SURLY KramPug... Meet The New Boss... Same As The Old Boss...

5 1/2 years ago I started  this blog to post stuff on a fat tyre bike and its adventures and related stuff  here in a wee corner of Scotland's coast that is East Lothian...

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...

This film was an amazing day out...

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...

Continuing the Boards of Canada theme... SURLY KramPug... Some wonky quality cycle film...

Its been amazing weather so far this week, roasting hot with amazing big skies...
despite a few showers that cooled muggy temperatures the little rainfall has hardly made any difference to the drought conditions here in East Lothian. At work it is full on watering, out cycling it is full on dusty dry trails!...

Been listening to the new Boards of Canada Album TOMORROW`S HARVEST all weekend and last two evenings out cycling on my ipod and its ace!...

The kramPug lives...
Yep!, on Friday affy then again on Monday evening i took out the Grey Pugsley with its offset Krampus single speed wheel set for its maiden shakedown ride...

Your not getting to see any proper pics of it yet as i am still waiting on some stuff from the states to arrive... -:)
Unless you have stripped and rebuilt your SURLY Krampus wheelset offset with a rear hub up front then this is the first Krampug in the UK -:)

Some dodgy pics not giving too much away!...

That's all your getting to see for now!

Sadly the grey paint job which friend Eddie did a good job of for me must have not dried right being done in winter and it chips very easily -:)

So i stripped the bike down and dropped it off at the powder coaters on Tuesday after work and get it back tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. So will be rolling for the weekend -:)

Riding single speed is  a new MTB thing for myself, i cannot comment on what a regular single speed 26" MTB or 29er MTB is like, but i do like the Pugsley with the 3" Knard set up, it  has great roll over stuff like roots etc...The bottom bracket height is an inch higher but apart from that it still rides like a pug - real stable and comfortable, but now faster and its light,  it really rolls with these wheels like a Krampus does but feels a lot more xc orientated. it is more comfortable than my Karate Monkey 29er, not as snappy a play bike in feel, but more `ride all day` feel , if that makes any sense!.
I am going to have a lot of fun on this bike around here on the trails...
I will try and write up a review type thing when i make the usual `Launch` film next week like i always do with new bikes. All i`m saying is that if you own a Pugsley and not a 29er then an offset wheel set is a no brainer as the thing flies with them -:)

I did take my old SD Tachyon XC camera and shot some helmet cam and hand held views of stuff when out.

So used some tracks off the new BOC album, If your a BOC fan you will like this, if your an MTB geek then you will also like this. I thought i would show how long the `Garlic Trail` near here is and filmed it unedited..
Songs are edited into each other;

Track 1   Gemini
Track 15 New Seeds

Youtube would not allow the audio as Warp Records hold copyrights, but Vimeo will play any audio -:)

Film on the trail is a bit off sided but you can always tilt your lap top or i pad... -:)

Cycling to BOARDS OF CANADA; Gemini & New Seeds from coastkid71 on Vimeo.

Spinning the cranks - Mid Week cycling updates, Grey Pugsley `Krampug` update ...

Been cycling every day this week, the usual mid week Tuesday and Thursday early evening rides off road around local trails and coast and also daily to work and on to North Berwick after work to visit dad.
El skinto this month, but cycling costs nothing. And been busy in the Man Cave too...

Love the silence and speed of the road bike, now if friends are thinking  `lets go for a road bike ride` then forget it!,  i am liking this bike to ride to work but have no intention of donning lycra and riding with others and doing that Strava stuff etc...
In fact i have no interest in doing any group cycling at all these days, except the odd Fatbike group ride on the coast. I prefer to cycle solo these days as you can ride at your own pace and go where you want and stop and look at what you want to...

I loved the silence of the calm mornings this week too after weeks of wind and gales!.
The first mist and Sea Harr this week of spring/summer made the ride in to work for a couple of mornings cool and scenic. Every where off tarmac is wet after Saturdays deluge...

A mid week cycle
Home from work and then out on the SURLY Karate Monkey 29er on Tuesday late afternoon and did a good xc loop of nearly 30 miles in 2 1/2 hours. a loop nearly entirely off road from the Old Market Town of Haddington...

Through Haddington...

Then west on an old Right of Way...

Some easy trail under the canopy of trees...

Then a mile of tight trail like this...

Then the old part of the route i wish i was on my Pugsley Fatbike for,  a 1/4 mile slog through soft wet overgrown field boundary...

Through Butterdean Wood, great riding in here on the 29er, its slacker head angle, big bendy bars, whippy frame and 32mm rims allowing 25 psi no probs makes for a fun bike to ride the rooty trails here...

Then along to Penston. Electricity poles at the roadside are Army poles from WW2...

They come from a former WW2 Airfield, RAF Macmerry. It was a fighter station and an OTU station along with repair work carried out. Good info here on East Lothian at War Website

Some old pics i have of the airfield..

