The Surly Rolling Darryl is an 82mm wide fat-bike rim that has proven very versatile for either symmetrical fat-bikes or more traditional offset rigs. The 64 hole spoke pattern lets the rider/wheelbuilder select either a 32-hole asymmetrical build for offset bikes or a 32-hole symmetrical build for non-offset frames.
The Rolling Darryl uses a welded-seam, single wall construction to keep weight down and is available in an even lighter “cutaway” version for those fat-bikers looking to shave every ounce in their quest to stay on top of the terrain.
Available in either a non-cutout version at an MSRP of $120 or a cutout version at an MSRP of $160.
The color is a cool, flat-black that looks great on any fat-bike.
I swapped in a set of cutout Rolling Darryls for my standard set of offset Large Marges on a Schlick Northpaw. My wheelset was built with a Shimano Alfine-11 rear hub and a Surly New Disc Mountain 135mm Rear Hub for the front. The weight saving was immediately noticeable on the front wheel and while the Alfine IGH hub normally adds weight to a bike, all other things being equal, I was able to make the swap for an even trade weight wise.
The Surly Larry mounted up on the Rolling Darryl is102mm wide at a radius of 318mm on our test wheelset. While a Surly Endomorph was 96mm at a radius of 320mm. For comparison the Larry was 96mm on the Large Marge rim while the Endo was 94mm. The extra width of the Larry on the front was immediately noticeable on the first beach ride we took it on and tracking was very good in soft sand. Especially noticeable is how well the tires work on these rims at low pressures. The footprint gets noticeably wider than the same tire on a Large Marge.
Riding the Rolling Darryl on the local singletrack the main thing I notice is that the wider footprint makes steering a tad slower than my favorite single track rim, the Large Marge. Raising the tire pressure to the 12-15 pound range mitigates this tendency somewhat but I tend to like about 10PSI on our local root-strewn trails and the Large Marge just seems to track a bit better for me. Your experience may vary depending on the terrain you typically ride.
I’ve often said that a person really needs at least two fat bikes, one for sand/snow and one for any other type of fat-tired adventure. With a second set of wheels sporting Rolling Darryl rims, a single bike can conquer both types of fat-biking with aplomb.
