Back in July, I was dispatched to Utah for a mission, to document and photograph, Surly’s new fat-bike. I was also headed there to attend the Quality Bicycle Products, western dealer round-up, called Saddle Drive. After I shot a slew of photos of the new Salsa’s, I met my contact, John Fleck (special ops edition) in the Needles Lodge for a short briefing on the features of project ‘Wednesday’. Afterwards, Fleck instructed me to pull my truck to the rear of the service pavilion, where I met him at a gun-metal grey, unmarked, company van. It was there, in broad daylight, I took possession of the ‘package’.
All of the secrecy was due to the fact that Surly wasn’t going to release project Wednesday on the general public until Eurobike (about a month later). So I’ve had ample time to prepare this report, that will introduce many of you, to the newest member of the Surly family, That other Gomez’s daughter, Wednesday.
Wednesday has a 170mm spaced, symmetrical steel frame with a 150mm spaced (Bluto Ready) rigid symmetrical steel fork in a simply. splendid, robin’s egg blue finish. My test bike, came void of any decals (sleeper mode), but our Amigos from Surly supplied us with the super-glam, studio photographs of the Wednesday, with the complete ‘rally sport trim package’, during our compulsory, mission debriefing. Wednesday comes ready to bikepack with braze on’s galore and cable guides for internally geared hubs and a dropper post…That’s in addition to being set up for more traditional derailleur or singlespeed drive trains.
The Surly track style drops mean that Spinner can make his Wednesday a singlespeed, just how he likes it! The Wednesday comes with real genuine Surly Nate tires mounted on (NEW!) My Other Brother Daryl (MOBD) tubeless ready rims. Check out the new rims HERE. Jules, from Surly, told us that the Wed. could handle up to a 4.6 inch tire. The geometry of Wednesday leans towards the Surly Krampus school of thought according to both John and Andy Skoglund, the bike’s designer. You get all of that rad-ness and versatility for an MSRP of $1,499.
I took the new Surly Wednesday down to the Pineview Reservoir for a test spin on some local Ogden singletrack. I also got out for a trail and beach ride at the Antelope Island State Park out in the Great Salt Lake. Wednesday handled the singletrack very well. The Nates have amazing traction (I haven’t ridden Nates very much before). I think I might want a pair!
The ride of the Wednesday, felt very similar to my Krampus…just a super fun and solid fatty. The beach and trail ride out on Antelope Island was visually spectacular and the Wed. floated over the really soft (salt/sand?) just like it should. Like most bikes that are at this price point, there are some things that you might upgrade in time, like the saddle or grips, but I think that it’s the versatility of this bike that will make it an exceptional value. We’ll have more data centered on ride testing the Wednesday coming up, a little further on down the trail at www.fat-bike.com!
(click any photo to enlarge)
For more information about Surly visit www.surlybikes.com