The Surly Bikes website has a dealer locator which is updated regularly and lists “shops we know have ordered a lot of Surly stuff or who we know to be knowledgeable in all things Surly”. Bike Touring News is the only shop listed within a 50 mile radius of zip code 83703. Yes, we like Surly stuff – and I am even surly. surly,surly,surly
We currently have these customers Surly bikes/frames in the shop:
I talked about the Deluxe Trucker frame in this post. We consulted with the owner and came up with a build kit for this frame. Now I’m going to have some fun putting it together. The deluxe version (with SandS couplers) only is available as a frameset, which means the buyer gets to spec the parts the way he/she wants it. This always ends up costing a little more than buying a complete bike, but allows the opportunity for customization. The Trucker Deluxe from Surly has two stainless steel couplers which make it possible to take the bike apart for travel. The Trucker Deluxe with build kit is on the counter.
This customer bought the Long Haul Trucker complete version. This bike comes with the parts that Surly specs, and those parts are good. This machine is meant to be taken out of the box, put together and ridden across the country, and many, many people do that. Surly Long Haul trucker, complete
This customer needs a solid, predictable and reliable commuter bike. He needed to look no further than the Surly Cross Check. We helped him determine the correct size which hopefully avoided some wailing and gnashing of teeth. These bikes too are available as complete kits, but the design features of the frames makes them especially suited for custom builds. The main feature I’m thinking of is the semi-horizontal rear dropouts, which make a single speed setup a no brainer. Although I think he will be building this with parts he already has and with a single chainring and 8 rear cogs. Very sensible! And, as with all Surlys the frame clearances allow for big tires and fenders. “Fatties Fit Fine”! Surly Cross Check frame
“Everyone I know in bicycling is at least a little bit crazy, present company included.” – Sheldon Brown
Sheldon "ShelBroCo" Brown. Photo from George Brown
Sheldon Brown (1944-2008) was the webmaster and general tech guru at Harris Cyclery in West Newton, MA. He was a contributing writer for Bike World, Bicycling, American Bicyclist, and Adventure Cycling magazines. He built the Harris Cyclery website in 1995, not too many years after the advent of the world wide web. Still the go to site for hard to find information about bicycle maintenance, obscure bike parts and articles on subjects ranging from bike fit to how to use brakes. The site is still being updated and maintained and improved. What’s New at sheldonbrown.com lists new contributions and is a good index.
Some gems I discovered doing this blog post:
“Knee Over Pedal Spindle” or K.O.P.S. has been a rule of thumb when determining saddle position as part of bike fitting for as long as I can remember. Pshaw, say Sheldon and Keith Bontrager in this article.
This articleabout braking. In one interview he described it as the most important article he ever wrote. I still need to work on this, since after 40 plus years of bike riding, in most panic stop situations I always skid my back tire and take a longer time to come to a stop than if I had used more front brake.
What makes a good wheelset for loaded bicycle touring? Durability will probably rate high in any list of desirable attributes. So, what makes a bicycle wheel durable? Rims:
An extruded aluminum double wall rim with a box section for strength. Drilled for 32 or 36 spokes with eyelets in the spoke holes. Eyelets can help distribute stresses and prevent galling of the metal where the spoke nipples rest. My personal favorite rims are Mavic CXP33 because they have a socket attached to the eyelet which distributes load to both walls of the rim. Another consideration when choosing a rim should be the width of the tire to be used. Schwalbe, the tire manufacturer addresses that on their website.
A double wall, box section rim. Photo from Wikipedia
Spokes:
Spokes are normally made of stainless steel and are of uniform thickness the entire length (straight gauge) or are swaged to be skinnier in the middle (double or triple butted). Counterintuitively, double butted spokes are a better choice for durable wheels for a number of reasons. The skinny part is made skinny by drawing that section of the spoke through a reducing die which increases it’s strength by work hardening. The swaged spoke is more elastic and absorbs the stresses in the mid section rather than concentrating it in the elbows and threads. The third advantage requires a discussion of lacing patterns.
A “3-cross” lacing pattern means that any one spoke will cross over three other spokes on it’s way from the rim to the hub. Actually it will cross over two and under one. Without going into a lot of detail (mostly because I would probably get it wrong) the stresses induced in a spoke when the wheel goes around under the rider and load are in that way shared by more spokes. Swaged or double butted spokes do a better job of sharing this stress than straight gauge spokes by their virtue of being more resilient – they flex more.
