We travel, in a week, to the high desert south of Boise for a three day ride on mostly unpaved roads. For the rough, loose surfaces we have outfitted our bikes with wider tires. More air volume at lower pressures is going to make for a smoother ride and a wide footprint will float over the loose sections.
On the Long Haul Trucker I am running the Schwalbe Big Apple 29 x 2 tires. I have always been impressed with the way the Big Apple tires transform the ride on any bike and I’m looking forward to this test of their toughness.
Sky King will be riding the Grand Bois Hetre tires from Compass Bicycles. So far she is liking the way the Hetres perform on her 650b Rivendell Bleriot.
Julie opted for the Schwalbe Marathon Mondial in 26 x 2. The beefiest tire of the three the Mondial also has a more aggressive tread pattern.
Notice that none of the bikes have fenders. We removed them because, even on the Surlys where “fatties fit fine” there was no room for fenders with the new big tires. And anyway, after my experience with tumbleweeds on my recent two day trip down to Swan Falls, I might infer fenders to be dispensable and even unsuitable for off road touring. Stay tuned for updates… same bat time, same bat station.
Category: Touring Bicycles
Articles about touring bicycles and their components.
When you purchase a Surly Bikes frame set from the Bike Touring News Store we make sure it is ready for you to start hanging parts on it. When we get a frame we take it out of the box and remove the protective packaging and inspect the frame for obvious damage. We use our frame alignment tools to check the alignment of the dropouts and of the frame itself. We chase the threads in the bottom bracket shell and in all the rack and fender braze-ons to clean out the paint over-spray. We face and ream the head tube so the headset will fit clean and straight. If you have an external bearing bottom bracket we will face the bottom bracket shell too.
Then we put all the protective packaging back on the bike and re-box it, making sure it will get to you in the same condition. We have never offered complete component kits for sale but we are beginning to add the components a la carte so you can get everything you need for your complete bike. And soon we hope to offer complete kits- which will do a couple things;
1) Make it easier and less expensive for the customer
2) Ensure compatibility of all the parts.
So we’ll have that going for us.
God’s first language is Silence. Everything else is a translation.
–Thomas Keating
The Bike Hermit’s alter-ego has been alive to witness April 17 fifty eight times as of today. In recognition a ceremonial excursion into the high desert has been planned. He will be taking Chief on a ride to Celebration Park south of Kuna tonight and then on to Swan Falls Dam on the Snake River before returning on Thursday. The chance of rain tonight and tomorrow is ever increasing and so the plan will have contingencies. There are less than 20 miles to cover between the two stopovers and so it should be workable even with the rain, although the preferred route along the Snake River to Swan Falls may not be passable if it rains too much, in which case an alternate route is available (at least I’m pretty sure there has to be a pub nearby).
Earlier, Travis came in to pick up his new Bob Yak trailer. His Surly Ogre frame is spaced for 135mm hubs, the ‘dropouts’ are just like Troll’s…rear load horizontals with a derailleur hanger, slotted disc brake mounts, M10 x 1mm threaded holes for mounting Surly Bill & Ted trailer-connecting hardware (or B.O.B. Nutz), and a dedicated anchoring point for a Rohloff OEM2 axle plate.
The threaded holes in the dropouts will also accept the proprietary anchors for Surly’s own trailers, the Ted and the Bill. Like everything Surly these details are well thought out and very functional, which seems as though it should be easy to do but Surly is the only company that consistently gets it right i.m.h.o.
Categories
NAHBS 2012 Wrap-up
This is the final installment of our coverage of the 2012 North American Handmade Bicycle Show, and we have two,count em, two, interviews. First up is Deb Banks talking about her new saddle making venture; Rivet Cycleworks
Mitch Pryor made the trip down from Portland, OR with bikes he makes under the moniker MAP Bicycles. I have long appreciated his attention to detail and the way he can make simple look easy.
Black Sheep Bicycles is located in Fort Collins Colorado and they have some mad skills with titanium. They brought two fat-bikes to NAHBS 2012 and these had some quite unique and well thought out details.
I caught up with Craig Calfee before the waste encountered the air handling device on the second morning of NAHBS 2012 in Sacramento. One of the pioneers of the use of bamboo for bicycle frames Mr. Calfee uses bamboo sourced in Africa and the tubes are joined by laying up sheets made of local tree bark with resin, similar to fiberglass or carbon fiber.
