Pre-loved Surly Big Dummy first impressions...

[GrumpyGregry]

It is very long, but no so long it won't go in the lobby of a Southern Railway train with room for people to get round it. Bars have to be on full lock to do so but it sits on its stand quite nicely. I think it will fit in the bike space but they always seem to be full of buggies and suitcases or, grrr, unfolded Bromptons, these days.

It is very long and won't fit in the lifts at Horsham Station. The u-tubes stick out too far to wheel it up the steel channel at the side of the stairs so it has to be carried. grasping the bridge on the rear triangle means it balances well and is readily luggable by a unit my size.

It is someone else's custom build so inevitably some things won't suit. Bars are too wide, and too low, stem is too flat and too long; but given the furthest I'm likely to go is to one of the local villages (it will be doubling as winter-hack and pub bike) I'll leave them as is for now. The width does make it a cinch to steer though.

Huge tyres Halo Twin Rail but they roll well and absorb the bumps well.

The wheelbase is long so when you go over a sleeping policeman, like the one's at the local dump where I've been twice already, the second thump, as the bike wheel lifts, is later than you expect. Chain run is ridiculous and rather too low, meaning it can catch on kerbs, and on the centre stand from the marks on it, but there is an aftermarket gadget to take it up and over and out of the way.

2x9 gearing. Got me up the hill to the dump without issue. Deore hydraulic brakes.

Feels like a bit of a bargain.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Unfolded Brompton on a train. sacrilege. Wasn't that prohibition the 11th Commandment that god cut at the lat moment.

glad you like the Surly, well i think you like it

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Unfolded Brompton on a train. sacrilege. Wasn't that prohibition the 11th Commandment that god cut at the lat moment.

glad you like the Surly, well i think you like it

I will like it more when a) it stops raining & b) I've done the weekly shop from the now distant Waitrose (the buggers moved it) without using tlh's car.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I will like it more when a) it stops raining & b) I've done the weekly shop from the now distant Waitrose (the buggers moved it) without using tlh's car.

So I rode it to Waitrose. It is heavy long bike and people stare at you on it when you ride by. But the journey was no more and no less pleasurable than had I ridden my tourer/my Brompton/my fixed/my singlespeed/my etc.. The enjoyment of the journey is marred by the last third, which is in an urban DC with a 30mph speed limit that only cyclists abide by. And at the end you have to turn right on a roundabout.

Locking the Dummy to a handy Sheffield Stand was a cinch, but you do then become aware of how much longer than a normal bike it is. The back end didn't half stick out. Into the store, and the shopping list to hand I decided on a shallow trolley; really didn't want to buy more than I could fit in the bags. But essentially it was a normal week's shopping four our family of four, one of whom also has stuff home delivered. I decided to compromise a little and bough 4 toiler rolls and only 2 bottles of sparkling water rather than the 12 loo rolls and 4 bottles on tlh's list.

Which meant I had this in the trolley come checkout time

I admit a degree of nervousness about the eggs....

It nearly all went into four "Bags for Life". These are desirable, and I think almost essential, as the ends of the bags on the Dummy are not that high, the bags not being gigantic panniers, and the carriers also make for ease of unloading at the other end. A degree of thought went into the packing of the bags at the checkout so as to broadly split the load evenly amongst them on a 2+2 basis I paid and went down the moving steel walkway of death to ground level.

Loading the Dummy, which is equipped with a centre kickstand, does require some care. You need to balance the load, and try and get heavy stuff low. Largely stuffing that for a game of soldiers I just put each of the four bag in, in rotation. There would have been room for the extra water but I'd only have been able to fit more loo rolls in if I bought another pack of four.

So all straps cinched up, all draw cords tightened, all elastic toggles toggled, all Velcro flaps deployed. Damn. Had forgotten to take the lock off and stash it. Idiot.
Unlocked, and stashed lock and cable. A problem immediately arose... The entrance road to the car park, which you have to use to get to the cycleparking is an SC with a small central reservation. This meant I had to ride down a drop kerb nd turn towards the car park, not the exit, and then ride towards a gap in this central reservation and do a U-turn into the exit lane. Within a few seconds of riding a loaded Dummy for the first time. what can I say? Once it is moving it is incredibly nimble; the bars are hugely (too) wide, and quite high (but not high enough) and the top tub quite low and the front wheel can be turned beyond 90 degrees as a result, which makes for a tighter turning circle than some of my other bikes where the bars foul the top-tube! U-turn executed, off I wen, determing to ride home the long way. Or a least a long way appropriate to the frozen food I was carrying.

The Dummy only has a 2x9 drivetrain but it equipped with 3x9 shifters and mechs. I will be adding the extra ring as I have one spare and I prefer to cruise (unloaded) in the middle of the cassette. But boy do you appreciate the lower gears when she is loaded. Especially when you encounter and sort of slope. There is a certain pendulum effect from all that shopping and the bars do oscillate a bit when you remove one hand to signal. But once moving you aren't really aware of the weight except when accelerating.

And thus some minutes later I arrived home

And popped The Dummy on the stand. Taking the four bags indoors was done in a trice (must get rid of those weeds - that's six months of working overseas for you) and yes the Dummy does fit down the alleyway in the background (with just a touch of manhandling because of the width of the u-tubes. A Dummy with xtracycle wideloaders, which are about 5 inches wider, would just about go, up to a point where two drainpipes on opposite walls might block progress. Going to have to get out a tape measure.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

What's next...

Have already ordered some Surly Open Riser Bars from the ever excellent Sir Charleston De Bikemonger. I want a more upright riding position, and a narrower cockpit, and these will be a first step towards that. A shorter steeper stem may also put in an appearance. Of course, a more upright riding position may require a wider, sprung, saddle. some sort of front rack, and a crate bolt to it would seem appropriate (and will damp out some of the oscillation)

And I'm going to speak to a man about a dynohub and disc break (Alfine) front wheel and then I'll put some German lights on front and rear.

 

[RedRider]

(With judicious use of bungees you could easy carry hundreds of bog rolls aboard the top of that rack.)

Good review. Something along the lines of the big dummy is my n+1 or 2 and I do like a surly. I guess storage would be my issue with limited covered space.
How much do these things tend to go for second hand?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

(With judicious use of bungees you could easy carry hundreds of bog rolls aboard the top of that rack.)

Good review. Something along the lines of the big dummy is my n+1 or 2 and I do like a surly. I guess storage would be my issue with limited covered space.
How much do these things tend to go for second hand?

Good call on the bungees. Must get some, and a motorcycle helmet net too.

Mine is living under a tarp in the back garden.

I've seen the bare bikes, no rear racks no bags no stand go for £800 - £1100 on fleabay. The old model with the curved top tub seems to attract a premium.

I scored this for £1075 exc pedals. It was fairly local, on fleabay as BIN/Best Offer. And the planets lined up...

 

[GrumpyGregry]

today a fellow cyclist locally snapped it...

gives a good sense of how long it is.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

It doesn't look like that any more. I decided the cockpit was altogether too long and too low and too wide.
Fine for an XC-MTB but not for a bike used to do the shopping.

Before = 720mm 0 rise Race Face mtb bars and Race Face Stem

After = Surly Open 640mm 40mm riser bars from Charlie the Bikemonger in a shorter higher rise stem that was in the shed left over from frame and fork I bought off @MacB.

May well opt for some Ergon grips in the near future.