Surly Pugsley for sale; $1200 OBO

My 18″ Surly Pugsley is for sale in Albuquerque, NM.  This is a unique build designed for exploration in all conditions.  $1200 as shown.  Local pick-up only. E-mail me at nicholas.carman(at)gmail.com.

For sale is a 2006 18″ Surly Pugsley, custom built for dirt touring and exploring remote places on rough tracks. The 120tpi Surly Knard tires are incredibly supple, and are setup tubeless to lightweight Surly Marge Lite rims with Stan’s sealant. Both wheels are hand built, and include a Shimano generator hub up front, which powers a Supernova E3 Pro headlight and a B&M Toplight Line Plus taillight. The headlight is one of the brightest dynamo lights on the market, and is encased in a durable aluminum housing. Fenders are custom made of recycled fender hardware, an aluminum rib, and coruplast (recycled election sign). The fenders keep the rider and drivetrain cleaner in wet or dusty conditions. They are well suited to trails, and have survived a full year of use. Rivnuts have been installed on the underside of the downtube for a Salsa Anything Cage or a standard water bottle cage. The top cap H20 mount and the extra holes under the downtube and on the fork ensure that you can carry enough water for desert adventures, even when paired with a full framebag. The fork is an aftermarket Pugsley fork with a 100mm hub spacing for a dynamo hub, or any standard front hub. It would readily accept a standard 29″ wheel if you wanted to build a 29″ wheelset for the bike.

I commuted through a winter in Anchorage, AK on this bike, and toured from Alaska to New Mexico last summer. There isn’t anything you can’t do on this thing, especially with so many useful attachments points, tubeless tires, and dynamo lighting.

The steerer tube is uncut and the bike would fit a rider between 5′ 7″ and 6′.

Surly 18″ frame (original model year, purple)

Surly Pugsley fork for 100mm hub, with rack and H20 mounts

Surly Marge Lite rims

Tubeless 120tpi Surly Knard tires

Chris King Headset

FSA Alpha Drive Crank w/Surly stainless steel 32T chainring

FSA Platinum 100mm ISIS BB (replaced 4/12)

XT front der, Deore rear der

Shimano DH-3D72 generator hub

Supernova E3 Pro headlight

B&M Toplight Line Plus taillight

BB7 brakes and Avid levers (203mm rotor front, 160 rear)

Shimano Ultegra shifters to VO thumb shifter mounts

custom aluminum/coruplast fenders

Surly 1×1 Cro-Mo Torsion bar

Race Face Deus XC stem

extra holes under DT for Salsa AC or H20

Ritchey grips

Easton EA30 seatpost and Specialized seat

King Cage top cap bottle cage mount

8sp chain and cassette

I built both wheels using DT Champion 2.0mm spokes.

For more ideas about what you can do on a ‘fatbike’ and the many ways you can build a Pugsley, check out this post on my blog: http://gypsybytrade.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/pugsmorphology/

…or here: http://gypsybytrade.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/via/

Please e-mail to arrange a meeting or test ride. I live near the Bosque so you could test ride the bike along sandy singletrack trails. Serious inquiries only.

Between worlds

The first meeting of the Rio Grande Young Farmer’s Coalition was held at Old Town Farm.  A sunny 75 degree day and the time to enjoy it are an uncommon pairing these days.  I am furiously buying selling building fixing and donating to prepare for our May 8th departure.  After surveying the scene from the vantage of a long-unused treehouse, I joined forces with Jeremy and went searching for something else.

Sun setting sweet summer day in April

Farm fresh long hairs on bikes and beat up pick-ups enjoy bluegrass and brew poured into thrift store ceramic mugs

Cottonwoods snowing silently, the biggest snowfall of the year

Borrowed bike with fat tires and fenders

Sprint on sand, sprint on pavement;

under the interstate and across the bridge onto doubletrack singletrack and sandytrack to the secret swimming spot along the RIo Grande

Undone shoelaces, belts and button-ups;

piles of t-shirts, pants and socks

Run across silty shallows looking for deeps– much like Gulf Coast beaches–

alternately shallow and knee-deep braided river, barefeet running to sediment bars tracked with a million bird’s feet

Shooting for a far-off ropeswing, probably swings into four foot shallows anyway

Float, swim, flounder downstream back to piles of threads and steel

Back home by dusk, by way of the well-known route

Back home, to a memory of New Mexico winter, now sunny and eighty degrees

From a treehouse to the river via bike in less than twenty minutes. From New Mexico to the Netherlands in a day, soon.

XXIX+G

I rode the Cannnondale Holligan to the Railrunner station in downtown ABQ, and rode the train north to Santa Fe.  I sold the Hooligan to Cass and purchased this large-framed Raleigh XXIX+G from an acquaintance, who had at once ridden the bike with both drop bars and suspension fork.  I was back on the train within the hour.  The new bike rides real good.

Framebag coming soon, thanks to Scott of Porcelain Rocket.  Many changes to come in the next two weeks.

