OT:bicycle Q's..experiance with 29" MTB? Singlespeed fans?, anyone make thier own frame? (weld or braze) Options

[Mueller]

Noticed I am getting fat again..time to excersise and about the only thing I really like to do it ride bikes...not a fan of the typical road bike, I currently have a GT RTS 1 full suspension bike that is old and heavy, but it works.....

Upon looking at parts to do a tune-up to my neglected GT, I found out that 29" rims are a new (at least new to me) addition to moutain bikes and BMX style cruisers instead of the 26" rims and tires.

Anyone have real world experiance with the larger diameter rims and tires??

The bad influence that caught my eye was the minimalistic approach of converting my 21 speed(?) bike to a single speed (with freewheel, not gluton for too much punishment)...the bike trails and streets in and around my area are not too steep I think for something like that...famous last words as I'm walking my bike up the "little" hill, hahaha

Also, the (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif) in me got excited when I found these 2 websites:

A Brief Introduction to Brazing Steel Bicycle Frames

and

The Paterek Manual for Bicycle Framebuilders

[East coaster]

David, More info on that fat tire bike.......please?

[machina]

David, More info on that fat tire bike.......please?

its a surly pugsley. The frame is designed around the huge rims and tires. they are 3.7" wide and have about 4 times the air volume of a normal MTB tire. I built her to ride the beach down here. I just got tired of the horrible drivers and have been hit twice. Now i ride on the beach 3 or 4 times per week. It is awsome. At low tide i can ride right at the waters edge. In really deep sand, drop the front psi to 3.5 and the rear to 5 and she will roll over almost any sand.

surly is a small cool bike company. The frames are pretty cheap, they are made for them in China but that is how they make things so affordable. I recently read that only 500 pugsleys have been sold which is way too low for such a cool bike. Everyone that rides one says it is one of the most fun bikes to ride. Believe it or not, if you pump the tires up to 25psi, she rolls out plenty fast. The local roadies were in shock as i paced with them at over 28mph, not bad for a 40lb bike. All the deep sand riding has really helped my endurance. It is alot of effort, kind of like riding uphill for miles on end, but its just so cool to ride out on the open shore with no cars and only the occasional topless girl to distract you.