you should absolutely watch this.

Heading over to my homeland for our annual trip to Vilas County for several days of supper clubs, tall boys, and plenty of gravel miles.

Which of course means we won’t be seeing each other until next Tuesday or so.

So in the meantime, get inspired for the weekend early with these pictures of kids I would totally party with.

dude, tiger hugs.

picked this up today thanks to some apparently absentminded utility worker.
just the thing for future CHUD missions.

(notice how I didn’t take the easy way out with a man hole joke)

Using all of my powers of persuasion and pro blogger credentials (fucking-A-right) I somehow managed to sweet talk my way into a Surly Krampus to ride the piss out of and make my very own.

As you can see, this is not the standard green but a color that Surly calls “Bruised Baby Blue.” It is a way less costly paint job than the sparkle green and was done as a special pro deal color for QBP employees in order to keep the costs down.

Having a limited edition color is cool, but not when all of your riding posse also has the same one.

So the first thing I did was get out the old heat gun (contrary to what the picture might hint at, I did not use the lighter) and get rid of those white decals and plain black rim strips. Now you know from the look of All-City’s that I detest an excess of frame stickers so the “fatties fit fine” and model name stayed off, with only the black headbadge and downtube logo coming back..

I also got a hold of my friends at Answer and Hayes for a fresh set of hydro’s in place of the stock cable actuated brakes. They came through with a set of Hayes Prime Expert’s that feel great and have an awesome reach adjust, and a new set of bars and stem.

Huge thanks to my man John over there! I appreciate and will kick the shit out of all this stuff. Promise.

This is how it turned out, photographed on it’s first real ride Sunday night.

First impressions are that it rides way more similar to a regular bike than my Pugsley, but still has plenty of what the ol’ Mark$ter likes to call “fudge factor” with the ass saving capabilities of big rubber. It also wants to play, and rip. The Pug is a stable battleship, this is the world’s biggest BMX bike.

Surly refuses to call it a fat bike, since they feel that it’s trail capabilities warrant a different descriptor (in this case 29+), but it’s definitely not a regular bike either, though it may just be the perfect combination of the two.

95% of the capability of the fat bike with far fewer trade offs, and a geometry that makes big kids smile.

Stoked to ride it on trails and get real familiar over the coming months.

Here are the photos from the maiden voyage.

Andy sent over this photo of his latest creation, a real nice custom applique back pack.

looking good.

misty morning commute

good little video featuring the one and only Stan Beaver.

PDW 3wrencho from PDW on Vimeo.

CULT RUSS BARONE from Cult Crew on Vimeo.