Pimp Your Pug!

Both Pugsleys are alive and well!, and ridden a couple of times a week this now through the winter months...

Grey Pugsley;
The original grey Pugsley which became the 29+ KramPug during last summer has now evolved into the sub £500 budget fatbike using existing spare parts. The bike is a solid and reliable build, if not the lightest...

I now do not really want a fatbike with a value of over £1000. My Surly Moonlander is probably only worth this now it is over 2 years old. My Pugsleys are worth around £600 each.
It is enough to spend on a bike that will be ridden through the salt water on the coast, and also locked up outside a cafe or pub, or Tescos etc... and they are less to insure on the home insurance.

Last weekend i enjoyed riding friend gibbonarms (Mike!) s On One John Deere Fatty theme bike on the Saturday then again on Sunday after our Global Fatbike Day ride...
A great example of a fun bike that looks great but did not cost the earth.

I was talking about the cost of bikes and yeah they cost £1000 or near double that to buy new, but once they are older they just get better!, no worries about scrape's and damage devaluing them, you have so little to lose so just ride them!.
Theme bikes like Mikes JDF are cool. I have always liked Martins "La Pugsdozer" he built out in New Mexico a few years back. Here is the USA MTBR Forum post on Martins bike; Le Pugsdozer

A new theme;
The Pumpkin orange and black theme is going onto the new KramPug build. So the old grey Pug-currently black is getting a new theme to breath new life into the old bike!

I always loved my Tonka toys as a kid!, remember this advert?



Yeah!, the old Pug is getting stripped down after new Year and the frame, forks, rims, bars, and a rear rack are getting a cheap £50 powder coat at Pentland Powdercoaters in Edinburgh in some Heavy Plant Machinery yellow!

New Pug frame build;
The new Pugsley frame arrives soon. Being bought for it`s dropped  top tube giving more stand over clearance-needed for the taller 29+ Krampus offset wheels.The bike is my alternative to a Surly Krampus but can also take 4" fatbike wheels.
The Jones steel truss fork is getting fitted to try it on a Pugsley. do not know if i will keep it on the bike long term. I may sell it to keep the bikes costs down, and use the money to fund a new waterproof compact camera-much needed for blogging!.


The Purple Pug;
The purple Pugsley is the Purple Pugsley!, used now when cycling with my girlfriend Francis. 
Some beady eyed friends spotted some shiney polished parts on the old Pugsley when i posted a film from a beach ride a couple of weekends ago when we took Mowgli- the fatbike mad hyper spaniel! to John Muir Park for a beach ride. Mowgli loves to run along side the bikes!
Some film
Somg is "Here we are"  by  Bloc Party
click on the cog icon to view in HD




I had indeed been polishing bike parts!, i decided to spruce up the purple Pug after seeing the pictures of the Ltd edition maroon red Pugsley brought out 10 years since the Pugsley concept. check out the gum wall Nates!!!...

I decided to make my own special Pugs and  "Pimp your Pug"!!!...

I bought a £12 polishing kit on eBay, and a lot of `wet and dry` sanding paper...

A couple of weeks back was a damp cold spell so ideal to get stuck in to the job. Stove on in the man cave...

And i buffed off the black anodising on everything using a small wire brush wheel on the drill...

Then hit them with the 3 polish mops and soaps. I added a £18 alloy retro stem from eBay. then raided the goodies box for the future Jugsley 29+ KramPug for the silver BB7 road calliper's, Micro shift thumb shifters,  and swapped the gold headset for the alloy one on the Moonlander.
With the big parts-the rims and cranks done, i have since just spent a half hour in the man cave each evening after getting home from work on the smaller parts; handlebars, seat post, seat clamp, bars, bottle cage, rear rack, bar ends....
Got a bit tedious to be honest!, and i do not have a lot of patiance for doing stuff like this. The finish is not perfect, but i did not want a mirror finish as the frame is not perfect. My bikes are built to be used and so get scraped and dented so the finish once i used a clear lacquer spray to protect the polished alloy against the salt air and sea water on the coast looked ok. Once some gum wall Nates arrive it will look pretty cool!

The plan is to fit a Shimano Alfine 8 speed internal gear hub-in silver of course!, and use the Surly single speed chain and chain ring currently on the Karate Monkey single speed 29er, the KM 29er will then get the Pugs gears for it`s new roll... this is what i love about my bikes-how i can swap around parts to build new rolls for the bikes.

Bikes; Meccano for grown ups... -)