Scott has made an informative video on how to make a pattern for a custom frame bag.

To Do Lists

I have lists of things to do before I leave.  Somehow, I find more interesting things to do that were not on the list.  Meet a globe-trotting Japanese cyclist– Takashi– and rendezvous with another globe-trotting cyclist from Holland for late dinner and beers.  And, an impromptu sub six-hour campout along the Rio Grande.  Not much time for sleep these days.

Unlace the busted Phil Wood hub from Cass’ Rabbit Hole rim, and unlace the Rohloff from the long unused 26″ Rigida Andra rim to make one epic wheel– Rohloff to Rabbit Hole.  This wheel will find a home on Cass’ Surly Krampus frame.  The Phil hub will be sent back for repair.  I reused most of the spokes and cut them to length with the Phil Wood spoke cutter at Two Wheel Drive in Albuquerque.

Reconnect with old friends.  Andy and Stella and family are visiting ABQ from Denver.  They hosted us last fall before diving into the Colorado Trail.  They rode to the farm for a visit over the weekend.  Stella is an aspiring bikepacker and commuter with a promising two-wheeled future.  In fact, the whole family frequently rolls on two wheels together.

Andy, better known by his blog moniker Big Dummy Daddy, was riding his Pugsley.  I sold him my Revelate Sweet Roll handlebar bag.  The robin’s egg blue Raleigh XXIX on the left is a recent acquisition, the first 29er amongst twenty (or more) bikes in the family.

Prepare coffee and cocoa and cakes; soups, salads and sweets for weekend visitors to Old Town Farm.  Bike-In Coffee is a business that runs on coffee, rhubarb cake and two wheels.  Our kitchen is actually on four wheels, and is a repurposed 1973 Winnebago.

Finally, buying and selling bikes.  The Velo Orange Campeur is still for sale.  A new (old) bike to come in the next few days!

Up for anything

The last time my mom visited in Anchorage she rode 25 miles in the snow, aboard a borrowed Mukluk.  And the time before that we explored historic tracks on Grindstone Island on rigid, vintage mountain bikes.  This time was a little different.

Bikes are still the best way to visit Albuquerque.  Several weeks ago Lael’s parents borrowed bikes and joined us for a ride in the Bosque.  This time, my parents borrow bikes and ride a mix of sandy singletrack and pavement to visit friends, to Los Poblanos, and simply to enjoy some southwest sunshine.  Mom rides the Cannondale Hooligan on Saturday, and the Raleigh XXIX 29er on Sunday.  Dad charges around on the Pugsley.  Lael runs.

Society of Three Speeds

Mark’s New London 3-speed is enlivened with (retro-) modern parts, including alloy rims and cranks, a new saddle, alloy fenders, and durable tires.  Feeling that the bike is not as great as the sum of its parts, he seeks a new frame to replace the gas-pipe tubing of this old English klunker.  This old Trek road frame might have worked well as a host for his parts, but it wasn’t meant to be.  There are countless other candidates within reach.  Many older road frames with average tire clearances will do– too tight, and the 38mm tires will rub the chain stays, too wide and the caliper brakes will not reach the rim.  The considerations for a 700c to 26 x 1 3/8″ conversion (622mm to 590mm) are much the same as a 650b conversion.  A 26 x 1 3/8″ wheel is also referred to as 650A, and at 590mm it is 6mm taller than a 650b wheel, which is 584mm.  In total, the considerations are about the same for either conversion.

Original parts: New London steel frame, Sturmey-Archer hub and top-tube shifter, front hub, front lamp, stem and handlebars.  Upgrades: VO 50.4 BCD cranks, Honjo fenders (now painted black), Schwalbe Delta Cruiser tires (replaced with Marathon Plus), Sun CR-18 polished rims, Tektro long-reach dual pivot caliper brakes, VO city bike brake levers, and MKS Sylan Touring pedals.

Mark is a mechanic at Two Wheel Drive in Albuquerque, NM.

I recently received notice in the post that I am the 18th member of the Society of Three Speeds, much to my surprise, as I have never owned a three speed bicycle.

Join the Society of Three Speeds!  Membership dues are only $7 until April 8th, at which time they will return to $10.  Act now.  Three speeds is all you need!

Rule #1: “I will endeavor to promote three speeds as a viable means of transportation.”

Thanks for thinking of me Shawn.

Shawn is also the real-life character behind the bicycle and travel comics, Urban Adventure League and Ten Foot Rule.

Postcard ABQ

Family visits for a day and a night.  The best way to see the best parts of ABQ is by bike.  These photographic renderings serve memory better than reality, but in fact, New Mexico skies are incredible.  Four diverse bikes ride together on and off pavement– a bike with little wheels, a fatbike, an all-road bike, and a big-wheeled mountain bike.

Go!– Fatbikes in New Mexico

Published in the Albuquerque Journal this morning, in the business section on the Go! page.  Article by Mark Smith.  Images by Jim Thompson and Nicholas Carman.

