Slow Day At The Office

The current state of the Snow Dog

Wednesday was cold, dreary, and it rained/snowed/sleeted almost all day. It was an awesome start to November. (sarcasm alert) Yeah........soooo exciting! 

I ran an errand on the 1X1 across town, then I piddled around the house doing things I should have gotten done when it was Sunny, nice, and I wanted to get out and ride. We need the dreary days, that's certainly true, if not for anything else but for getting those "in the way of cycling" chores done. And rest. We should rest sometimes.......

I haven't been motivated enough to get out in the windy, cold weather on gravel. It has been very windy here of late, and just riding around in town has been a chore in acclimatizing oneself again to cold weather riding. I imagine once the shock of it wears off I'll be out there again. It was only a week ago I was riding coatless out in the country. Not anymore!

This colder weather has hit sooner, it seems to me, than it has for several years. I know we've had decent, snow free roads till December for several years now. I'm hoping that is the case again because not only do I need to ride more country roads, I need to get going on Trans Iowa recon!

So, I have been riding the fat bikes more again. I haven't busted out the Blackborow yet, but the Ti Muk and The Snow Dog have been in the rotation quite a bit of late. It just seems like fat biking weather to me again, what with this onslaught of cold, windy weather we've had recently.

The Ti Muk from a recent Dirt Home From Work ride on the banks of the Cedar River.

I was thinking about redoing the Snow Dog with some new bits, but instead I just popped on a new 9 speed chain, which was all it really needed. I saw that the powdercoat is bubbling off the chain and seat stay braces pretty badly. The old dog is nearly seven years old now. That frame is woefully outdated, and the components, while serviceable, are tired and old as well. The frame/fork owe me nothing. The Snow Dog has given me a good life of service.

Surly's Wednesday frame/fork- Possible Snow Dog upgrade.

I could do a new powder coat, and that would keep it going, I suppose. But I was also thinking I could just as well upgrade to something a little more modern, useful to me, and also be able to swap over all my components with the exception of the seat post and headset. That upgrade would be a Surly Wednesday frame/fork.

Yes, the Wednesday has a 150mm spaced front fork, but....My spare Ti Muk fork would go right in there and look fab, since it is black. Then that solves the issue with having to switch hubs on the front wheel. The seat post size is a dropper standard 30.9mm, so my current 27.2mm would have to be shimmed if I wanted to use it. Essentially, I could use everything I already have but the head set, and I may even have that at work in my tool box. Potentially, I may need nothing but a seat post shim. But worst case scenario, it would be what I stated previously for parts, and that isn't bad at all.

The Wednesday does have bigger tire clearances than the Snow Dog, it has all the same, expedition type braze-ons, and eventually I could upgrade to the wider front hub and have everything up to snuff with regard to "standards". Besides, the Wednesday has through axles compatibility as well, which the Snow Dog does not have at all. The head set is tapered steer tube compatible, and the Snow Dog's is not, and neither is it suspension fork compatible. Upgrading the frame from the Snow Dog makes a lot of sense. It would almost be like coming from the 90's in to the teens of the 21st Century in terms of upgrades.

Will I pull the trigger? Maybe. Probably. I don't know...... These are the things that happen when you have too much time on your hands and it is slow.