More Surly Krampus 29+ Goodness!


First ride: Surly's new Krampus, a '29 plus' with 3-inch tires [DIRTRAG]







With all the buzz over Surly’s new platform, I was quite excited to get a chance to ride one at Snowbasin Resort near Ogden, Utah, where it was to be unveiled. I had seen the fuzzy, grainy spy photos and had some clues as to what was going on. I knew it involved yet another new tire size. What new trend were the folks in Minnesota cooking up now?


I had thought the Krampus was going to turn out to an extension of the fat bike genre that is sweeping the nation, but no. The Krampus is a mountain bike with 3-inch-wide tires, that’s all. A fun and versatile mountain bike.

I spoke with Adam Scholtes, Surly product manager, who filled me in on everything. The core value in the design process was starting with MTB standards: A 73mm bottom bracket shell, 100/135mm front and rear axle spacing, and while the headtube has a 44mm inside diameter for use with tapered forks, headsets will be available for straight 1-1/8” forks like the one that comes with the frameset.



I wasn’t sure what this bike was about until Adam pointed out that you could put whatever mountain bike parts you like (or just have sitting around in the garage) on the 4130 steel frame. You could put any 29er rim and tire combo on there; a great starting point; but the frame is really built around a brandy-new Surly rim and tire, which are designed for each other for easy, correct bead seating. Adam went on about how you must be able to put the tire on the rim by hand, while at the same time you don’t want the tire unexpectedly coming off the rim after a blowout either.

The Rim is called the Rabbit Hole. Gotta love the names, eh? It's 50mm wide 7000 series T-6 Alu-minimum. 699g light I am told. I did note that the rim is concave so it may attract mud under certain circumstances...

Read the rest at DIRTRAG

Here is some Krampus video action.

and another video…

Videos found through The Lazy Rando

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