So with G now happy with her Pink Pugsley 2.0 I of course can take the Moonlander and re spec it how it was more or less originally upgraded to from new and once in decent running condition can go into the Retro Surly Fatbike collection.
The Surly Moonlander was quite a game changer when released and really moved the goal posts on where you can actually cycle a bicycle. The Pugsley with 3.7" (reads 4" measured) on 65mm wide rims opened up what is possible on snow sand and soft gravel where a bicycled can be realistically cycled more easiblly, but when the Moonlander concept came out it blew the minds of those original Surly Pugsley Fatbike owners minds again what more was possible, and I was one of them, riding across rocks on the coast so slippy i could not walk over on foot. And once the 4.7" tyres(which were the same size as modern 4.4" tyres) were superseeded with 4.8" tyres it was agin even better!
Here is my original launch film of my bike in more or less stock trim with a few extras added... If you asked me what my favourite film I have made it is since started blogging it is probably this film, Mixing the Moonlanding footage into Gullane dunes by filming Google Earth - both using a digital camera filming a pc monitor on a trip pod while swiping along the screen with a mouse to fly along the Gullane coastline and changing to black and white, then after zooming in on Gullane cliffs with WW2 anti tank blocks, then the bike upside down with LEGO Spacemen, and then the pan the camera down and across the tank block and the concrete waves from the corrugated sheeting mixes into the wind waves on the sand dune at Peffersands was pure fluke! but worked a treat...BEEP!
First though before anything I had to sort out the surface rust from years and several thousand miles of salt water exposure abuse...
But once sanded with a wire brush it was like my original Pugsley Fatbike only just surface rust...
Getting a matching touch up would not be easy but I went for Hammerite Black and Hammerite Silver mixed as close as I could get it...
On top of this I will spray a glitter clear coat I have ordered via eBay and it will be close enough...
This was after I sorted the wheels, which new tyres had been removed for the Pink Pug (G`s Xmas pressie!) but no panic as I had as new Surly Bud and Lou 4.8" yours bought around 2 years ago in an eBay auction and squirrelled away for fututre use, this went on split tube tubeless using motorcycle inner tubes - the go too tubes for Ghetto tubeless on 100mm rims - you have to go Schrader valve though, but as you probably know I have for years said high pressure Presta valves are pointless on low pressure Fatbike wheels and have from day one ran with Schrader valves...
And after riding the bike last weekend with friends I was reminded how good this bike was - and still is today in its design and how it rides, popping a few wheelies along forest tracks it has an amazing balance point, probably the best of any Fatbike I have owned, though not sure if I could do this again... and wheelie the length of Gullane beach... those were the days!
More soon...
