Rewind to February 2006...
I had just got home from a day at Glentress trail centre, it had been a wet overcast day, an hour drive each way for a great 2 1/2 hours of riding a full suspension bicycle around one of the best trail centres here in the UK, followed by freezing in a queue for 10 minutes for the ONE bike wash, then changing at the side of the car freezing as the changing rooms were full with queues, then after food at the cafe standing up as no seats spare, and then another hour drive home and now its dark and then unpack, and re wash the bike to get the missed bits, lube chain etc,and I'm still stinking under clean clothes which now need washed too!,.
Filling the washing machine with manky clothes it moans into life and then finally i flop in a steaming hot bath,
The whole Saturday is gone for only 2 1/2 to 3 hours riding!,
However despite a great days riding like a loon on a lovely Santa Cruz 5" travel `does everything` bike its all the travelling and queues etc that does my head in, and just a few hours riding on a precious Saturday off work.
I wish i could just ride from the house and have an ace time and a wee adventure on my own doorstep for a few hours and then home for the rest of the day to do other stuff and put the feet up in front of the fire etc...
Sure there are loads of natural trails around here but by mid summer they are overgrown and if wet weather its soaking with the overhanging vegetation and in winter some trails away from the coast inland are just slop.
There are great trails along the coast but they are sandy in places and thus very soft and unrideable in places and so not much fun on a regular mountainbike.
Meanwhile on route to bath with a large cider i picked up single track Magazine that had flopped through the letter box earlier, thumbing through all the usual stuff of crazy priced bike parts and `Lifestyle` articles which i felt bore no relation to myself or what i want to do on a bicycle i thumbed onto page 50 and this months `Bike Porn` feature was the Surly Pugsley, first time i had heard of or seen one... my jaw dropped , Wow!, that's amazing!...
It all made sense as i read and re read and re read the article until the bath water was cold...
Steel frame, no suspension to service, massive tyres that will cross real soft terrain, it had rack mounts, and the reversible wheels were a cool idea, and it looked great in Purple...
I was already thinking of all the places the old yellow super V Cannondale went on the beaches at the time then i would have to push it most of the way on and off from the hard wet sand,
This is what iv`e been waiting for...
They were going to test it to its limits in the magazine and see where it can really go, "this is great!" i thought, cant wait to read about it,
Then nothing... it just disappeared, no tests, no amazing pictures of previously unrideable areas ridden by the 2 wheeled big foot purple bicycle freak machine,
Why not?...
Then 5 months later in July an article appeared by Jakub Postrygacz from Poland who cycled the remote Australian 2000km Canning Stock Route...on his own...unsupported on a Surly Pugsley prototype...
You can read about his journey here; Canning Stock Route
Then it disappeared again...
As i would find a few months later there were 4 or 5 Purple Pugsleys here in the UK all in England so too far to travel to go pinch the tyres. A phone call to Brixton Cycles who had a demo confirmed it was a fun and amazing bike as the guy got all excited on the phone then passed it to another guy who was even more excited...
The Journey to the `Fat Side` had begun... no turning back...beware the power of the Fat Side...
So i bought a computer, i had about 25 minutes experience of them, as soon as i was on line i Googled `Surly Pugsley` and up popped the Surly website and there was the bike, the list of specific parts needed, all quite complicated at first but in time i kinda worked out what was needed,
Next i went onto youtube and a search popped up this film, one of 3 by the maker...
I watched and re watched the bike riding over the loose pebbles on the beach and then zoomed along the soft sand... hee hee! -:),
I couldn't believe how it seemed to float over it with out the front digging in and the traction and grip riding on and off the beach looked amazing,
The worm had turned for me...
However i had just sold and bought a new replacement Devinci freeride bike for riding downhill at Innerleithen, along the road from Glentress trail centre, where i rode that lovely Santa Cruz...
But from that day on my heart just was not in doing that anymore, i wanted one of these bikes that i could go and explore new places previously un rideable before from home on my doorstep, a bit like when i got my first MTB in 1987...
It took over a year until i finally let go of the downhill bike after weekend riding friends asking "why do you want a pugsley?" and "it will weigh a ton" and "the novelty will soon wear off" and "it will be boring" ...blah blah blah...
-:)
Eventually i sold the downhill bike and later the Santa Cruz after finally finding someone who understood what 17mmm offset wheels were about, Jake Law who then worked at the shop `The Hub` at Glentress is friends with Carl Hutchings, a previous Iditabike racer and fatbike owner, and Jake had seen his offset wheels on his Wildfire Snowbike. The Hub Shop then sourced all the essential parts needed and Jake would build the wheels and then the bike...
