Monday, November 10, 2008

Surly Utility Bike with Mega Tires


This is a Surly Big Dummy with Large Marge rims seen at a cyclocross race apparently owned by this dude.

Those Maxxis Hookworm tires are huge! I looked them up on the web and was surprised to find out that they can hold 110 PSI! That would be great for low resistance rolling on road and graded trails. A bike like that could be a car-replacer.

4 comments:

-d said...

Nice. I didn't know they made those Hookworms. I thought the Endomorphs were the only available tire for the Large Marges.

This means my dream of an obese city bike can be a reality.

-p said...

Those hookworms are 2.5 inches wide! They are supposedly 'urban' tires. I guess any 2.5" tire then will work on the Large Marge rim.

Jason said...

Jason from Xtracycle here (owner of said bike)... Here's the deal with the Big Dummy & 2.5" Hookworms. When riding pavement, I keep the pressure around 40-50 PSI. This gives them very low rolling resistance in my mind. I ran them around 15 PSI this past weekend in Portland (see end of my comment).

Larger tyres will fit in the front fork (with no fender), but you can not go any larger in the rear. There is no clearance left between the tyre and the rear of the frame.

Also, in order to get the Large Marge rims into the frame you have to file down the cantilever brake bosses.

Lastly, check out my photos from SSCXWC in Portland this past weekend where I raced the bike as a SS (I took off the 16lb Nuvinci Wheel):

http://flickr.com/photos/slonie/3019242881/

-p said...

Jason -

Very badass to race a long tail bike. It's also is a good way to offset the crazy aggressive vibe you sometimes find in amateur bike races. I wonder, what made you pick the Nuvinci over other geared hubs like Rohloff?

I'd like to imagine that you rode the bike up to Portland, then modified it and raced it. True?