The theme for the 2012 North American Handmade Bicycle Show is fat-bikes! At least in the bike hermit’s feeble mind. First up is Joseph Ahearne’s take on the genre. I was able to squeeze in this interview when he wasn’t bombarded with customers and we talked about this bike as well as the other off-road tourer he brought to the show.
Stay tuned. More to come.
Categories
Surly Moonlander
There is this dog sled race in Alaska. At some point somebody decided the same race could be done on bicycles. Riding in the snow on normal mountain bike tires was more than challenging though so some early innovators would weld two or three mountain bike rims side by side and mount tires on each rim in order to be able to float over the snow. Over the years wider rims and tires were developed and now there are a number of companies making so called “fatbikes”. Now Salsa Cycles has a fat bike in their lineup (Mukluk) as do a dozen or so other smaller builders. In Alaska, where the concept originated, two companies are making fatbikes. Chain Reaction Cycles sells the 9:Zero:7 and Speedway Cycles has the Fatback. And there are a few good blogs about the fat bike experience, notably Fat-Bike dot com and pugsley on patrol
Giving credit where credit is due here is a link to a little fatbike history.
Surly bikes entered the market with their Pugsley model and recently raised the bar with the Moonlander, designed from the ground up to go where the Pugsley can’t. The Moonlander takes 26 x 4.7 inch tires!
Bikerafting Alaska’s Lost Coast: Yakutat to Glacier Bay. from lacemine29 on Vimeo.
Designed from the ground up to go places the Pugsley can’t the Moonlander comes with 100 mm wide rims designed to fit 4.7 inch Big Fat Larry tires. To make these work Surly had to design and tool for the manufacture of some specialized components, notably the Mr. Whirly Offset Double crankset and the Clown Shoe rims.
There are plenty of brazed on eyelets for mounting racks but the only rack that currently fits without modification is the Surly rear rack, and it only fits, without modification, on the rear. The front fork does have eyelets for the Salsa Anything Cage though, so a rear rack with panniers and a couple of Salsa Anything cages on the fork should be enough to carry gear for most adventures. Revelate Designs in Anchorage , Alaska specializes in building frame bags for these bikes too.
They are here and ready to ride! As of January 2, 2012 we have in stock six complete Surly Long Haul Trucker touring bikes. 50, 54 and 56 centimeter bikes with 26″ wheels. 56, 58 and 60 centimeter bikes with 700c wheels. We are providing these as bikes for prospective Long Haul Trucker owners to test ride. It’s sort of a leap of faith to plunk down almost $1300 sight unseen for a touring bike and there are very few places (are there any others?) that have such a large selection of sizes. Bike Touring News is listed on the Surly Bikes site as a dealer, a “shop filled with folks who know our products at an ‘above average’ level“. We have years of experience selling these bikes and suggesting the proper sizes for people, but this should eliminate any guesswork.
Surly Bikes does not allow new complete bikes to be shipped because: “We think a bicycle in its built form should come from a bike shop that knows how to assemble and adjust everything so that your ride is ready to go. It only takes a couple of frantic e-mails from customers wondering why their steer tube is so long or in which order the headset parts should go on to cause concern in our hearts. Buying a bike locally gives you a place to go for adjustments, for warranty concerns should they ever arise, and for sizing assistance. Buying locally also helps your neighborhood economy grow, it can help you find a network of riding friends, and sometimes even provide a clubhouse. From our perspective buying bikes through a shop keeps the liability concerns to a minimum and helps keep our products from being simple commodities. We like to think they have a little life in them.” We think that is a good policy and we abide by it.
So, here’s the deal. If you are in the area come in (you might want to call ahead) and we will determine the best size for you based on some observations and measurements we will make. Then you can ride a bike and see how it feels. If you are between sizes you can ride one size bigger or one size smaller. After we have determined your size and know the options you prefer, and after you slap leather for a 50% down payment, we will order your bike. If the supplier is out of stock, or if you need the bike right away we will sell you the demo.
We can still sell all Surly frame sets and components online, so if you know what you need in those departments, give us a shout. If you don’t know what you need, then definitely give us a shout and we will help you sort it out.
Surly? I know you are, but what am I?
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.
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.
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”!
