This was a dream build that I’m letting go of in order to find a car-replacing cargo bike.
I just hate the implication that this is some sort of beautiful assemblage of parts and that we should feel lucky its’ being “let go” and that we have the opportunity to purchase. It’s an ugly, poorly assembled, incomplete dream at best.
Dyno hub, no dyno lights.
Non-matchy rims, including an uggo brake track on the rear rim.
Black Thompson stem, silver Thomson post.
Sweet color anno rear hub, non-match black front hub(which is available in sweet anno colors).
Front rack not using the side-of fork crown bosses and instead using a dumb single bolt at center of fork crown.
Road-pull brake system.
Pictures of stem bag, bag in rack, bungee net, other stuff not mentioned in ad if they come with the bike or not.
I agree with John, in concept it is pretty good actually but agree with Jimmy that the parts selection is pretty wacky. The amount of Paul components suggests that the owner has an unhealthy prollyamorous relationship with the bike.
It is a recognisable but not necessarily good thing. Their $$musa parts on surly frames is pretty distinctive. For me it is less offensive in a Japanese comtext where it is more excusable to be fawning over usdm ‘romance’.
Surly frame + spendy repaint + splash of cnc’d MUSA parts + quirky alt bars + Brooks + small basket + small-batch MUSA bag/pack + overbiked tires = Blue Lug special
Don’t get me wrong, some of them look fun but even just the repaint seems like a wildly expensive thing to do a Surly.
there is something nice about a group of zealots appreciating something that has gotten lost in its original culture, or one that never really existed at all, but it’s a fine line before you become a weeb
Also, if we are still ragging on that surly, I least understand the rotor cranks. They arent musa afaik, they arent fop, they aren’t optimised for this bikes apparent use case. Even if you just wanted to $$ on cranks for that bike rotor is not where I’d expect you to end up.
When i was wrenching 10 yrs ago building a surly up like that with king and thomson and velocity was the cool thing to do. I don’t think blue lug was around then. I dont know where they got the idea from
Buncha people modified the baskets manually, Blue Lug was the one to have the bright idea of asking Wald to actually manufacture them like that and making a big enough order to make it worth their time.
Doesn’t have a publicly-available Wald part number on their website. Only few US-based stores have keyed on to the fact that they can contact their Wald sales rep and order them direct instead of waiting for Blue Lug to get them shipped across the pacific and then shipping them right back.
tbh I don’t get the point of the half height baskets. I could see dropping half for road shifter clearance, but that level of niche probably warrants custom fuckery
For me, it’s fitting the rack under drops. I was chopping down the taller Walds. My baskets get beat up from locking up around the city (and occasionally letting my bike blow over) and I’ll definitely replace it with the lower version, which should be a little tougher with the thicker wire running around the top.