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Surly Bikes

2013 Surly Bikes

Surly Bikes was established in 1998.  They produce frames, bicycles and bicycle components.  Distinctive components made by Surly include the Dingle cog, cranksets with separately detachable spiders, reversible chain tensioner, and the "Large Marge" an unusually wide bicycle rim. Surly also sells lifestyle items such as wool jerseys and flasks bearing the Surly logo. In 2005, Surly began selling the Pugsley, the first mass-produced mountain bike with extremely large volume tires ( Fat Bikes! ), up to 4 inches wide, for deep snow and sand riding. The front and rear wheels share a common hub size and can be interchanged, allowing for additional gearing combinations. Noted bicycle technical authority Sheldon Brown said, "Pugsley is, in its way, as revolutionary as the original mountain bikes were in the early 1980s. 


New for 2013 - The Surly Krampus!

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about fat bikes such as our Pugsley and Moonlander, bikes with massive 4 and 5? tires designed to crawl over and through unusual or difficult terrain. These types of bikes are all about stability, traction, and floatation.

The Krampus is not the same animal. True, it’s got bigger-than-usual tires (29 x 3? Knard tires on 50mm Rabbit Hole rims, to be exact), a platform we have dubbed “29+”. But as you may know, we’re not the kind of people to just throw on bigger-than-usual tires for no reason, or to attract attention. While the big tires are impossible to ignore, and do in fact offer increased traction and some degree of float, don’t assume that these big tires are only for slow speed crawling. The Krampus’s frame (geometry, tubing diameter and thickness) has been designed with a long toptube and as short a rear end as we could get away with. This, when combined with the big, wide tires, results in a mad amount of rolling inertia and grip. It can go real fast. It responds well to body English.

So Krampus rolls fast, holds speed, corners like it’s on rails, etc. At this point you may be thinking, “Wha? Surly make race bike?” Well no, not exactly. It’s still a Surly…durable, slightly overbuilt. It does exceedingly well rolling over all kinds of stuff, things you’d normally think you’d need suspension to tangle with. Krampus lives somewhere between bushwhacking, speed racing, and back lot dirt track riding, and all this makes it just plain fun to ride.

Hub spacing is standard 100mm front and 135mm rear, with rear fork ends that accommodate a derailleur or singlespeed set up. Krampus features our Trip Guides for running full length derailleur housing and brake line. Note that there is no housing stop for a front derailleur, as it was designed to run a high direct mount standard front derailleur. This type of derailleur will allow the most clearance at the tire. Even though there is no need for frame offset as on frames meant for 4 and 5? tires, chain and derailleur clearance at the tire remains a serious consideration. It breaks down like this:

If you plan to use standard width rims and tires, you’ll be able to run a normal mountain triple crank. However, if you go with our 50mm rims and 3? tires (and why wouldn’t you?) then plan to use a 1x or 2x crank…a triple simply won’t clear the tire. For best chain/tire clearance, we recommend either a Surly MWOD 2x crank or a 1x system. Other brands’ 2x cranks will work but may cause some chain-on-tire rub in the easiest gear combo. Got all that?

Someday, when the bicycles and insects have merged their lineages and become the dominant, unstoppable race on the planet Earth, Krampus will no doubt be this new species’ Sarah Connor. We’re looking forward to it.