 1942 Luftwaffe Reconnaissance picture...

Bristol Blenheim...

EFC (Edinburgh Flying Club) pre WW2...

Scouts!...

Quiet here today. just the rumble from the nearby A1 and farm machinery...

Over the busy A1 and down green roads, farm tracks and a quiet hawthorn hedged country road to the south of Longniddry Village...

Onto the old Railway branch line from Longniddry to Haddington for a bit, now a nice walk and easy cycle to Haddington with a slight gradient...

Turn off at Cottyburn by the ruin of the old coaching Inn, when this minor road was part of the main road to Edinburgh...

East from Coates Farm, views west to Edinburgh's Pentland Hills and Arthur's Seat...

Nettles are up already, you can detour the first part of this old road via a field...

Clearer further on...

 View North to the coast, best of the light is gone with cloud rolling in...

The trails are muddy in places. I have read on Singletrack Forum that these tyres were rubbish,
They have to be the best all round 29er tyre for here in East Lothian!
Fast rolling on tarmac for a mud tyre, good on loose gravel, wire bead so strong walls, and real cheap,  perfect -:)

Another old road to Camptoun...

Then an easy climb up Gallows Law - been a hanging here in the past?

And through the wood at Kilduff and a good descent down to the farm road...

Little persons glove lost...

Time to head for home...

The Mk 2 dropped top tube SURLY Karate Monkey is for myself living here in East Lothian the perfect xc/ trail 29er. I loved the red Monkey i had, regretted selling it, and now this one is even better with its few changes.
It has a real comfy steel frame set that has a real whippy responsive feel when you want to wind it on a bit on some single track, decent enough speed on the road with 2x9 gearing for an MTB,  cheap to run with strong wheels, no suspension to service, and with the slacker head angle with the off set headset and big bars it is just loads of fun to ride.

With a JanDD frame bag for tools, tube, pump, compact camera and helmet torch,  and a water bottle i do not need a back pack. Removing the bottle i can still shoulder the bike if needed to.
I love this bike, a lot faster than a Fatbike on Rights of Way Trails and old roads etc, though it is still a slog on soft wet trails as any (skinny? -:) ) regular 26" or 29" MTB is...

Grey Pugsley Update;

Which makes me excited to see what the Grey Pugsley will ride like with the offset Krampus 29+  3" tyre wheel set.
I found the original headset for this bike which i did not know i still had, its ok so fitted the forks, Moonlander stem, old bars and Avid levers,  a pugsley seat post and an old seat.
I really have ran out of old parts at last to build up any more bikes!...

The Phill Wood square taper 100mm BB needs new bearings before fitting with the Middleburn cranks with a SURLY 32t Stainless chain ring - from the Alfine experiment way back.
Also got the BMX chain from that set up too.
I needed BB7 calliper's and friend and fellow Pugsley owner Gary Buckham came up trumps offering me a used pair.  I popped up to Edinburgh last Saturday to see Gary for them and catch up for a blether in his shed... i have traded him some spare stuff for an idea he is doing soon...
I had to rebuild one of them and found out how they go together here on the SRAM AVID Brakes  pdf file
just need another rear 160mm mount for them...

So just a few parts needed to finish the Krampug, but it will need to wait until pay day at the end of the month.
Single speed is something new to myself off road but i will in time be adding gears when the cash is available as the bike will be able to do so much more, but i look forward to trying it out in that set up, along with of course those light 3" 29er wheels on the Pugsley, could end up the perfect Fatbike for inland riding here in East Lothian... -:)



Thursday evening back down in the woods;
With a roaring cold wind from the North to North East i was back along to my local woods with the purple Pugsley. Only a mile from home i pass through here all the time on route to the coast but rarely go to just ride around Binning Wood, though there are miles of criss cross trails off of the main rides that spread out like spokes in a wheel from the two clearings...

It was a lot drier than last Sundays swamp fest too!, So i took my older SD Canon compact - a Power Shot A495 that only cost £60 a few years back and with the Jobe gorilla pod did some point to point filming,
Better quality than the Tachyon XC it also records good sound when out of the wind, nice to here the bird song in the woods.
Here is where i will soon be riding my single speed 29+ Grey Pugsley - The Krampug  -:)

Song is `Whites Dream`  by Plaid






Friday is Fatbike Day...
Half day finish at work, home on the road bike, a quick feed then out on the SURLY Moonlander...

The red JannDD frame bag i ordered over a month ago in April has finally arrived. Been posted out a while ago but  has took ages to get here. Now i only need to swap tool pouch and pump between the 3 SURLY bikes...

With a 5.3 meter high tide at 13.37 and a roaring Northerly wind there was huge waves coming in i had been watching from work all morning. I wanted to see this and cycled to Peffersands...

Looks warm?, was a baltic wind!, only 7 Celsius!...

Soft wet sand or dry fluffy sand, the big Moonlander eats it up...

Nearly out of beach...

Home on the trails, see you next time...