparently, there’s a lot of paranoia associated with tattoos and their ties to Yakuza…the Japanese mafia. Fine. We needed to get moving anyway in order to get to our dinner appointment, at Yama Chan…known for their incredible chicken wings, on-time.

Lots of great food, beer, and “fresh lemon sours” were consumed.

Luckily, things got a little blurry...

After several “last calls”, we made our way back to the hotel to put our bikes in the van for transport to our next stop in Kurashiki. Then, with an escort from some of the Motocross International crew (Nagoya is their home turf), we found a suitable club to drink a few beers and enjoy the nightlife that the neighborhood is known for.

We decided to have one last beer and watch some of our video footage from our adventures in Tokyo and Nagoya, in Trevor’s room, when we returned to the hotel. I woke up as my beer spilled down the front of my shirt. Trevor and Fleck were asleep on either side of me. Three dudes passed-out on a single bed. That’s how we roll.

Fortunately, we had until mid-afternoon on Wednesday to recover and pack our belongings for the next leg of the trip to Kurashiki on the Shinkansen.

Thank you, Nagoya, for the never-ending hospitality, the strong cycling culture, and the company of all the beautiful ladies. We look forward to the next visit.

-Dave

You can check out more of my Japan trip photos HERE.

Austin, why you tryin to kill us?

2010-06-11T15:01:09Z

Last weekend, J. Marshall and I headed south for the innaugural Big Dummy Ride and Gathering of the Weirdos. It's a subtly disguised "sales promotional" event that really just allowed us to hang out with some of Austin's finest and do what we do best - get loud on bikes.

Suffice it to say that Austin had something out for Johnny and I because it kept trying to hurt us with heat and beer. The former - when I complained (and that was often) - was consistently met with "Aw, this ain't so hot. You should come back in August." No thank you Austin. No thank you.

Still, gigantic high fives to a city who's denizens know what to do in these circumstances - cold Tecate in one hand, dribbling BBQ in the other, and loins astride a bike.

We hit town Thursday night just in time to pick up a couple of our Big Dummy Cargo Beasts and make it to the Thursday Night Social Ride. Picture 250 of your closest friends riding, stopping at stop lights, chatting about the bits that interest each other, tipping back a few coldies, and generally being awesome - that's this ride. My hat is way off for this and the people who make it happen. Nice work.

Thanks to Scott for letting me use this photo (hey, Scott, can I use this photo?)

Friday was about building bikes, making plans, sweating our own sweat, and trying desperately to convince the Walgreen's checkout lady that Johnny is, in fact, about to be 30. She consulted the book and her manager for no less than 20 minutes before finally declaring that we were authorized to purchase two six packs of Lone Star.

Saturday was the big event and it dawned HOT. Still, about 50 kickass folks showed up to ride, try out some cargo haulin, and see what kind of trouble we could make. Again, Austin did not disappoint. We made our way on bike paths, through East Side residential neighborhoods, into convenience stores stuffed with cold beer, pickles, and nag champa, and finally to an oasis - a basketball court mercifully covered by a steel truss roof. There lunacy ensued with derbies, passenger races, surfing races, skid competitions, and finally, the relay race. All were great sports and for some reason, the folks on the bikes did everything I suggested into my giant megaphone. Nice work out there.

It looked like this: (thanks to Jimmyhere for letting me use these pictures (Hey, Jimmyhere, can I use these pictures?)

So, thank you Austin. You are fantastic and sexy and I think I might be pregnant. Johnny too.

-Skip

The Purple Reign Continues

2010-06-07T17:06:30Z

The Purple One is 52 today. I regret that posting this video will likely result in it's being whisked off the Youtube, but we'll take the risk because it's such a great tune. Happy Brithday Prince.