Scotland's first Fatbike -:) ...
I missed the purple colour and got the new batch of `Thunderbird Grey` but was so excited it did not matter. It took an hour and a half to get from the shop, through the car park and tie the bike on the rear carrier as everyone came over to see what it was and have a squeeze of the tyres!.
That first Grey Pugsley would roll over 6000 miles of coast, trails, and roads in between, and for me brought the most memorable miles of cycling that i can only describe as life changing and amazing...
I have been amazed at where this bicycle can go and what it can be ridden over, where previously it was just not possible, or was more effort than it was worth to be fun to be enjoyable...
Some early pics...
Over the next couple of years i explored our coastline here in East Lothian, the coast of Northumberland, while also rode further afield on holidays.
I rode around Harris in the Western Isles and its amazing miles of white coral sand.
I visited Sandwood Bay in the far NW remote corner of Sutherland, and also the amazing dunes of Fariad Head at Durness, dune surfing mecca...
I also got to experience cycling through the coldest winters in my lifetime and experience Artic conditions of a dry cold -20C winter wonderland...
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This film was an amazing day out...
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A film i made of riding my Pugsley was shown at The Tweedlove film festival...
A hall full of mountainbikers watched the film.. no idea what they all thought i was on riding something most of them had never seen. Watching yourself on a big screen in a cinema and the applaud after for my film was quite freaky!.
A 5 min version similar was shown at the Methow Valley Film festival and i was sent a nice t shirt which was cool...
For two years i rode on the coast alone, sometimes meeting people on regular bikes enjoying the wet hard sand, but as i had done before struggling on the soft stuff...
Then one day a fatbike came along the beach towards me... It was friend Gary Buckham who had contacted me six months earlier and like myself had to source stuff to build his from the USA.
Gary has done his own thing too with Pugsleys and has made many films having fun riding these amazing bikes...
Here is one of Gary`s superbly edited films...
"Build it and they will come"...
Gary`s was the third Pugsley colour of `Grandpa`s Pyjamas`, or pee yellow!,
There was 3 or 4 grey pugs in the UK now, i like the grey but it was not the original Purple...
I felt i missed out not getting the purple of that bike in the magazine which pages i had nearly rubbed out looking at...
Then 2 years ago something i never expected happened. Friend Martin popped round for a brew,
"there is a pugsley frame set on eBay" he said,
I clicked on and found it expecting a grey frame set which i had seen before that did not sell with a very high reserve,
But i could not believe it, there was a brand new unused Purple frame set in Ireland, bought and never built...
I put a massive bid in...
And it was on my doorstep 4 days later lovingly wrapped and packed by its owner Simon...
Friend Mike had had first dibs on my Grey pugsley frame for ages as i had planned to replace it next year with a new one, so i sold him the frame set and some old Endomorph tyres and a few spares to help him get rolling soon.
He took these pics of my retro upgrade purple pug with his SLR camera, the colour is lovely in the sunlight...
Being one of the original 30 members of the USA MTBR Fatbike Forum there had been a lot of interest in this unused Mk1 frame turning up when i posted pics of it,
I had a few emails from on line forum friends in America after posting a pic of the frame set saying how amazing it was to find an unused original purple pug and 2 emails offering to buy it paying full postage before i cut the steerer tube and built it up, that's the passion that some folk have for these bikes...
Selling Scotland's first Pugsley fatbike frame was like selling my soul to Satan looking back now, but it did get friend Mike and then several other friends hooked and drawn to the Fat side... something i have watched often from people having a shot, and then they will do anything to get their hands on a very addictive bicycle..
More friends came along - Pulled to the `Fat Side`... friend Jason i have rode many miles on the coast with...
Here is another superb film, Jason shot on a day of Sea Harr..amazing light and a favourite fat bike film of mine...
The old grey Pug would go on and do an estimated 1500 miles with Mike and he loved it.
It went everywhere with Mike too...
Here is a cool film he made on his first months riding, up North on holiday and locally.
The old Pug looked cool repainted Porsche Peppermint Green...
Before i sold the frame to Mike i had managed to crack the seat tube trying to remove a seized seat post - due to no grease! doh!
It was repaired before i sold the frame to Mike, but the frame would re crack.
Mike got the chance to buy a new black MK3 frame with the dropped top tube and sold on the grey Pugsley frame needing repaired on the classifieds of the newly formed UK Fatbike forum...
The buyer did not get around to building the bike after he had it repaired by Ben at Kinetic Bikes...and it reappeared for sale... so i grabbed the chance to get it back...
