my first surly
Hello! Shami from Kamiuma here.
Before the blog, I’d like to make a quick announcement, regarding the changes in business hours for the next week.
It’s stock taking time!
August 2nd (Fri) Kagoshima Store closed (All Tokyo shops are opened)
August 3rd (Sat) Kagoshima Store closed (All Tokyo shops are opened)
August 4th (Sun) Kagoshima Store closed (All Tokyo shops are opened)
August 5th (Mon) All Blue Lug Stores will be closed, Online store under maintenance from 12:00 p.m.
August 6th (Tue) All Blue Lug Stores will be closed, Online store under maintenance
August 7th (Wed) All Blue Lug Stores will be closed, Online store under maintenance
August 8th (Thu) 3 of the stores in Tokyo closed,Online store under maintenance (Kagoshima store open)
August 9th (Fri) Online store under maintenance (All physical stores will be open)
And now, back to the regularly scheduled programming…
Today, I’m writing about my very first Surly build. That is correct, this is my first time, owning a Surly bike.
My bike history goes…Fairweather Track→All-city spacehorse→AFFINITY lopro→shamyhillborne→etc…
Looking at my previous bikes gives me the same feel when I look at graduation books. It’s a bit embarrassing to be honest.
I had the FW track before I started working at Blue Lug. Most of the parts were bought from my senpai from the school I went to. I remember building it up by my own, when I still didn’t know most of the things I currently know. Great times, it almost makes me emotional.
After I joined the Blue Lug crew, I bought the All-City Space Horse. My colleges kept on telling me that I should ride something completely different from what I have ridden in the past, so I chose this disc brake bike and built it up with drop bars and hydraulic brakes.
I went on bike tours, rode off road and went to many events with this bike. It’s a bike that opened up new doors for me. I have more stories, but I’ll keep it at that and move on. I will say that there are parts that I still use which are in these builds, which is pretty crazy.
What the hell is that saddle angle and what gear ratio are you running…? I have a lot of questions for my previous self, but I’ll let him slide for now.
Why did I want a Surly?
CMWC 2023 made me want to ride a fixie again. I couldn’t get that thought out of my mind, so I decided build one.
I originally rode an Affinity Lopro, but that bike is too aggressive for my current standards, so I wanted a fixie that I can cruise on. The following conditions were a must.
– Can install rack and basket
– Wide tire clearance
– Fender compatible
– A frame I can do some welding
These were the key elements for building a perfect fixie for the current me and I thought the Steamroller would be the best bike to do it.
*SURLY* steamroller 49
The Steamroller has a fender eyelet only on the rear end. I figured I can just weld on a fender eyelet on the front.
While, I’m at it, I might as well weld cable housing guides (Since we need to have brakes on fixed gear bikes in Japan)
I’ve been visiting Rew 10 Works’ workshop to practice welding.
Looks pretty good!
I went through my parts box and built up this Steamroller.
*ULTRADYNAMICO* cava race tires
Love these tires so far. I won’t be skidding much often, but when I do, these tires make a very loud noise.
Used an old Shimano cranks that I had.
And a DIY chainring guard to protect my trousers.
And there it is. I really enjoyed the DIY part of this build. I was constantly thinking how I can ride comfortably, and when I came up with something, I made it by myself, like those chainring guards.
I really love how it rides so far!
It’s really sad to hear that the Steamroller won’t be produced for a while. That’s also the part of the reason why I bought this frame. I knew I was going to regret not buying the frame after they were gone.
Anywho, goodbye for now.
Thanks for reading!
Shami
