November 19, 2018

My Mountain Bike - Surly Ice Cream Truck

It has been almost a year riding my Marin hard tail and I am in the process of buying another bike; a Surly Ice Cream Truck. The order was placed 10-1-2019.

This is a fat tire bike with steel frame and no suspension. Folks say that with those big tires, you don't need a suspension, and the steel frame, along with being indestructible, has a certain sprint to it that aluminum frames don't have.

I am 6 foot 1 inch and plan to buy a Large size. This matches key dimensions (especially effective top tube length) on my Marin, that I am very pleased with. It also matches the highly scientific surly size chart:

Here are the specs from the Surly website: 
Frame: Surly Ice Cream Truck, 100% Surly 4130 Chromoly steel.
Fork: Surly Ice Cream Truck, 1-1/8" straight steerer with tapered straight blade.
Seatpost Clamp:	Stainless 33.1 collar, Black

Headset:	Cane Creek 40, ZS44/EC44
Brakes:		Tektro Gemini HD-M520
Brake Levers:	Tektro Gemini HD-M520
Shifters:	Shimano SLX SL-M7100-R
Stem:		4-bolt 31.8mm
Handlebar:	Salsa Rustler w/o logo
Saddle:		WTB Volt 142
Seatpost:	2-bolt 30.9mm

Crankset:		Race Face AEffect w/ DM30t N/W ring
Bottom Bracket:		Race Face 100mm
Front Derailleur:	N/A
Rear Derailleur:	Shimano SLX RD-M7100 12 Speed
Cog or cogset:		Shimano SLX CS-M7100 10-51t 12 Speed
Chain:			Shimano SLX CN-M7100 12 Speed

Front Hub:	Novatec 150x15mm 32h
Rear Hub:	Novatec 197x12mm 32h w/ Shimano Microspline freehub
Rims:		Surly My Other Brother Darryl, 80mm w/speedholes Tubeless Ready
Tires:		Surly Bud and Lou, 4.8", 120tpi

So, the gearing is 30 in front, 10 to 51 in back. The back is 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 21, 24, 28, 33, 39, 45, 51. I have heard the 51 back gear described as a "bailout gear". The 51 is aluminum, the rest are all steel.

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's mountain bike pages / tom@mmto.org