Whether it’s the roll of 4-inch tires over a carpet of leaves on your local trail, or the sound of tires on freshly fallen snow, there’s no denying the appeal of a fat bike. They’re the ATV of the bike world – be it on a beach, a gravel road, the little ribbon of a trail through the woods, or just looking cool on the local lakes and trails – they’re at home anywhere. Among fat bikes, no name is more recognized than Surly. The 2013 models from Surly have been arriving day by day and we’re building them as quickly as possible to get them out to our stores.
We’ve got the standard Pugsley in a new color for 2013, but we also have a selection of Moonlanders and Pugsley “Neck Romancer” bikes as well. The original Pugsley has a 65 mm rim that supports a 3.7 or 3.8 inch tire. Plenty wide, and with nearly twice the footprint width of a standard mountain bike, a must have for getting where other bikes can’t. Pretty good right? Not to be outdone, the guys at Surly squeezed an 82 mm wide rim in there and spec’ed the components that allow that width to roll smoothly work well. It’s definitely an engineering challenge to put it all together in a package you can still pedal.
The original Pugsley, but with more FAT. Ride this if your typical mid-ride snack is bacon.
The beauty of the 82 mm wide rim is that you don’t have to run a bigger tire, you simply get a better, wider footprint by widening the rim out. There’s no fat trimmed here, Surly is squeezing in all that they can manage, and doing it in a classy looking blacked out bike.
If that’s STILL not enough, Surly went and broke the mold with the Moonlander. I can’t say enough nice things about this bike: Seated on rims as wide as most people’s stems are long (100mm to be exact) and 4.7 ” tires, the Moonlander pushes the boundary of what a truly fat bike is. The ride is plush – better than a short travel full suspension bike in some cases, and when the mercury drops, it’s nice to know that your suspension is as simple as it gets. Surly sums it up best in their description: “Moonlander, like its name implies, is meant to go beyond where normal bikes, even normal fat bikes, can go. It is designed from the ground up to ride where there are no roads, no trails, no people.”
When you absolutely have to get over it, stay on top of it, or crush it.
The Moonlander is by far the coolest color to come out of Surly – they call it Space and the pictures don’t do it justice. Yeah. its black, but mixed with a bass boat flake of thousands of shiny, glittery bits. So if you haven’t ridden a fat bike yet, come on down and try one. We even have rentals available. A fat bike is not just a snow bike – take a look at this video from last fall proving otherwise, and I should mention – don’t try this at home and always wear a helmet!
ERIK'S Bike•Board•Ski 