Sunday December 18th 2016 - Surly Big Dummy

Saturday had a few things going on but managed to get out between showers late morning for a quick blast on the Big Dummy to make sure some of the new bits and pieces worked OK in case I had to send them back.
A few weeks ago when we picked the beast up I ordered and quickly received his Magic Carpet seat, Flightdeck with fittings and also the U Tubes, the side rails at foot level. The U Tubes I received were for the newer generation of Xtracycles and fitted on but instead of a spring loaded clip that locks them in place they came with a bolt, which wouldn't work on mine. Sent them back and was told they would order the right ones in, didn't think I would see them until well after Christmas but was surprised when they rang on Thursday lunch to say they were in and just wanted to check my address before sending. I did think that they may ask for more money as the other set in the country I seen were post Brexit imports and the price has almost doubled due to the week pound. Thankfully they didn't ask for any extra and didn't ask for any postage either. They sent them Thursday afternoon and, remembering that they are a fair size, mounted onto a big cardboard backing, they arrived Friday afternoon by Royal Mail sent from London Green Cycles, really good guys to deal with I must say. Anyway early Saturday we fitted them, put his temporary bars back on and tried them all out. Perfect! The one thing I wasn't expecting was that because the rails are further outhe can put his feet on them easier than the small foot bar close to the frame, he said they were much better and he didn't need to use the bar ends that I mounted higher up for foot pegs.
To be fair we really just used it for an excuse to go and put some miles in, he loves it which makes me very happy, he wants out on it all the time. It even carries the three of us.
Then just after lunch Heather and I were off to see Rogue One in 3D. Brilliant! More in line with the original 3 than the later ones. Loved it.

Jamie

Saturday December 10th 2016 - Big Dummy out for a run

Out this afternoon for a long ride on the Dummy to try and get some stuff dialled in.
Did about 30 - 40 miles and they were hard miles I had everything from raging headwind, dodging rain showers and riding all that tarmac with a heavy Dummy made heavier with Fat tyres A few stops here and there and a long way into town that was far longer than I thought, as usual.
I met Heather and Caleb in town at the café at the caravan park for a coffee. I was lucky as by the time I got there I thought they would have been and gone and be waiting at home. I had done the bulk of the ride getting there and so needed to fuel up for the dark dash home so I had a large American pancake smothered in cream and maple syrup, large chocolate milkshake and finished with a large latte, well it's a long ride and it's winter
One small rain shower on the way and a stop at the beach as the clouds had cleared and the moon and stars were out making it a pleasant evening ride.

Jamie

Looking ominous. Not so big out in this country The beach under the moonlight

Sunday December 4th 2016 - Big Dummy Building/Fettling

Spent Sunday night putting together some of the bits for the Big Dummy.
The skateboard deck was replaced with a proper Xtracycle flight deck. This mounts onto the rails with bolted on hooks and are very strong. They recommend these if you carry human cargo. Onto this is a Magic Carpet, this is the grey seat running on the deck. Its a very comfortable but dense padding and is in a waterproof cover with reflective piping, with the back being a red reflective material. This straps down onto the top rail at 9 points so will never move. Then I put the U Tubes on, these are the rails that run along the side at foot height. This is where things went a bit confusing, the U Tubes fitted into the rails at each end and they had 2 holes near the end of the tubes with one at each end lining up with the holes in the Dummy frame. The tubes came supplied with four bolts, problem was my frame only had a hole on one side of the tube and the U Tube holes had no threading. After a bit of checking it turns out they sent me the later tubes as the earlier ones for the Dummy have a little spring loaded pin that when it gets pushed into the frame and aligns, then the pin pops out through the frame to stop the tube coming out. To remove, just push the pin in and slide the tube out. So U Tubes winging their way back to London and older tubes being sourced, hopefully wont be too long.
Anyway its getting there, just looking for a set of Nitto Albatross bars for Caleb but just hope they are not too wide, just need something with a wide sweep for him. Maybe there is some sort of kids swept back bars. Oh and I also need another set of bar ends for his footrest, just need to find something straight with a curve at the end as the old Specialized ones I have on there at the moment are slightly curved and when mounted for foot pegs they sweep upwards slightly.
Anyway just thought I would share.