Friend Eddie offered to repaint the frame for me in a close matching Grey, which was in fact `Massey Ferguson Grey`, and we tided up the repair on the seat tube in his barn attic workshop on a cold winters night before he sprayed the frame...
And the frame was i thought retired and be hung on the wall as a memorial/piece of UK fatbike history...
Some things ain't maid to be laid to rest...
Then we had FORTH FAT Fatbike Gathering here in East Lothian.
Along with around 40 fatbike owners from all over the UK, Eric and Tyler turned up from SURLY... here for the week in the UK...
I admit to being blown away that some dudes from SURLY bikes turned up to check out our scene here in the UK...
And the guys loved their two days coast riding in East Lothian as Tyler blogged on the SURLY Website Blog
Then i got an email from Tyler saying thanks for an amazing weekend, and he said that he felt sad i was not riding my Grey Pugsley anymore, the original frame that started it all here in East Lothian, that has become the most highly populated place of fatbikes in the UK - mostly Pugsleys too. So here was a set of wheels he had brought over for Charlie Bikemongers Singlespeed event which i could have as a thank you...
Again i was blown away, a pair of single speed Krampus 29+ (Rabbit Hole rims and 3" Knard tyres) built offset for a Pugsley... -:)
So now their was a cool idea to build up the Grey Pug again, as a singlespeed 29+ 3" tyre trail bike...
I had nearly all the stuff...
Headset from the original build, Moonlander stem, Phill Wood BB, Middleburn cranks, Surly stainless sprocket and chain tugs from the Alfine project, BB7 calipers from friend Gary Buckham, so just a few wee parts to get. £120 all in would see the bike built and rolling...
Sadly the grey paint job that friend Eddie did was chipping real easy, he reckons the frame when primed had got a bit chilled when sprayed and got frosted from the outside conditions mid winter...
So i got it powder coated and got it back on Thursday after work. £30 for the frame and fork at Pentland Powder Coating
The finish is not to the standard of Jason`s old Kawasaki green coating but for the money its a bargain
Funny how things turn out... Tyler of SURLY`S own Pumpkin theme Pugsley would continue on my Pugsley, which was after all delivered at Halloween too in 2006...
This is what i like about SURLY bikes is how each frame set can be built into something slightly different from its intended purpose...
The first KramPug in the UK, probably in Europe is rolling...
Orange Pugsley sticker set -:)
I am waiting on an orange sticker set to arrive from Tyler, but had already ordered a set from Bike Man in the USA. They are happy to send out stuff here and Max who i dealt with was very friendy and helpfull...
The orange leather Brooks B17 saddle that Tom gave me as a present for lending him my Pugsley for a weekend trip last year has found a perfect home....
This bike is fun to ride... 32 x 18 gearing is too low on the road with a tail wind but ideal for trails and low hills here near the coast. The bike rides like a Pugsley, stable and comfortable. The larger 29x3" wheel diameter but has given the Pugsley an inch higher BB height so it can also be fitted with 2.35 29er mud tyres for winter, making this set up perfect for my local woods...
Meanwhile here its mid summer, and dry on dusty trails riding a KramPug and some amazing ice cream from Cools in Gullane Village, does not get much better...
The usual launch film of a new build...
Song is `Wait for the blackout` by The Damned...
click on the cog icon to view in HD
Great times, with great friends on great bicycles... Thanks SURLY
More KramPug riding soon...
Bruce, brilliant post! Great narrative, fantastic images and a lot of hard work put into the film at the end. Well done.
ReplyDeleteGood to see the old bike rolling again. The black and orange looks ace!
ReplyDeleteExcellent post, excellent!
ReplyDeleteso, I need to bring the Krampus as well as the Muk next visit :-)
ReplyDeletegreat blog Bruce, as always, interesting and very readable
Bruce, that is so classic... When I was researching my Pugsley (before spending what was {and still is} a hell of a lot of money to me) I grabbed one of those binders with the plastic sleeves and filled it with details of components needed, Pugsley photos etc, and some colour print-outs of that very same Single Track article! I also had Jakubs build-spec in there and after 7 years I think we may still be the only fat-bike riders in Auckland - a city of 1.5 million people! Hard to believe with Kiwis love of cycling and adventure and beaches bloody everywhere.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/79498713@N00/505482080/in/photolist-LEJdh
Jakub is like 3000% more adventurous than me, but his story (and those photos!!!) was very inspiring.
Loved this post, so many memories even if it is hard hearing your best bike described as a "classic" ;^)
- Antoine
Thanks folks!, Just home yest from 3 fantastic days riding in Sutherland, but first its Global Fatbike day on the Solcise, so i`m off out this evening on the KramPug! -:)
ReplyDelete