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Surly bike range culled

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mickeg:
In 2007, 650b (584) was not yet a "thing", and there were not many good tires that were readily available in that size in bike shops. 

In the 1980s, I put an old 650b bike in storage, as I was unable to find good tires to put on it in USA.  Only recently have I dug that bike out and put some tires on it now that bike shops carry the size in inventory.

Pavel:
One of the problems of Surly as I see it, is that they are rather faddish. 

Matt2matt2002:
Faddish?
Intensely fashionable for a short time?
And a problem?
Some may say that fashion contributes to development/ progress.

PH:

--- Quote from: Pavel on October 06, 2021, 02:11:57 am ---One of the problems of Surly as I see it, is that they are rather faddish.

--- End quote ---
I'd have used the word niche rather than faddish but I know what you mean.
What they have managed to do is sell niche product to a mass market, I'm sure somewhere they'll be part of a business studies syllabus.
Their making was probably the LHT, was anyone else in the US offering a stock steel, fairly traditional tourer when it launched in 2004?  Apart for maybe Trek. I read someone in the US saying if you typed "Touring bike" into Google the first 5 hits would be Surly LHT'ers, maybe that's no longer the case and one of the reasons it was dropped.
Then they seem to have popularised the idea of off road touring, yes I know it's something people have always done, but it hasn't always been possible to buy an OTP bike designed for it from any mainstream dealer.
Then this whole fat bike thing, dismissed by many (Including me) as a fad, still going strong a decade later.  I admit I still don't get it, but then...
Have they had any real failures?  Bikes released that flopped and were withdrawn after short production?  I can't think of any, though they may have passed me by.

Moronic:
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.

But the general market is likely ignorant enough to read the statement as a promise of ruggedness and versatility. Hence it supports their branding and raises questions only for the cognoscenti who they might not get anyway.

And of course it does differentiate them notionally from brands that emphasise low weight and high performance.

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