You know you can even get a sidecar type platform for the side
It's all for carrying cargo, more so than for anything else. There is longloaders for carrying things like surfboards or long lengths of timber, wideloaders for carrying wide loads.The wideloaders are similar to the U Tubes only they stick out about 4 inches further. You can put them on one side or both. This stuff is all pretty 'modular' if that's the right word and so while it all fits many different cargo bikes and xtracycles Freeradical, you generally end up with very different type builds depending on what you want to do with it. It's a whole other world and thankfully I picked up the accessories at a pre Brexit price but it's looking like I might have a bit of hassle finding the replacement tubes in the UK or Europe and the same price.
I put the U Tubes on the side so there is somewhere for Caleb to stand to get on and off, though there is a bit of the frame that comes out, it also is to support anything your carrying and also the slot between the tubing along the rail fits the front wheel of a bike no problem so you can tow a bike as well, so when I take him somewhere to practice riding his bike, I just slot it in the back and tow it.

Jamie

Sat December 3rd 2016 - Pugsley ride for Global FatBike Day

Saturday had a ride out with Brian, Colin, John and Andy for Global fat Bike Day.
It was a 10am start at Loch Kinellan (?) just above Strathpeffer for a ride through and over some big hills to hopefully end up at the burger van in Garve for lunch before heading back using a mix of the same and some new tracks. A mixture of singletrack and forestry roads.
It was quite cool, especially in the shade or when the clouds covered but it was very still, no wind at all. Most importantly no rain, a bit of mud though, but all in not too bad.
Hadn't been on the Pugsley for a bit so it was good to get out and give it a good run.
Not retro I know, but hey, just thought I would share.

Jamie

November 29th 2016 - Parts for the Big Dummy

I did arrive home to find the postman had left a large parcel.
It contained a couple of bits for the Big Dummy, it had the new flightdeck along with associated hardware for fixing it, onto this will go Calebs seat/padding called the Magic Carpet. This has reflective panels at the back and the piping down the side is also reflective. This has straps to fix it to the rails that the flightdeck attaches to, and then we had what they call U Tubes, these run along the side of the bottom rail, attaching at the front and back with hidden bolts.
This is the nice thing about this Xtracycle gear is that its all open source so will fit all machines made to the LT (long tail) standard, be it a Kona, Yuba, Big Dummy etc. So you can DIY a lot of stuff, anything you want really or you can buy certain bits from Xtracycle along with other manufacturers. It was Xtracyle that came up with the standard for their Freeradical that bolts onto the back of any 26'er 700c machine. Surly were one of the first to work with xtracycle to build a LT design of their own. The racks and spacings etc are all compatible until you get to this year when they have now released a new updated freeradical that now uses LT2 designation and Surly have made the recent Dummy only compatible with their own stuff and a limited amount of Xtracycle gear. This is why I wanted an earlier Dummy as it's compatible with more types of gear.

Jamie

Sunday November 27th 2016 - Big Dummy round the coast

Out today for a few miles around the coast on the Big Dummy.
I didn't see any women in the trees, but that because we don't really have any trees up here, but I did see some birds in a bush
While still waiting on the flight deck and seat for Caleb along with the U Tubes, the sort of side running boards, I changed/modified a few things to set it up more for us. I also changed out a few nuts and bolts and serviced everything as I don't think it had seen any use for a quite a while and I don't think it's seen any hard use. A few set up bugs to iron out with running the Fat gear on it. I don't think it's seen more than a couple of rides in the park type thing since putting this stuff on. I swapped the bars out for my tried and true H bars, swapped the ridiculously short faceplate bolts on the Hope stem for something slightly longer, bit of gear fiddling etc.
Then it was off for a couple of hours to see how it went. There was a bit of tweaking on the go as there was a few rattles and squeaks, but otherwise pretty well pleased so far. I may need to gear the Alfine a bit lower for loaded climbs but that's about it really. It worked fine today but wasn't loaded really, though it wasn't any worse when I went back out this afternoon with Caleb. This time I put the Mary bars on the back for him, though when his seat comes I will more than likely fit a set of bars that sweep back more so he can sit slightly further back.
I did a good bit of off road and only really turned back when it got a bit too wet and muddy, rode really nicely.
That's the thing it really does ride just like a normal bike and you only really notice the weight on the climbs, but the tarmac climbs were to expected to be a slog, especially running a low pressure Endomorph fatbike tyre on the front
Everything worked as it should once set up and shakedown. It's a nicely working setup with Alfine 8 speed, Hope rear hub on the front, Middleburn cranks, Hope Mini Mono brakes, Hope stem and Thompson post, clamp etc.
Back out this afternoon with Caleb, just on the road this time but it rides really nicely with the weight on the back. You don't notice it at all with regards to handling, only a bit of weight on the climbs, and to be fair, the bulk of the extra weight that I am noticing over a standard Dummy is down to the Alfine, and Fatbike wheels and tyres. Compared to the Trucker which rode nicely with his seat on it, its far more stable, the weights lower and due to the very long wheelbase it is carried well inside it, so there is no noticeable weight change on the front, sweet, so will be great for touring next spring. After the winter I will fit it with 2.5'' Marathons as I have the original forks to go back on. The Fat would just be too hard work for the more serious miles, just good fun for winter. Its a heavy beast but as long as your not in a rush it's all good fun.
Hope you all had good weather and managed to get a ride in.

