QG's Midnight Special - BIKE SHOP BLUE LUG BLOG | 自転車店ブルーラグスタッフブログ

Hello, everyone. This is Santa from the Kamiuma Store.

Just as I thought the rain season had started, it ended and now the summer heat is kicking my butt. Half the year has already flown by, and my body and my mind just can’t keep up.

This weekend is finally the OMM event. Is everyone ready?

Mandatory gear, bike bags, and final bike maintenance. Are your brake shoes and pads at a safe level? Is your chain stretched or rusty? Come on in and get everything serviced so we can enjoy the event to the fullest!

That said, I’m actually really anxious that I might have forgotten something myself…

This is the bike I’ll be ridding at the event. The old gen. Surly Straggler. I swapped a lot of parts to make it suitable for the event.

We recorded this video of us talking about the preparation of the OMM.

I’m looking forward to see y’all!

Let’s get into the main topic. Today I wanted to show my college’s bike that I got to build. I was the youngest guy at Blue Lug, when I joined the team, but I’m almost 30 years old and there are now younger staffs joining almost monthly.

This is one of our new recruits. His nickname is “QG”. He joined the photographer team and works under Supply, who is the team manager. He takes photos of the bikes you see on Flickr and products you see on our website. He was born and raised in the west of Japan, so he has a unique western Japanese accent.

QG comes to the Kamiuma store (where I work) to take photos the most, out of the five members of the photo team. He got himself a T.I.E, for his first Blue Lug bike, but started to want a geared bike that can handle dirt and long distance, as he rode bikes everyday.

The bike he chose is the Surly Midnight Special.

“We seek out varied surfaces on our rides and frequently go from pavement to gravel to shittier pavement. Midnight Special allows us to accomplish all of that quite comfortably.” – from Surly’s website.

This is Surly’s take on road bikes.

I feel like shitty pavement exists all around the world. There’s so much that comes to my mind, in areas where we spend a lot of time in Tokyo, so we can relate to Surly’s take.

The Midnight Special has compatibility for both 650B and 700C wheels , with tire clearance ranging from 27.5 (650B) x 2.35 to 700C x 42C.

Since QG already owns a bike with skinny tires, he chose the 27.5″ wheels since he wanted to enjoy a seamless experience from commuting to recreational riding with fatties. Those are the Teravail Sparwood tires btw.

This is his first time riding with a drop bar. Drop bars make such a difference riding long distance, once you get a hang of them. Since this is his first drop bar and his first proper geared bike, he went with brifters, since they’re easier to operate.

Since he sees everyone’s bikes every day, his choice of parts is truly impressive.

The Ritchey components—the handlebar, stem, and seatpost were his request. I really like that worn out Flite 1990 too.

Equal brakes. I have these brake calipers on my own Surly too. They feel easy and works really well.

Again, it’s QG’s first geared bike, we built it with a 1×10 set up. Having one chainring is less complicated. Middle Burn RO1 R oad Square taper crank with Wolf Tooth Narrow Wide Chainring.

The brifter themselves are 2x compatible, so he could add a front derailleur and another chainring once he gets the use of things.

White Industries CLD Hub x Velocity Blunt SS wheels, a light weight combo.

QG said to surprise him for the bar tapes, so I chose these white Ritchey tapes. I personally love white bar tapes, since it makes bikes look fast. I know, they get dirty easily but still…

What a cool bike!