Gena's name came from some Russian friends in Magadan deciding to call it as such.
Gena is a Surly Big Dummy. The Big Dummy is a well-reputed truck on 2 wheels. With its extended LongTail Xtracycle cargo frame and wheel base, as well as its Xtracyle WideLoaders, Dimitri can comfortably carry up to 70 kg of camping and survival gear in addition to his personal weight.
A sensible well-designed utilitarian bike, it is still manageable even while carrying all that weight and riding through rough, remote roads and trails.
Things always break when pushed to the limit, and beyond - but when that happened to Dimitri, the steel frame and the beefy components permitted quick field fixes to let him reach the next town, where the
local welder could effect reliable permanent repairs.
Beefy Schwalbe Marathon Plus MTB off-road tires, with inner tubes filled with slime, to provide traction and a measure of comfort.
Low gearing is essential when tackling the backcountry with so much weight - and riding is actually easier than pushing that big loaded-down crocodile up a rough steep slope.
The Ortlieb front paniers, handlebar bags and duffle bags strapped to the rear carrier have proven reliably waterproof, and have survived both the rough handling of airline baggage gorillas and countless not-too-soft landings on mud, rocks and blacktop.
Over the last 6000 kms (3730 miles) of rough roads, the only problems encountered with the Big Dummy were:
(1) 1 broken FH-M775 Shimano Freewheel body hub. Not having apparently used the proper "-20C safe" type chain lubricant, my hub/gears rapidly started to clog up and as a result the cogs in myFH-M775 Shimano freewheel body hub broke, leaving me with no ride-able gear at all!
(2) 2 flat tires. For tires, we had
Schwalbe Marathon Plus MTB.
For tubes, we used tubes pre-filled with
slime.
(3) Had to weld twice my
Rolling Jack Ass center stand in Tynda and Kharakhorin, because of the condition of the trails I rode and the excessive weight I was carrying.
(4) The
Xtracycle Wideloaders had to be reinforced with an internal metal rod to sustain the cargo weight.
(5) My back wheel splitted once near three spokes holes and therefore needed to be replaced.
(6) My
Nova Tubus rack had to be replaced because a brace fractured. In addition, once, a screw on my front rack splitted in 1/2 and could no longer be removed to be replaced, until we drilled through it.
(7) The lower hook attachment to my front
Ortlieb panier went missing and needed to be replaced with a metal piece, since I was at the time without a replacement piece.
Additional Info & Links for Gena:
Surly Big Dummy
Xtracycle
Ortlieb Panniers
Rolling Jack Ass