You know by now that Surly’s Moonlander picks up where Pugsley left off. The phat bike accomodates staggeringly wide 4.7″ tyres on 100mm rims; such a large footprint allows you to ride them at very low pressure, and like a snowshoe enables even greater traction and float over all kinds of terrain…wet stuff, roots, rocks, pebbles, gravel, sand, and many types of snow.

Like all of their framesets, the Moonlander is made of Surly 4130 CroMoly steel, and features 135mm-spaced, 28mm-offset, rear-loading Surly horizontal dropouts (track ends) with a derailleur hanger…meaning you can set it up as a singlespeed or geared bike, derailleured or internally geared. The bottom bracket height gives you clearance for bushwhacking and monster-trucking. The dropped and gusseted toptube maximizes standover height. And the tallish headtube allows you to set your rig up with a comfortable riding position for those long days grinding out miles in the saddle.

A disc mount allows you to use a front disc brake caliper with a 135mm O.L.D. rear hub, or with a 135mm-spaced Surly front hub. Mid-blade thru-eyelets and lower rack barrels are included for installing fenders and racks. Offered as a frameset and as a complete bike, the components were chosen for their durability and their suitability to the task at hand. The guys chose Microshift thumbshifters because they allow you to shift even when wearing mittens. To accommodate the Clown Shoe rim/Big Fat Larry tire spec, the frame design pushes the chainline even farther outboard than that of the Pugsley, so they spec’d Moonlander with their new MWOD crank system. The MWOD (Mr. Whirly Offset Double) ditches the big ring and moves the middle and granny ring outboard. The 2 x 9 drivetrain offers the gear ratios most applicable to a bike of this type while avoiding chain/tire interference.

For the latest one, Surly have changed a few things. The 120tpi Big Fat Larry tyres now have a lighter casing, allowing greater conformation to the ground it’s rolling over and reducing rolling weight. The fork is offset like the frame to allow front and rear wheel interchangeability. And they’re now offering an extra large 24″ size, available as a complete bike and also frameset.

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