Our Own Private Surly, Club

Beth's bike (her very early birthday present from her brother and me) was completed and presented to her last week. We decided to keep the fork tube uncut until we were sure what height the bars would end up being and true to my expectations she thinks she may want different bars. As an after though though she said the drops weren't as bad as she expected. Nevertheless, I ordered Nashbar's trekking/butterfly bar and a set of Paul Thumbies (which I got yesterday). The Thumbies will allow her bar end shifters to mount onto the handlebars near the upright position where she wants them.

Currently I'm trying to figure out if reverse (time trial) brake levers would be better than mountain bike levers, which I can get from my LBS. Beth likes the idea of the multiple positions the trekking bars offers as she isn't sure she needs an aggressive posture very often (if ever). So far she really likes the bike and comments on how smooth it rides.

As I suspected though, she now says she might have been able to get away with the 52cm frame. Fortunately she's happy with the 46. I actually like riding it around the yard myself.

Here are a few of ours together:

1910 Pierce Chainless Bicycle from Nostalgic.net

The 1910 Pierce Chainless Bicycle from the Pierce Cycle Company is one of the coolest and most unique bikes I have ever laid eyes on. I had no idea that struts were used near the turn of the 20th century much less thought of. The Pierce looks so much like something you might see today on the city streets (minus the shaft drive) among the sleek and elite.

Finally done!

Today, May 25, 2008, I finally finished my Surly Long Haul Trucker build! I built the new LHT mostly myself with some parts taken from the original blue machine. This is an accomplishment for me and from what others have said about the new green machine I didn't do that bad of a job.

Apart from some of the original components I added:

• Brooks Champion Flyer Special and perforated leather bar tape (honey)
• Schwalbe Marathon Racers (38c)
• Shimano SPD pedals
• Swapped the 26 tooth inner chainring to a 24
• Thompson Elite stem and Elite seatpost
  
• Chris King headset
• Tektro top cross levers
• Nitto Randonneur bar
• Stainless steel brake and gear cable housing
• Silver front brake hanger
• Bike Planet silver chromoplast fenders
• Tubus Logo & Tara racks
• Ortlieb rear Bike Packer Plus & front Rollers Plus panniers
  
• Ortlieb Ultimate 5 Plus handlebar bag w/map case
• Acorn Roll seat Bag (olive)
• And finally a Japanese aluminum bell to top it all off
  
  
  

...and later on - the rear tire blew (for the same reason as the first) as my face inched close to the rear wheel with camera in hand to take what I hoped to be ultra cool pictures for this site. I was only about three feet away when the rear tire exploded. I watched as the tire bulged and then BANG! My ears rang for an hour louder than they normally do. Ouch!

Almost... almost... almost!

Finally finished with my bike build up.... so I thought!

I had just pumped my tires to just under 6 bar (85psi) and was checking my email quick so I could go out and ride and I heard a "pffft.... BANG!" At first I though someone threw an M80 next to my chair but after a walk though of the house I saw that my front tire was flat and the tire bead unseated meaning that it wasn't properly seated in the first place, causing the blowout.

ARRGG! Someone really doesn't want me to finish this thing!

Surly LHT update

I'm a bit late keeping this up to date and the new old news is that I finally received my replacement frameset... almost three weeks back.

The buildup is going slow because I'm switching out some of the parts for upgraded parts including a Chris King headset and Thomson stem and seatpost. Part of the holdup is that getting some of the parts has been a real hassle. As much as I love my two bike part sources they can be kind of slow being responsive to me and getting the parts I want.

Clarity and communication are important traits in a business... that's all I'm going to say as I appreciate my LBS a lot.

Another holdup is that I decided that the WTB bars and Ritchie stem I bought for the blue LHT, weren't very Feng Shui and to top it off (making this bike build expensive) is that including the stock set of bars and stem, I'm now on my fourth set, finally settling on the Thomson stem and a 45cm Nitto Randonneur bar which I think I really like. I would have liked a 46 or 48cm bar (I've got broad shoulders) but this is as wide and they make it (I think) and I can live with it. It also matches the "theme" I've settled on... Yes that's right, I've got caught up in the aesthetics of my bike, or rather bicycle Feng Shui. I'm decided to go with the Olive Green frame set, silver accessories, and honey brown Brooks saddle and bar tape. I think very classic. There's still some black on it such as the wheel set, cable housing, and cable hanger but my plan is to change those out as well. In fact a silver Problem Solver front cable hanger and matching braided brake and gear housing are on order at this moment and I should have them by next week. I'll work on the wheel set later. I think the Shimano DH-3N71 dynamo hub (in silver of course) and a set of silver Velocity Dyad rims will go well together. I'm still thinking about going with a Schmidt SON28 dynamo hub but unless my bike friend can get me a ripping deal, I'll settle for the Shimano... For now. That said I've heard very good things about the Shimano.

Hopefully next week, I'll get to post pictures of the finished bike and a list of lessons I've learned.