A few weeks ago I mentioned that William Salefski, an American citizen working in Ukraine, saw the article about the Surly Necromancer Pugsley that Zion Cyclery custom-built for me and he decided to wanted one tricked out the same way. He visited Zion, Illinois in early July to pick up his bike and then shipped it to Lviv, Ukraine. Last week he sent me a note to let me know that his bike made it safely to Ukaine and I asked his permission to share a few photos with you.
Look at the smile on his face! I’ve seen a lot of cyclists with their new bikes—some people have a grin, triathletes usually have a look of pain, but a new owner of Fat Bike always has an ear-to-ear smile on their face!
In his note to me Willaim said, “The roads in Lviv are mostly made of cobbles, and the Pug eats them up. Half a bar tire pressure. There is also some road repairs being done, and the Pug rolls right over the sand. The winter snow will not be a problem.” (By the way, half a bar of tire pressure is equal to about 7.5 psi)
Look at those cobblestones! These beautiful cobblestone roads survived both Soviet and Nazi occupation during WWII and they remind of roads in the Paris-Roubaix race (my second favorite bike race in France).
In William’s second note to me he said, “Well, the smile from the first ride was the sheer fun of riding a bike that is unlike any bike I’ve ridden before. Having ridden bikes with 30+ pounds of pressure, the Pug feels like riding on a cloud. Over here, it’s even more pleasant since the big tires just eat up the cobbles in the city center. I can ride the Pug faster than my normal commute bike, a Swobo Dixon with Marathon Plus tires, on the cobbled streets. I like it better than my full-suspension MTB on the cobbles. However, ‘nimble’ is not the word to describe its handling. But I really enjoy the different handling. It reminds me of my FJ40: not the fastest or most agile means of transport, but it will roll over anything. I can’t wait to get some snow on the ground to try it out.”