The Surly Big Dummy had been on my "want" list" for many years. Mostly because of my "Xtracycled Schwinn" which I used on a fairly regular basis for several years. While the longtail add on was nice, I grew to become disappointed with the set up. It lacked many things which are vital to being safe and having an enjoyable ride. Like good brakes when the thing was loaded. That wasn't all, but it was the main reason the bike sketched me out on more than one occasion.
So, I knew that a Big Dummy was the solution. I had always planned a build and in fact, I had some hubs and rims lined up for a possible wheel build, but I let other things take precedence and the project was stalled. Finally, something happened that made me kind of sit up and take note. A friend sold a Big Dummy and I nearly pulled the trigger and bought it. It was a really well spec'ed example, and it went for far less than I thought it should have. I saw it sell in 28 minutes or something ridiculous like that after it was posted to a Facebook forum. That kind of got me worked up. I should have bought the thing.
Well, another friend ended up selling one and that's the one I got. I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice! It is well spec'ed as well, but there were a couple of modifications I made to make it my own. First and foremost was the Brooks B-17 and that precipitated the move to the Paul Components seat post made especially for users of Brooks saddles.
Other than that, it has solved all my issues with the old Xtracycled Schwinn and does what I need it to do so well it is silly. I am very glad I picked this up and it has become a very practical bike for me over the past several months I've had it qualifying it as a "Bike of 2016" for me.
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