Jamie

Monday November 21st 2016 - Big Dummy Question.

A friend was surprised at the Big Dummy as he said cargo bikes were new to him and this was basically what I said to him. 
The Dummy was put into production in 2007 by Surly, it was based on Xtracycles free radical, which was a rear end you can bolt onto any 26'r to make it a cargo bike. Quite a few people have come out with full frames over the last few years as they are a bit less flexible. Thin on the ground here but big in a few city hubs in the UK, mainly Bristol and London as it can carry most things or at least be setup for it, so can replace a car in the city. Plus, they are great for hauling kids. Very big in the US but with a huge following around the world really.
Do a google search for Surly Big Dummy and then click on the picture search and you will see the many varied uses for them, no two the same it would seem. Due to what you can do to them, both with premade and DIY stuff, they are very adaptable. The beauty of the Big Dummy is that it rides like a bike, and it does, you just have to be careful cutting corners

Jamie

Sunday November 20th 2016 - Big Dummy Shakedown

Work in Progress
(we just couldn't help ourselves )

**  We have some of the stuff for the back on order, there's a new proper flightdeck and some U tubes which are the running boards along the side and once we save a bit more we maybe will buy the large bags that go on each side. The rack that's on it, you can see under the deck it has a rail running a few inches below the top one, this is the P rack so I can mount my Ortlieb panniers onto it. Two panniers per side. It has an Old Man Mountain rack on the front but I may sell this and put my Surly Nice rack that I took off my Trucker onto it.

Jamie

Sunday November 13th 2016 - teaser post

I am home this afternoon after venturing to England shire over the weekend to pick up my new (secondhand) bike.
I have been dealing for a couple of weeks about it and all I can say is that it covers a few of the styles of riding I enjoy, and I can ride it with my boy
Not retro but something we have been looking at for a while.
More info will be forth coming once I get some things sorted and pics.



