Adjusting his lifestyle to live a more fun, active, healthy and environmentally conscious lifestyle, Matt Daly purchased a Surly Big Dummy to justify parking his car permanently. And he is STOKED! Of course we’re stoked for him too. You can find yourself living car-free with a Surly Big Dummy too! Here are a few excerpts from Matt about his sweet new whip:
Matt’s New Big Dummy from Bike Wire on Vimeo.
“Smooth ride with 50lbs of groceries and beer.”
“The new Stoker handlebars are great.”
“I have to say, in my experience, your shop has the best customer service of any business in town.
It was so much fun to work on this bike with so many folks there who shared the excitement.”
Thanks for paving the way Matt! Keep sending us photos and stories of you car-free lifestyle!
Bergy’s Article on E-biking the pass
For the longest time I’ve wrestled with the fact that I live in Victor, but work in Jackson. I love Victor and I love my job, but hate spending time commuting in my car. Sure I sometimes carpool, which is nice, or take the bus which is great, and I have even biked, which, while totally awesome, is not sustainable every day.
For the last year I’ve been researching electric biking as a car/bus/traditional bike alternative. Electric biking , referred to as E-biking, or pedal assist biking, is where an electric motor is attached to your bike giving you a boost while making you feel like superman.
At the shop they brought in a test kit to demo. Looking at the specs I thought it might be powerful enough for the pass and have a large enough battery for the distance. The model I tried was the bionx 350 which was mounted on a cycle cross bike.
First, if you haven’t tried one out yet, do it. I got on the bike and started laughing. The ease of starting from a dead stop was incredible. I test rode the bike over the hill on a very cold rainy dark afternoon. A few cars actually pulled over asking if I needed a ride. My response, “heck no, this is fun!” I was flying. I clocked from PSB in Wilson to the top of Teton Pass in under 27 min! I was breathing, but not seeing stars, and not feeling crushed. On the assent I never saw my speed drop below 10mph and at some points I got up to 15. On the backside I charged the battery in regeneration mode, which is like down shifting, and I had more than enough battery to make it back to Victor.
I rode back Tuesday morning, only instead of rain, there was snow. With two days of riding in numb limb inducing weather conditions I should have been cursing, instead I was singing. Simply put this is a game changer for commuting. I hope to have one soon. I’ve starting to not only look under my sofa cushions, but my friends as well.
Starting from the grimiest skids and working its way up to the fastest racers - singlespeed mountain bikes are manifesting their glory more and more every season! Why? Because often less is more. Check out Dave Byers sick Salsa Selma Ti build:
Orbea was founded in 1847 as a family business specializing in gun manufacturing. In 1930 it changed its priorities and began to design and manufacture bicycles. Located in the Basque County in Spain, and being an employee owned company - Orbea makes some of the finest bicycles in the world to date!
Hallmark makes up their own holidays, and so do we! Why settle for a one day holiday? On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday all ladies can come to Fitzgerald’s Bicycles to enjoy things like FREE giveaways from our suppliers, FREE bike demos from Giant Bicycles, a FREE bike maintenance clinic, and FREE food and drinks from Snake River Brewing, Mountain High Pizza and Chippy’s Kitchen & Catering! That’s not all, Ladies Happy Hour can be enjoyed from 4-7 pm on all 3 days - 20% off women’s clothing and products! If you’re a dude, and you’re still reading this - click here for guidance.
So many bikes, so little time! Your future dream bike is going to let you safely have a “non-committal” short-term relationship/test-ride. Just hearing that makes you want to fall in love.
Don’t miss out on one of the best opportunities you could get to ride some RAD bikes from Giant Bicycles! Giant is bringing over 50 Mountain, Road and CycloCross bikes for you to demo. Yeah, plan accordingly - you will want to be here all day.
In between rides you can re-charge on hot dogs and beer from Snake River Brewing. Of course you’re going to be helping out our friends - the Teton Freedom Riders too! Beer, food and raffle tickets (sweet prizes from Giant!) will benefit the good ‘ole boys and gals at TFR!
PS - Our insurance company wants us to tell you to make sure and bring your helmet. Also, grab your ID because Giant knows how bad you’re going to want to ride that sick new whip into the sunset and never look back (nice try though).
If you want to lower your winter costs and increase your steeze (style with ease), turn your car in for a bike this winter. Just imagine it, your riding through town square in a snow storm, with howling winds, low temps, a smile on your face and fresh Thai take out in one hand. No big deal right? That’s because you did your homework and now you kick ass! If you aren’t winter commuting yet, here’s how you get it done:
Things you’ll need: A Bicycles, Studded Tires, Fenders & Lights
Optional Extras: Leg Band, Low Light Shades, Full Length Cable Housing.
FRAME: The most reasonable bike to set up would be an old, steel, suspension-less mountain bike, but almost any bike will work, 26″ or 700c, without a problem.
TIRES: You’re going to have to set up your rig to handle several types of surface conditions: ice, slush, snow, pavement and any mixture of those. You need studded tires. The advantage to a mountain bike studded tire is that it’s more effective with the added surface area. The road (700c) studded tire is going to be faster which will make it better for the shoulder seasons (when most of the snow and ice is gone).
FENDERS are a must. All of the sand, gravel, salt and whatever else makes it onto the roads can be completely blocked from reaching your ass by some good fenders.
LIGHTS: Since the road conditions are less than spectacular (not that you care) and variable, you need to see the road at night. This is different than a lot of our summer commuting methods, where you really just want cars to see you. Invest in a light that can help you see the variable conditions, and you will ride safer and faster.
EXTRAS: The leg band keeps your pants from getting caught in your drive train - this can be as simple as a rubber band. Low light shades help riding at night and the day - keeping the crisp air from tearing up your eyes before you walk into the bar will help you avoid unneeded conversations. And if you want your braking and shifting to work great all winter long, take ‘yer steed to your local bike shop to have some full length cable housing installed, this will keep any moisture from sneaking in there and locking your cables up.
And the best part about your new ride is that you don’t have to wait for it to warm up. Get to your local bike shop to save big and gain some style points!