Surly Bikes
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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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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