Jamie

Sat 22nd October 2016 - Mercian ride with Brian Strathpeffer

Brian and I had been saying for a couple of weeks that we should get out for a decent shakedown ride for our recent retro road builds, me with my Mercian and Brian with his A. Bertin.
We had made very loose plans last week to maybe go for a ride on the weekend, unfortunately I couldn't get out on the Saturday due to doing some stuff for Calebs school and then on Sunday it seemed my day was looking clear so I sent Brian a couple of texts and while still awaiting a reply I loaded up and headed south. At first that was fine but then when I got about 45 mins from home, the heavens opened and when I hit the coast at Latheron it was looking black and bleak to the south. I tried Brian again and luckily got hold of him and he said it was fine at Dingwall. That was reassuring as otherwise it would be a 200 mile round trip and about 5 hours travel wasted.
Arrived at Brians just before lunch and after a quick coffee we decided just to take a few back roads and head to Strathpeffer first and then take it from there. A bit of a rambling gentlemanly shakedown ride, or a Sunday cruise. This play it by ear type route was decided due to the heavy black skies I had outrun before catching up to me. So bikes readied, jackets on and we were off.
A nice backroad run seen us getting to the cemetery on the Strathpeffer road for a first stop to get a picture as I said to Brian I needed one for the RBotM comp which is autumn themed this month and with no trees really up my way, I was going to get one down here with all the lovely colours we just don't see.
A very short ride later seen us stopping at the Café on the platform of the old Strathpeffer railway station. We parked up undercover from some spits of rain and indulged in a nice lunch of spicy parsnip soup, bread and washed it down with a coffee. Hard work these old bikes
The clouds by this time were giving hints and warnings of what was soon to come from these black storm clouds so it was decided to head back towards Dingwall but take a more 'interesting' route.
Well we took a turn off that I know well by now, though it is by Brians reckoning, a road, just not tarmac, it is a route that we normally use our Pugsleys on. This route has several sections where you can head back to the tarmac main road every couple of miles, so thought there is a route out before the 'swampy' section.
So I thought why not, If your not up for an adventurous detour then you wouldn't follow Brian out the door in the first place.
Well it started nice enough, wide farm track with two faint tyre tracks from a tractor, as this got closer to the railway crossing it tapered down to a single mud track. Due to the recent rain and the few damp drops today this was firm but greasy clay, so a few wheelspins were in order.
From here we rode along quite a few nice pathways that had a track through the grass, with the odd detour round a barn or house here and there. We did get to the old swampy part and Brian was right, in that the farmer had widened it, as it used to be just a thin track that was overgrown so much that you could barley walk through let alone ride. Now it had sections covered in sand and what seemed to be broken up pieces of pottery and tiles, etc. The start section of this was interesting as it was quite sandy and very uneven. It was along this section that I found my headset was loosening, so a quick tighten by hand, as I carried no tools on this shakedown ride ( a sign of faith) and onwards we went. I must say I really enjoyed this part of the ride as the bike was flying and handling brilliantly, I was getting into it sliding around at the back and only wished I had some better CX tyres on it.
The next section, while narrow, felt like it should have been a road at some point as it was embedded with these small rocks, almost like cobbles, again the bike was really handling great on these. Brian seemed to be getting right into the Andre Bertin as well. While this one has seen only slight sort out rides since he put it together, it is the same as one he had many many years ago in his younger days. I also think its the first derailleur he has had since his younger days as he seemed to have forgotten how to trim the front
We then took a right turn onto an unknown to me track. I use the term 'track' loosely and just for descriptive purposes. It was, if you can imagine, a faint parting of some leaves under a tree Slowly we seemed to wind down a slope through some heavy undergrowth, to emerge into a clearing with a stream in front of us with a steep climb up the opposite bank. With this I don't mean a ridable climb, I mean, Sven Nys, cyclocross on the shoulder, pulling yourself up by tree roots type climb.
Once at the top of the climb we had a short ride through a nicely wooded area on some smooth dirt trails to emerge up above the main part of Dingwall and about two blocks from Brians. Brilliant riding to have on your doorstep and was a relief not to do the big tarmac climb up to the house, much gentler this way.
So not a very long ride but an eventful and thoroughly enjoyable ride along some back tracks I hadn't been on before. It was also a great ride on the Mercian as I was well pleased with how it handled, I felt pretty confident on it and it was predictable throughout. Brian seemed to be enjoying his Bertin and I must say on the tarmac section earlier on he was putting a fair bit of pace on to get to lunch, that's for sure. So the gears and derailleurs obviously agree with you Brian
Brian doesn't like them and I don't think he changed gear more than a couple of times all day, but to be fair, it was on an old Bertin many years ago that he had an old Simplex rear derailleur disintegrate while on a steep climb and send him flailing onto the top tube, and he yelled to the gods (in his now high pitched voice) that he would never use one again. Or so the legend goes, it may have been embellished as it went down the generations. I also told him that they have progressed and are no longer made of wood and they have more than three gears I still don't think he likes them.
It was definitely a good shakedown ride as everything was very well shaken and for me I had my headset loosen and when taking off my pedals to put the bike in the car to go home I noticed my bottom bracket was quite loose, judging by the wobbling cranks It was good fun but I think I may get some 32mm Shwalbe CX tyres and maybe even some Mafac centrepulls and have a run in some local CX this winter. I said to Brian that once I restore it and definitely if I get an expensive Mercian respray, that there is no fu****ng way it will be doing that sort of 'road ride'
Remember if you head out on a road ride with Brian, be prepared.
Hope you guys all had a good weekend as well.

Jamie

Pictures are a mix of Brians and mine.