A 3-cross spoke pattern. Photo from Wikipedia
Hubs:
Hubs must carry the individual spokes and be strong enough for the combined force of all the spokes in a finished wheel, a force that can equal a half ton in a 36 spoke wheel. Hubs can use loose bearings or cartridge bearings with benefits and drawbacks to both. An oversize and/or steel axle can be stronger for load carrying than a smaller alloy axle. As a generalization, most manufacturers will turn to aluminum or other exotic materials in their quest for lightweight in the upper end range, so it might be better for the touring cyclist to actually buy the less expensive models if they use more robust and durable materials.
Wheels can fail from sudden loads, such as in a crash, or running into an immovable object, or from fatigue. Rims can be abraded by sand and road grit imbedded in the brake pads, and can eventually fail when the force of the inflated tire breaks the wall of the rim. Rear wheels carry more weight and receive more stress because of the rigidity of the rear triangle.
Most spokes will fail at the elbow where they enter the hub due to fatigue. A properly built and tensioned wheel laced in a three cross pattern can reduce the risk of fatigue failure.
Many new bikes come with original equipment wheels that look light and fast because they only have a few spokes and aerodynamic rims. However, semi-aerodynamic and aerodynamic wheelsets tend to be heavier than more traditional spoked wheelsets due to the extra shapings of the rims and spokes. More important, the rims must be heavier when there are fewer spokes, as the unsupported span between spokes is greater.
I borrowed heavily for this post from the book The Bicycle Wheel by Jobst Brandt. If you want more about the theory behind the spoked bicycle wheel and want to have a go at building your own wheels, this book is a must.
The late, great Sheldon Brown’s site is an encyclopedia of all thing bikey, and this page tells how to lace a wheel.
Ian Hibell was a British bicycle tourist who spent the better part of 40 years traveling by bike. At an average 6000 miles per year, that is ten time around the equator. He wrote a book called “Into The Remote Places” published in 1984. Hibell was killed by a hit and run driver in Greece in 2008.
The Bike Touring News store stocks all sizes of the Surly Long Haul Trucker in Boise, ID so stop by and test ride one, or more. Surly makes strong, serviceable and sensible bicycle frames from 4130 Chrome Molybdenum steel. We are huge fans. The Long Haul Trucker is designed for long distance, loaded travel in relative comfort. The LHT Deluxe comes with S & S Couplers, machined, stainless steel torque fittings which are brazed into the top tube and down tube. When disconnected the frame comes apart in two pieces, making it possible to pack a complete bicycle into a case that is within airline regulation sizes, without too much disassembly. If you have some time to kill, the company that makes the couplers, S&S Machine has an informative and interesting site.
The Trucker Deluxe from Surly has two stainless steel couplers which make it possible to take the bike apart for travel.
One coupler on the down tube and one on the top tube.
The stainless steel sleeve is tightened with a special wrench, compressing the teeth ot the Hirth joint to connect the tubes.
Dismembered Surly Trucker Deluxe
Anyhoo, if you will be doing a lot of traveling and would rather have your own bike than a rental, then a bike with S&S Couplers might be an option. There is a special wrench made for tightening and loosening the couplers and it is important to use the recommended grease on the mating surfaces. You’ll need cable coupler disconnect fittings for your shift cables and rear brake cable too.
Not all jurisdictions will require tail lights on a bicycle after dark but a desire for self preservation should overrule and dictate that the bicycle traveler have decent lights on the bike to make them visible to motorists approaching from the rear.
We like the Spanninga fender mounted lights and the XLR Road Handlebar Plug Lights. For those who don’t have fenders (hard to imagine) or who don’t want to mount lights there, here’s a link to some proven tail lights.
This Spanninga light attaches directly to the rear fender.The Spanninga light has a large reflector surface and….is visible over 180 degrees horizontal, and is very bright directly on axis, due to focusing prisms in front of the super bright LED
The bar end plug light is a pretty clever idea that seems to work well.
I first saw these on a bike we were following on a rainy night in a suburb of Seattle and I was impressed with the extra visibilty they provided. They are friction fit inside the handlebar and run on two camera type batteries, which are included.
