Midweek cycle; quick spin after work...

 

So I think we have just passed the last official day of summer - hello autumn...

sunset is getting earlier as winter looms but we got autumn first and still some fine warm days cycle to come yet before the early dark evenings...

Tonight I went out a wee solo cycle to JMCP before sunset and took the Surly Moonlander as closest to the door...

Seafield bridge is the official name for this Bridge which usually is  referred to as Belhaven Bridge, or The Bridge To Nowhere...

The high tide was just on the return of an hour or so and I just got over the bridge avoiding wet feet, which did mean a near deserted beach  on the other side but following a very high 4.9 meter high tide - corrasponding the full moon that evening the bay was very soft - in other words beachriding when mid tides is more favourable for dryer firmer going across the sands below the high tide mark, though you won't be getting as far out in the Bay here...  

And why I took to the side of the salt marsh, with next to no footprint left from 4.8' tyres on 4' rims the Surly Moonlander wheels - which are the same wheels G and I use on the Surly Pugsley 2.0 frames, leave less of a footprint than a human does... and who probably visits the area in a car... just saying...

Evening sun was lovely...

I filmed out to the remains of the WW2 Matilda tank wreck, before returning down the soft beach, now getting more visitors nearer Seafield Bridge as the sun had now come out and the tide retreating...

1942 stamp on a bolt dates this as a Matilda II tank...

Wee film, song is Rue The Whirl` by Boards Of Canada,

More soon...

Surly Moonlander Resurrection...

 

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...

M10 - Manufacured 2010, arrived here in the UK in 2011, first of two in the UK, mine the first in Scotland, it is now 10 years old, and not finished seeing action yet!...

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...

With the rust taken care of i added some of the original parts I used for years...

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...

17" motorcycle inner tubes are a bit too tight and if you price it to cut around the tube it will tear, so marked a line with a sharpie to follow before deflating. In the future I will use 80/90 x 19 tubes on Moonlander wheels... 

Magnet on a new blade to leave a small bit of tube exposed, which helps against rim spikes at low pressures...

5 psi rear, 4 psi front...

I still need to swap out the busted rear Crud Guard and will probably rob the Thorn cranks for another Pugsley build ongoing but the old bike - well it is 10 years old is ready for the odd day out for a few year yet...

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...

Retro Fatbike cycle with the originals...

 

Out a cycle on the old originals this afternoon, G on the Surly Moonlander, myself on my original Surly Pugsley, and it is still good fun cycling these bikes that are still capable of doing what the newest Fatbikes will do on the coast...

The reason I was out on my original Pugsley was today was kinda G`s last cycle on the Big Surly Moonlander... it's getting pretty rusty now and needs a clean up and some tlc...  And G is going to be rolling on a new bike I am currently building, more soon!

The Old Moonie was a great bike when it came out, moving the goal posts of where you can cycle a bicycle even more so than the original 4" tyre Pugsley, and it still is a great bike...

Those 100mm rims on 4.8" tyres aired down to 5 psi front,  6 psi rear make it float over stuff you should not really be able to cycle over with massive grip from the big tyre foot print...

Old Pugsleys with 4.7" (4") Endomorph tyres on 65mm wide rims are still impressive and certainly roll well with the near smooth tread pattern...

Always time for an ice cream!...

Through the woods of JMCP and being midweek it was nice and quiet...

Out here is where those bigger and wider Moonlander wheels really show as I wheel spun and bogged down a bit on the Pug while G was zooming across the mud flats...

Another WW2 Mortar tail fin...

Some of the parts are coming off the old Moonlander for Gas new build, like the as new tyres, and 10 speed thumb shifter, her seat etc...

New build for G coming soon, in here favourite colour!...

Some film from today on the old faithful Fatbikes, 

Songs are; `Boards Of Canada;Buckie High (Remix)` by Alexander Lynch Totheark, 

and then `#3 ` by Apex Twin

More soon...