Recently online Surly announced the end of production of the Surly Pugsley...
The end of the original production Fatbike that through several versions has mainly remained the same. Despite advances in Fatbike designs and stuff the concept still offered a basic frame set that with a 50mm or wider rim allowed 3.8" (4") tyres or widest available 4.8" (5") tyres to be used (on the newer 2.0 Pugsley)while still using run of the mill available for decades regular mountain bike assembly parts...
My love affair for the Pugsley started over 12 years ago...
You can read about that Here...
I have bought and sold many Pugsley frame sets and bikes over the years, over 12 or 13...
Sourcing parts when they were going cheap as folk upgraded to newer more shiny or lighter parts, those Pugsleys were sold on to new homes and owners who were and some still are riding them...
I have built them up with all variants of builds;
Alfine Internal 8 speed hub (IGH)
Singlespeed with reversible wheels for different gear options....
29+...
Drop Bars, flared drop bars, Jones Loop bars, Flat bars, Riser bars, Moose Bars....
Fat tyre BOB Yak trailer...
Front and rear racks...
Bike packing etc...
And now with a Moonlander fork fitted you can fit Surly ` Clownshoe` (Moonlander) 100mm wide rims and 4.8" tyres that will bolt straight on with loads of tyre clearance on a new Orange 2018 Pugsley 2.0...
Two things being a Fatbike rider for over 12 years and one of the 1st in the UK to use a Fatbike for regular xc cycling begs the question...
Why after bringing out the Surly Pugsley 2.0 which also fills the gap of the (discontinued) Moonlander as it can also fit the widest available wheels - 100mm rims on 4.8" tyres while still using a basic threaded 100mm BB and cheap to source parts like 1" 1/8th headset along with £20 square taper bottom brackets and any old MTB cranks that fit, is... why discontinued it?...
Yeah, why stop with it's wheel set availability of any other 29er wheel set frame set bike that if you do not mind the 100mm BB design is a frame set that lends to more build options than any other Surly frame set?...
Can only be down to Sales and Marketing what the mainstream cycling are doing and a different group of folk now working at Surly to the original Surly crew that designed the Pugsley and other Surly frame sets that set the company apart from the usual marketing... and that's sad...
All the original names of Surly have long left the ship and it seems to now be just run like any other bike manufacturer following the fleet like sheep... the new ranges seems to show that...
The ICT and Wednesday are fine bikes, but both require specialist running parts like wider hubs and crank sets that cost more...
And there is little website blog posts of stuff different to other bike companies stuff these days, the latest new models are just other 29" variants, stuff that's all ready been available for years by Surly and Salsa along with every other company...
What the hell...
If that's the story then I`m not that worried... I got enough frame sets to last my life time, and I recently ordered another size large Pugsley 2.0 frame set when I read their unavailable now here in the UK and hard to find in the USA, I found the new large Pugsley frame set via Italy at Starbike...
So I'm sorted for my cycling as long as I am able with bike frames sets and wheel sets - that's a spare 8 wheel sets in the new garage!, 5 Pugsley and Moonlander forks, and boxes of parts to keep our 4 bikes rolling for years...
Hail the Pugsley 2.0!
Wee film from yesterdays 1/2 cycle at Peffersands, just to try out other settings on the new Go Pro HERO 8 Black camera,
Song is `American Dream (Radio Edit) by Jakatta
More soon...
Great article, with a bit of strange expressions for my ears:-). You must be one of the last mohicans of Pugsley world. I mean Pugsley community is very very weak, and if I need decent mechanical advice about at least how not to do- it's barely impossible. There are few people posting photos on FB page, but that's it. I'm building my 2.0 Pugsley for the moment as well. But have to make decisions on my own. Nobody knows about this bike at all. If someone knows, keeps his knowledge tight. Bad community or it's no community at all. And it's very pleasant to see someone dedicated to Pugsley so much☘️��
ReplyDeleteHad a Pugsley for 1600 Kilometers or two years. Bought a Tumbleweed-frame and moved almost all parts, if possible. The Pugsley-frame was set up for sale, but no one was interested. This article here is one of the reasons to keep this frame and build it up with fresh powdercoat in 2021...
ReplyDeleteThanks from Germany
Christoph
Hello. Just discovered your informative blog on the Surly Pugsley. I have managed to get hold of a frameset but am slightly concerned about the little choice in rims that can be built with an offset. Do you have any recommendations? I am thinking of starting with something around the 65mm rim width. Any advice gratefully received
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