Surly Moonlander

[S-M]

Ahh right, i remember thinking

WTF
FOOKING TYRES ON THAT
WTF
TYRE NOISE?
WTF
WTF
LOOKS A LITTLE HARD TO GET MOVING (wrong gear?)
WTF
**** HES GOING, I SHOULD HAVE SPOKEN TO HIM.
WTF MENTAL.

Its the first one i have seen "in the flesh" it totally confused me to be honest

I started commuting on my bike from Tynemouth to our factory next door to NMUK so i have been using the pedestrian tunnel quite a bit, it was costing me £7.50 per day in Tunnel and petrol fees to take the car, and after a year and a half of it, i figured i would stop wasting a rediculas amount of money, next time i see you i will say hello instead of trying to unscramble my brain while looking at the tyres.

 

[S-M]

Pretty sure it was saturday, although i also went through on friday afternoon after work (around 4pm--- ish)

Sat would have been earlier as i was only in for a half day, then flew over to Whitburn for a cruise around the clifftops up towards south shields, then back over onto the real side of the river

If it was not you, then these bikes are more common then i thought

 

[saltyman]

it must of been me, i have never known another fatbike on my local loops.....bar my old white pusgley and blue mukluk, now living miles away though.

mines one of the few rare moonlanders in the uk too, think the nearest is berwick, owned by coastkid of youtube fame.

i was talking to a few lads today at the lift, mainly....WTF are those tires off a motorbike type chat

each day i shock people on this, people just are not prepared when i rumble past :shock:

if you see me again, make yourself known, and feel free to swing a leg over it

 

[twain]

i'm already planning to get one of these,and i'd be happy to change my commute route from 'coastal road' to 'coastal' just to justify it! living in brighton i have the pebbled beaches to try it out on!
although i daren't look at how much they cost for fear of shattering my dream....

out of curiosity, whats it look like with skinny rims and tyres? thats probably a stupid/pointless question.

love the thread i think Surly should commission you for this! my fave pic is the one with it mounted on your car - it completely dwarfs your Golf

 

[saltyman]

fatbikes are rather expensive, but once you have one they are ok to own and run, few examples of my past experiences.....

in 2010 i ordered a mukluk from the USA, came in at $1500 but once the money was sorted and charges paid, it was still £1,000-£1,200.

on-one are releasing a complete fatbike for £999 this year, though its being sold as a trials bike....

my 2011 pugsley i bought last year was the first fatbike you could buy complete in the uk, previously you had to buy kits to build your own bikes...£1340 posted to my house was great, last years models are around £1200 where available.

the 2012 moonlander was £2,000 complete, again pre-ordered to secure from dealer, then a few month to wait.

tires are expensive, moonlander uses big fat larrys at £90 each, but they do last, some people have noted 3,000 miles on tires, some have lasted a weekend then got shredded

i bought 2 pairs of surly nate tires earlier this year, a cool £350 for 4 tires!

you can pick up 3.8'' tires from £40-50 now though.

tubes are £10 each, but the bikes will take 3.0 DH tubes, 29er tubes and even certain motorcycle tubes, all depending on how thick you want them.

BBs are the main thing to watch, they get covered in salty water, so a good serviceable BB will pay for itself in no time (£60+) and should be the first upgrade.

again with brakes, most use the avid BB7, cheap, can handle salt water, and they are ok enough to stop a 36+lb of bike and my fat ass.

frames are bombproof, as are the rest of standard parts, just take care of that drivetrain after each beach ride and they go forever.

never has a bike gave me more smiles and got me out the house as much as these

 

[Agency_Scum]

@elpedro666,
that " someone said it earlier " was me! They truly have a " given up the stopwatch " look about them and a build that flaunts the middle digit at skinny tyred trail centre whippets.

 

[saltyman]

Too right, it's not about speed, these bikes make you enjoy the terrain and scenery, if you want fast, buy a road bike.

I don't care about the time or speed when I'm crawling over rocks at the coast or wading through a steam scaring fish out the way!

And I don't care if I'm better than the next guy as where I ride, there ain't no other cyclists!

 

[saltyman]

looking forward to attending this:

UK fatbike meet 2

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=194908

lots of the pictures in my threads are in the area where this is being held this year, cant wait to ride around for a weekend with a dozen or so fatbikes

 

[saltyman]

the moonlanders bloody ace....its now took over all cycling duties and im sticking some decent miles on it for a fatbike (357 as of 5/4/12).....with no issues to report from the past 250 miles since the new BB that died at 100 miles, a common failure on many moonlanders it seems.

the wrist and rib injury i suffered at xmas is still causing me trouble, limiting me to an hour or so for rides before it aches.....hence i ride this bike as the hybrid is just too hard on the joints.

its been used purely on cycle tracks around the city through march and april will finally see it going off road once again.

its been awhile since it lived at the lake district so no beach on the doorstep to explore, and also a relief to not be washing it daily.

tomorrow its due out at thrunton, northumberland and will be used as much as possible in the run up to the 2nd uk fatbike meet at the end of april.

i will update its progress and post pics next time, thanks for the kind comments.

 

[saltyman]

i know fatbikes are usually used for sand and snow and they are often being used for XC stuff and exploring hard to reach areas......but i have to admit i was keen to know how a moonlander would cope on the tougher terrain usually reserved for full suspension bikes.

only one way to find out......stick the surly nates on and head to the hills!

thrunton woods, northumberland with my workmate marty on his full suspension nukeproof, both bikes, sparkling clean for 5 minutes atleast.

after a short climb from the car park then a superb face splattering across boggy moorland we came to the summit of large hillside, after a little more riding it was soon time to push, then climb with the bikes to the summit!

even walkers had trouble here, its marked as a red route for walking, but no markings for cycling as i guess its just not meant to be possible and we soon agreed throwing the bikes up the hilll.....but what goes up must come down, so we carried on.

we made it!

the wind almost blew me back down though holding the fatbike up!

coming back down was interesting in more than a few ways!

no accidents though, just a great day out, both of us enjoyed our bikes so much.

big thanks to my friends, the surly nates, for getting me around safely.