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Surly bike range culled

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Danneaux:

--- Quote ---I find it very funny that Surly has succeeded with the tagline "Fatties fit fine".
--- End quote ---

According to Surly's written and video blogs, the phrase "Fatties Fit Fine" refers to their core design goal of designing frames with chainstay and fork clearances that will easily accommodate large volume (wide, high profile) tires for greatest versatility and comfort.

See: https://youtu.be/BFrtAl7NLFo

Best,

Dan.

WorldTourer:

--- Quote from: Moronic on October 07, 2021, 11:37:56 am ---I find it very funny that Surly has succeeded with the tagline "Fatties fit fine". The literal implication is that their bikes are overbuilt and therefore rough on non-fatties. I can't think of anything else it could mean if it is a statement about how their products are different from others.

--- End quote ---

I have always interpreted that slogan, seen on the Long Haul Trucker, as specifying that these frames don't have the annoying limitations that other touring frames have. The ex-wife’s Thorn Sherpa is a decent frame, for example, but she regrets being able to put no more than 1.75" tires plus fenders on it, when a LHT can manage 2.00" or 2.15" tires just fine.

Wait, did you think it was referring to fat people? That honestly never even came into my mind. I mean, it’s obvious that in the present-day American marketplace and sociopolitical climate, a company – even one who adopts surly language as part of its distinct branding – could never refer to lardos as such. They’d be castigated for "fat-shaming". So, clearly "fatties" on there is not referring to people.

Matt2matt2002:
Fatties fit fine.
I'll believe it was genuinely intended as Dan says.
But we live in strange times.
Terms can so easily be misconstrued.
Over here a coffee company recently ran a tag line asking customers to ' flick the bean'.

It ran for a few weeks before someone somewhere had it pulled due to a dubious meaning.

Let's give folks the benefit of the doubt.

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
Hamlet.

Moronic:
Thanks all for the education. Yes I did see the slogan as referencing overweight people, and I refuse to believe that Surly did not recognise that their slogan invited that inference.

Who refers to plus sized tyres as fatties? Okay maybe those up with the latest jargon. Which would comprise a small subset of people considering a Surly purchase.

Dunno whether to rate it as clever or appallingly cynical. Nevertheless I'm happy if Surlys ride well for slim people, as their bikes do look real-world competent by comparison with most of the market.

Andre Jute:

--- Quote from: Moronic on October 21, 2021, 12:51:47 pm ---Who refers to plus sized tyres as fatties?
--- End quote ---

Not as "fatties" because I don't speak slang, but I certainly refer to "fat tyres" because the description fits, and others on the forum referred to "fat bikes" when those snow-bikes first appeared. And "fat tackies" for fat tyres by way of grippy tennis shoes probably earned an entry in a few dictionaries of slang.

I also agree with Moronic that the Surly lot, or at the very least their advertising agents, were aware of the double entendre in "fatties fit fine". Marketing and advertising men are generally very intelligent -- they have to be to survive in such a ratmill. In the days before cancel culture for thought crimes, the cost of causing their client's brand to stand out, which is their aim, was often deniability. "Fatties fit fine" in bicycles has such brilliant deniability, I would bet money a bunch of Ivy Leaguers sat around a table and deliberately thought it up, and then slapped each others' backs about how deniable it was. I spent most of my twenties in meetings like that. Of course, we also caused a whole generation of dentists to play more golf by making a tube of toothpaste so cheap that even poor people could afford it.

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