Update: The ABQ Journal now has the full article online, with a web video feature.

Click to enlarge.

I got the local paper to say “fatbike touring“.  This is a small victory.

Charlie Ervin, owner of Two Wheel Drive had the pleasure of saying “fatbike” on TV yesterday.  Check out the full video on the morning program NM Style.

Out the door: 1987 Raleigh Seneca Mountain Tour

Another great bike out the door at Two Wheel Drive.

I am mesmerized with the chameleonic nature of vintage ATBs.  Able to swallow chunky rubber for off-pavement exploration, while still appearing balanced with a lean preparation for riding in-town or cross-country on a variety of surfaces, these bikes do it all.  Unlike the vintage road bikes and touring bikes of the era, most of these old klunkers have been under-appreciated in the used marketplace, keeping prices reasonable.  This 1987 “Northwest Salmon” colored Raleigh Seneca is a fine example of the kinds of bikes consumers were hungry to ride back in the day, even if they never found themselves “mountain touring”, or even mountain biking.  With copious mounting points for racks and fenders, as well as an integrated spare spoke holder and chainstay guard, this bike is a great platform for a modern commuting or touring bike, or even a casual cruiser.  Gearing is 6-speed Suntour XC Sport with thumb shifters, offering both a friction and index setting.  Brakes and levers are Shimano, and wheels are Shimano hubs to Araya rims.  This thing was a sweet ride back then, and is still a sweetie today.  At half the price of basic commuting bikes, this thing is steal, especially in this condition.

This bike has a unique story.  It was available on Craigslist when I first arrived in Albuquerque this fall, and I liked it– I wanted it– but I knew I didn’t need it.  Then, in January a customer entered Two Wheel Drive with the bike, claiming that she had been commuting on it but felt it was too heavy.  Too heavy?  Yes, too heavy to lift onto the bus racks.  We bought the bike from here and sold her an aluminum commuter frame with a lightweight wheelset.  The combination satisfied her.  Ironically, she was carrying an extremely hefty U-lock on her rear rack; the combination of rack and lock must have weighed over 4 lbs by itself.  Anyway, I have been staring at this bike for weeks.  Still, I don’t need it.

As the weather turns towards spring, friends have begun asking about “getting a bike”, which almost always means they want a good bike for cheap.  This is not always an easy task.  In this case, it was easy.  Jettie is tall and stylish, with a sense of utility and irony.  This bike is tall and stylish, with a sense of utility and a dose of irony.  She’s moving to Oakland soon with this bike, and I’m sure she’ll be the envy of bike-nerds wherever she goes.  It’s not mine, but this arrangement is even better.

She requested a basic cargo system, and we decided the Wald basket was most appropriate as it allows casual use of a handbag or backpack, and is also very inexpensive at just over $20.  As you know, Wald products are still made in the USA, in Kentucky.  The basket struts were left uncut to allow future adjustments to handlebar height.  I think Wald basket look “right” when mounted at an angle.  They’ve been attached to American bikes that way for almost a hundred years.

More from the “Out the door” series at Two Wheel Drive here in Albuquerque, NM.

Correspondence: First ride on a fatbike

Hey again Nick,

Thanks for writing back!  I’m really lucky to have met some people like you and Jeff who can help me get oriented here in the early stages, so thanks for that.

Hope all is well.  Have had the bike out a few times and am going to ride again today.  We have some nice mellow singletrack right behind the house, in addition to rocky doubletrack trails and sandy arroyos, so the new Pugsley provides a good bang for the buck.  Nothing spectacular or difficult but a great place for a couple of beginners.  Yesterday, we found a little bit of everything from deep mud, to ice, to snow, to rocky single track.  The Neck Romancer is a blast and seems very forgiving with the wider tires.  It’s a smooth ride (I let a little air out) and just plows through mud and eats up rocks.  It almost feels like a full suspension bike with the tires running low.  It was the most fun I’ve had on two wheels!  I have a lot of work to do though – there is a nice short but steep climb that I’m going to make my goal to be able to get it by the end of the month without having to walk the last third (part of it is I need to work on my shifting, etc.)  Anyways, I’ve attached a few images just for fun – nothing amazing.

Do keep in touch, I would probably drive you and Cass absolutely insane with how slow I would be, but hopefully I will start getting some legs under me and get out there.  I will keep you posted as well about any cool rides in the future.

- Matt

For some amazing photos, check out Matt’s photography website.

“Correspondence” is a series I began with this post, in which I share some of the conversations I have with friends and acquaintances about bikes, equipment, touring routes, and other aspects of bicycle travel.  Matt and Cammie live on the Navajo Reservation that spans the Arizona-New Mexico border, and have access to vast expanses of remote country.  Above, Cammie is riding and pushing a 26″ wheeled full-suspension Specialized, which Jeff recently converted to tubeless for desert exploration.  But, she’s ridden a Moonlander around the block…