A visit to Surly was inevitable, given its pre-show release of the Moonlander bike – a snow bike that takes astoundingly huge/impressive/silly 4.7in Big Fat Larry tyres. It’s a bike that makes the Surly Pugsley look ‘normal’. The Moonlander runs offset cranks that carry a middle and granny ring. The Big Fat Larry tyres will just fit into the Pugsley too if you run ‘small’ 60mm rims and can do without four or five biggest sprockets.
Anyway, back to the Moonlander – which was shown in a sparkly black metalflake paint and drew impressed and/or confused spectators in with its enormousness.
Looking rather stealth and svelte in the corner was the new Pugsley - it must be the slimming colourJust a few random Surly stickers...
Surly also showed its Troll bike – a kind of geared 1×1 frame if that makes sense – with all sorts of braze-ons and mounts on it. There’s now an Ogre, which is a 29in wheel version. Talking of the 1×1, that frame has had its top tube lowered and rear disc mounts changed so that you can actually get the wheel out without unbolting the caliper…
The Troll. Like a 1x1 with gears.Double drilled rims to either run them normally, or very offset, like on the Pugsley's offset back end.Big, bigger and huge tyresSpace 1999 graphics and sparkly paint!100% of people passing this bike have squeezed the tyres and poked the sticky-out bits of rim strip in the cutaway Clown Shoe rims. It's the law...Room for a hand's worth of clearance - with 4.7in tyres on 100mm rims!Comically big tyresAll the Q-Factor and a front mech in another county
Next door but one to Surly is Salsa. Salsa has a new bike, the Horsethief – like a Spearfish on steroids. It runs a longer 120-140mm fork, has 120mm rear travel and has 142mm rear dropouts. We like the look of it so far…
The new burly Salsa 29er HorsethiefThe skinny Horsethief seatstays. We're not sure about hiding the frame name all the way back here though.Pretty paint for the Mamasita 29er frame.Salsa's Spearfish has been massaged for next year too. Still 80mm of enduro-race travel, but now with 142 Maxle option (though not on this one by the look of things)
There’s a new paintjob on the Chili con Crosso – though interestingly the disc-only La Cruz ‘cross bike was absent. Perhaps Salsa is saving it for us for Interbike in a week?
Black and blue - a 'cross racer's favourite colourscheme?
With 23 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)
Oh….El Mariachi gets a 44mm headtube.Pester them about an alloy selma whilst you’re at it boy.
The “no step” sticker on the front mech of the Moonlander is genius.
I want a Moonlander so much. Like that thread earlier this week – I want one even though I have absolutely no use for it whatsoever.
In fact I need one. Badly.
*wants a moonlander*
(but in sparkly cherry red please)
That’s a really weird photo of the “Chili con Crosso”, minging.
And I really want a Moonlander, just because.
Anyone know if those Surly stickers are available to buy?! Love the “No new Black” one!