Surly w/Dried Mud

I guess dried mud is dirt...I've had my Surly 1x1 for about exactly a year and a half. It is my main ride, I ride pretty much twice a week every week all year round. Western Washington. I see a lot of mud. So does my 1x1. Quick review: It rides like a bike. Hmmm. I remember reading that on Surly's site when I bought it thinking that was mostly if not entirely from their creative marketing department, but it does ring quite true. I've been mountain biking for 11 or 12 years, riding bikes my whole life, I've spent ridiculous amounts of money on bikes with many gears, suspension, there was always something about the bikes I bought that was going to make them something more than a regular bike. They all worked out to be really great in many ways, but never perfect in every way. A bike I was very fond of broke on me one day, and without many dollars in my pocket, I took all my spare parts and made a singlespeed from an old Supergo Access frame. It, by the grace of God, had perfect 32:18 spacing. Anyway, I thought I needed this Surly so I shelved the Access, later loaned it to a friend for a Winter bike. (That bike is Super-Bad A$$). I digress. The 1x1 rides like a bike. Yes, after soul searching, with out money for a "better" bike, seems like soul searching happens more when you are broke. So, what I found is that what I like most about mountain biking is being on a single track, fresh air, nature, de-stress, exercise, woodsy-rollercoaster if you will. Almost any mountain bike from $600 to $6,000 does this just fine. My issue became, let's find a bike and component group, that is responsive on single track, fun to ride, durable and minimal maintenance. That's where the Surly 1x1 came in. It handles like a trials bike, light like an XC bike, tough like a freeride bike, and maintenance free (for 1.5 years so far). So, again, it rides like a bike, like, well, all bikes. Quite simply, I have as much fun as everyone else on the trail without spending as much money up front or continually in maintenance. My Surly 1x1 is not exactly cheap, as it's built, but it's bullet proof, I'll share more on the component group, and why each part makes the bike a lot of fun in it's own way. Official Review, at 18 months, 5 out of 5 stars: *****