WillJL
Surly Big Dummy w/ Stokemonkey
This bicycle rides beautifully and handles lots of cargo with ease. The Rolling Jackass lever activated center-stand is a pretty critical component, because swinging my leg over the top tube and reaching down to manipulate any other type of stand would be absolutely ridiculous with a heavy load in the back, particularly if that load is a child. The 60mm (2.35") tires soak up the road but roll very quickly and smoothly. The Supernova E3 Pro headlamp provides an amazing amount of light with an extremely crisp pattern right where I need it. Of course, the Brook sprung saddle is divine.
As for the Stokemonkey electric assist, our first few outings lead us to believe that the 36V 20Ah battery has about a 70 mile range when riding heavily loaded. With about a 200lb load (adult passenger, several bags of groceries, and the battery [all this in addition to my own weight]), I was able to use the electric assist in such a way that it felt as if I was riding alone on a normal bicycle. I continued to pedal at what I would consider a normal output for the given terrain, and the Stokemonkey's brushless motor took care of all the extra pounds, and kept the average speed well above what I'd be capable of on my own (about 16-17 mph average vs 13-14 mph by myself).
*Update* September 3: Just hit the 200 mile mark with this bike. Lots of good things to report: The Stokemonkey works as advertised, and has operated perfectly with the exception of the crappy magnet sensor on the "Cycle Analyst:" computer that came with it. I can easily carry up to a 200lb load on the back of the bicycle up every hill in my area during my regular work commute, and I think that in "Western Washinton Terrain" (barring any unusually long hills), I could carry such a load for 50-100 miles with this current battery (LiFePO4 36V 20AH) depending on my own personal effort ( I never have to even sweat on hills if I don't want to, thanks to the 500-600 watts of extra power). The bike doesn't fly up the hill with such a big load, but I can go a few miles an hour faster than I'd be going on my unloaded "normal" bike. The only problems I've had are with the drivetrain. I broke one chain by being overenthusiastic about starting up an extremely steep hill, going full throttle on the Stokemonkey, and standing on the pedals in too high of a gear. I'll be avoiding such an occurrence in the future by downshifting well in advance of hills and maintaining a 50-70 rpm cadence.
One issue of note that Surly may need to seriously address in the future is the addition of some sort of drag brake unit on the bicycle for descending long, steep hills. Even though I've got very large disc rotors, they get EXTREMELY hot when I'm descending with a heavy load. I have to take the same precautions going downhill with a large load that a tandem captain would, yet I have no drag brake like the "Arai" on our tandem. What is the solution for the Big Dummy, which has too-narrow rear dropout spacing to affix an Arai-like drum brake? Perhaps a modern 135mm-spaced (mountain standard) internal rear hub drag brake? For now I'm just going with good braking technique and slow, controlled descents.
Surly Big Dummy w/ Stokemonkey
This bicycle rides beautifully and handles lots of cargo with ease. The Rolling Jackass lever activated center-stand is a pretty critical component, because swinging my leg over the top tube and reaching down to manipulate any other type of stand would be absolutely ridiculous with a heavy load in the back, particularly if that load is a child. The 60mm (2.35") tires soak up the road but roll very quickly and smoothly. The Supernova E3 Pro headlamp provides an amazing amount of light with an extremely crisp pattern right where I need it. Of course, the Brook sprung saddle is divine.
As for the Stokemonkey electric assist, our first few outings lead us to believe that the 36V 20Ah battery has about a 70 mile range when riding heavily loaded. With about a 200lb load (adult passenger, several bags of groceries, and the battery [all this in addition to my own weight]), I was able to use the electric assist in such a way that it felt as if I was riding alone on a normal bicycle. I continued to pedal at what I would consider a normal output for the given terrain, and the Stokemonkey's brushless motor took care of all the extra pounds, and kept the average speed well above what I'd be capable of on my own (about 16-17 mph average vs 13-14 mph by myself).
*Update* September 3: Just hit the 200 mile mark with this bike. Lots of good things to report: The Stokemonkey works as advertised, and has operated perfectly with the exception of the crappy magnet sensor on the "Cycle Analyst:" computer that came with it. I can easily carry up to a 200lb load on the back of the bicycle up every hill in my area during my regular work commute, and I think that in "Western Washinton Terrain" (barring any unusually long hills), I could carry such a load for 50-100 miles with this current battery (LiFePO4 36V 20AH) depending on my own personal effort ( I never have to even sweat on hills if I don't want to, thanks to the 500-600 watts of extra power). The bike doesn't fly up the hill with such a big load, but I can go a few miles an hour faster than I'd be going on my unloaded "normal" bike. The only problems I've had are with the drivetrain. I broke one chain by being overenthusiastic about starting up an extremely steep hill, going full throttle on the Stokemonkey, and standing on the pedals in too high of a gear. I'll be avoiding such an occurrence in the future by downshifting well in advance of hills and maintaining a 50-70 rpm cadence.
One issue of note that Surly may need to seriously address in the future is the addition of some sort of drag brake unit on the bicycle for descending long, steep hills. Even though I've got very large disc rotors, they get EXTREMELY hot when I'm descending with a heavy load. I have to take the same precautions going downhill with a large load that a tandem captain would, yet I have no drag brake like the "Arai" on our tandem. What is the solution for the Big Dummy, which has too-narrow rear dropout spacing to affix an Arai-like drum brake? Perhaps a modern 135mm-spaced (mountain standard) internal rear hub drag brake? For now I'm just going with good braking technique and slow, controlled descents.