The finished product. This is a size medium.
Wednesday is Surly Bikes’ latest iteration of the fatbike. Starting with the Pugsley and the Moonlander bikes, then bringing out the Ice Cream Truck a few years later- in the meantime inventing the 29+ standard with the Krampus and ECR bikes- Surly appears to be looking for the sweet spot in the crowded fatbike market. The fact that every bike maker now has a fatbike in the line means that there are new standards for components such as hubs and bottom brackets that are specific to the unique requirements of fatbikes, and the Wednesday takes advantage of the resultant economies of scale.
There’s Fat and There’s Fat
The Wednesday comes stock with Surly’s 80mm wide My Other Brother Darryl rims which will fit either the stock 3.8″ tires or up to 4.6″ tires. If swapping to the bigger tires all that needs to be done is to slide the rear wheel back in the horizontal dropout for clearance; the fork is wide enough for the fatter tires. Rather than offsetting the rear triangle and wheel in order to use a traditional 135mm rear hub, à la the Pugsley, the Wednesday uses a 170-177 rear spacing, depending on what type of axle is being used; 10mm or 12mm. The front fork uses a 150 x 15mm thru axle. The bike will work well with a 100mm suspension for as well.
80mm rims for 3.8-4.8 tires.
Frame Considerations
The head tube on this bike is over-sized at 44mm. I guess this is from the mountain bike industry because many suspension forks now come with tapered steer tubes and in order to retrofit a fatbike with a suspension fork, a bigger head tube is needed. Still, suspension on a bike with 4 to 5″ wide tires? Seems redundant and unnecessary. Using a Truvativ (SRAM) double chain ring lets Surly use a “standard” 100mm bottom bracket shell which still allows moving the chain out far enough to clear the big fat tires.
The Wednesday uses a 44mm head tube.
100mm bottom bracket shell.
The Wednesday and the Ice Cream Truck both get a 30.9mm seat post.
Sram X5 rear mech.
Sram X5 shifter pods
Hayes MX Comp brakes front and rear with 160mm rotors.
This is the port for an internally routed dropper seat post.
Plenty of mounts for bottles, racks, Salsa Anything Cages, etc.
The Surly catalog says the “Wednesday sits in the middle of our ride-anywhere Pugsley and the modern trail geometry of the Ice Cream Truck”. I’m not sure what that means relative to ride characteristics, but the Wednesday and the Ice Cream Truck both have shorter seat tubes and longer effective top tubes as well as longer overall wheelbase for a given size than either the Pugsley or the Moonlander bikes. Apparently, also according to the Surly catalog, the ride of the Wednesday is similar to that of the Krampus, their 29+ bike.
Touringguy January 24, 2016, 4:51 pm
Great FATTIRE post! Being one who loves touring, fully loaded with Ortlieb front and rear w/handlebar bags, I have often considered a fat tire bike that I could put my existing panniers on to do extended trips on islands…. I have not seen any FT bikes loaded in this manner though. Usually they have inner triangle bags w/backpacks. Having toured the Outerbanks of N.C. several times and the Adventure Cycling east coast route to Bar Harbor and back, the thought of beach cycling Hatteras Island and Portsmouth Island has been on my mind. Fat Tires required! Any suggestions, comments, pics of FT bikes so equipped, would be great. Also is the standard gearing suitable for “fully loaded” on sand? Thanks IB the touringguy..
Bike Hermit® January 24, 2016, 5:19 pm
Touringguy,
I think the gearing would be low enough for loaded touring on sand but I think the tires would be the limiting factor. I would think one would definitely want 4.6″ tires. The Wednesday comes stock with 3.8’s but the bigger tires will fit using the same wheels/rims and sliding the rear wheel back in the dropout.