coastrider: Surly Wednesday update...

Sunday, 5 June 2016

Surly Wednesday update...

Pic by Craig...

The Surly Wednesday is turning out to be a real nice Fatbike to ride on the coast. The geometry gives a confidence inspiring ride when riding rocks,
Fitted with 5" tyres on 80mm rims it provides more grip and traction in softer sand and loose rock sections. Everyone who has a ride of it says it feels very confident inspiring in technical conditions and makes easier work on the technical stuff on the coast, while point it down hill and it has a similar confidence inpiring ride of the Surly Krampus- again i refer to the bike being like a `Fat Krampus` to ride...
The bikes ability to run 5" tyres while only having a 100mm BB is impressive, yes the tyre clearance is prob too tight to air the tyres down to sub 6 psi or have a lot of mud clearance but i can live with that to have a bike with such short chain stays which give it a lively ride,

+ advantages;
100mm threaded BB allows a budget build with any Fatbike cranks or if on a budget build any old MTB square taper cranks on a £40 On One Square taper BB if you run 4" tyres,

Bolt through axle hubs and symetrical wheels-again cheaper build options are available, like £300 Halo 80mm rim wheel set available here in the UK, so far these are proving decent wheels with a good free hub engagement,

A huge frame front triangle which would take a nice big frame bag, and multiple bottle cage rack mounts add to it`s bike packing capability...

Capable of 5" tyres while on a 100mm BB if your prepared to live with limited mud clearance,
29+ wheels fit - i would not consider a fatbike that will not take 29+ wheels as it doubles a bikes usefulness-two bikes in one...

It can fit a Bluto type fatbike suspension fork and has dropper post mounts...

So modern Fatbike frame specs but keeping in Surly`s tradition of a multi task set up frame set that can be built up on a budget if needed...

How i fitted 5" tyres...
To fit in 5" Schwalbe Jumbo Jim tyres i had to add a 2 BB spacers to the drive side on the Sram X5 crank set and then remove the second smallest cassette ring on the 11 speed Shimmano XT cassette and fit it behind the cassette to get a decent enough chain to tyre clearance...

It works just, with the wheel set half way on the rear horizontal drop out it still has a short chain stay and with a long top tube, wide riser bar on a 70mm stem makes for a great handling bike for the coast...

5" tyres make a big differance on soft sandy single track and while the Surly ICT is the flagship of the Surly fleet you have to live with a wider 120mm (press fit) BB which is not to everyones tastes
Pic by Craig...

Pic by Craig...

Pic by Craig...

Pic by Craig...

Saturday coast ride...
I was out on the coast with Craig and Stuart on Saturday, a long lazy day which would see us out until nearly 8pm-no rush to get home...
We played on rocks, had a good laugh and again had chips in NB,
Coffee at Steampunk Cafe (thanks for the coffee tab Chris!) then ice cream once back in Gullane...

Pic by Craig...

Tyre goes flat after stopping for a blether!, must have happend then sealat at bottom of wheel, re inflate, spin and stayed up after that, still up today!... Joe`s Yelllow Gel inner tube sealant working!
Pic by Craig...