The Moonlander is Surly's wildest bike, with the biggest fat tyres on the market, a Pinion gearbox and a super-stretched frame that prioritises ground clearance.
The Velofollies 2025 bike show is the first chance we've had to lay our eyes on a Moonlander since it was released in September 2023, and it's blown our minds.
The 24x6.2in tyres are almost incomprehensibly broad – they are truly gargantuan in proportion and dwarf anything else in the fat bike market.
Surly says the tyres enable the bike to “float” over rocky shorelines, sand, snow and “landscape not yet ridden”.
The tyres are fitted to 100mm-wide Surly Clown Royale rims. For context, most mountain bike rims, even those designed for heavy-hitting enduro ebikes, top out at around 40mm.
Both wheels are laced to a pair of matching 197mm wide Novatec rear hubs. This means that, should a freehub fail, the wheels can be swapped around.
A large conical spacer pushes the crank and chainring out sufficiently far to clear the massive tyres.
This drives a 9-speed Pinion C1.9 XR gearbox – a first for Surly.
