Surly Bikes
Super Fan of Japan
I often think of my Surly bikes as workhorses built to be used and abused. I usually ride them stock or build them up from parts pilfered from bins or other bikes. I am always amazed when I see the custom bikes built by our dealers and customers in Japan. They take advantage of the multitude of braze-ons on our frames and turn a Surly frame into a work of art. We have many Surly Super Fans around the world, but I am a Super Fan of our customers in Japan.
Photo Credit: Blue Lug
This past fall our Distributor in Japan visited us with six representatives from some of our dealers in Japan for a Surly brainwashing session. Our first morning together started with some deep-fried sugar-coated dough and a discussion covering the history of Surly and our beliefs. Then members of our product design team reviewed our development process and how we come up with some of the weird shit we make. We even gave them a couple sneak peeks of some top-secret products in development. Only one electronic device was destroyed in the process.
After washing tacos down with barley pops, we loaded up on a fleet of Surly exploring rigs and headed out for an urban dirt ride through the city. We encountered a mix of terrain as we wandered north toward Downtown Minneapolis. The combo of gravel, dirt, stairs and bridges afforded us plenty of opportunities for beverage stops along the way.
We eventually made it to our dinner spot — the Red Stag Supper Club just north of downtown.
Our next stop was back across the Mississippi to visit One On One Bike Studio for some festing with local friends. Feats of strength happened. Limits were pushed.
Fortunately for our guests, their stay happened to coincide with a Minneapolis autumn tradition.
Words don’t quite capture the antics encountered at the Homie Fall Festival.
Thanks to our friends from Japan for making time to come visit, including Motocross International, Sico Bicycle Service, Chillnowa, Spark, Scone & Bicycle, Sam’s Bike, Taira Cycle, Blue Lug Hatagaya. Good times.
About Pintz Guzld
There is a cornerstone at the Intergalactic Headquarters building that has a crude pictograph scratched into it of a person laying flat on his back with the words “Pintz Guzzled” written beneath it in a shaky scrawl. Paul was there in the beginning and has come back to guide our band of miscreants through the maze of commerce called the bike industry as our Brand Manager. Paul enjoys jumping his bike over fires, sleeping in highly crafted snow banks and basically anything that doesn’t require standing still.