Well, I got the bike home, removed all the stickers which came off with just regular old masking tape. Surly does not clear coat over their stickers. I removed the stickers/adhesive on the rims as well. There are NO stickers on this bike-just the head badge.
I'm not sure why and maybe this is normal but I noticed that I feel sort of a let down. I was all excited, the bike feels fine, rode it about 3-5 miles or so in the park, then on a quiet street. I practiced shifting the bar end shifters. My Trek has a lovely metallic, really rich looking paint job. The surly, next to the trek, regarding color/paint, looks lackluster. I'm also tired and it's the end of the day, so my attitude may change in the morning. The LBS had not received the silver stem (shorter and angled up a bit), but will have it on Wednesday. I may have to buy a Brooks B17 in Honey. They're $97 with no taxes, free installation and an $18 trade in on the WTB SST saddle that came on the bike, so the Brooks will be $79. So the bike looks generic and it doesn't have any "VVixen" personality. It just looks like a bike. It also feels similar to my Trek Hybrid. So I'm not sure what I was expecting.