Long Haul Trucker Additions
The new Surly Long Haul Trucker is basically stock, except for a few little additions I’ve made:
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Rear Rack: The rear rack is a Planet Bike Eco Rack, a basic but functional rack that came with my EZ-Sport. There are fancier and more rugged racks, but this should do for now. In fact, I’m not even sure I’ll be keeping it on the bike. For local rides, it’s not really needed, and it just adds weight (about 1.25 pounds).
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Pedals: I swiped the Shimano PD-M520 pedals off the mountain bike (and prior to that they’d been on the recumbents). At some point I’ll probably have to break down and get a new pair, but these still seem to work perfectly, so why change?
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Cyclocomputer: The E3 F11c Cycle Computer w/Cadence is something I picked up on super-special at Nashbar. It seems pretty decent, though it’s bigger and less elegant than the Cateye Strada I have on the Django. Getting it installed on the bike however, took an embarrassingly long time. I had no trouble setting up the cadence sensor, but the hangup was the speed sensor. Being able to fit fat tires, the distance between the chainstay and the spokes on the rear wheel is quite large, and I had a tough time finding a way to shim the speed sensor out far enough to reach the spoke magnet. Eventually, I cannibalized part of an old handlebar mirror mount, and figured out a way to mount the sensor on the end of that. It’s not particularly elegant, but it works, and seems solid. I’m still not entirely happy with the wire routing, but the computer is at least working reliably now.
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Frame Bag: The Frame Pack bag is another Nashbar special, but I’m rather happy with the way this worked out. In a nice little bit of serendipity, my Blackburn Mountain Air pump from the mountain bike fit perfectly in the long side of the frame bag, with ample room for a tube, multi-tool, and various other small items.
However, the frame bag does have two significant problems. One, it covers up one of the bottle cage mounts, and two, it’s in the way if I ever try to load the bike onto a car rack. I don’t plan on doing that for awhile, so it’s no big deal, but eventually this will become an issue. At that time, I can either just take the bag on and off each time I put it on the rack, or just switch back to a seat bag. The bottle mount may ultimately be the bigger issue, as the third bottle may be needed for long remote rides.
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Bottle Cages: These are just a couple cages I had lying around. Nothing special.
The only other additions I’m planning to make at some point are a pair of fenders and possibly a front rack. Still looking at options for those items.
Here’s a picture from today’s ride, a short jaunt to Gardner Lake and back. This picture was taken at one of the picnic shelters.
I’m still getting a feel for the bike, and haven’t really put any serious miles on it yet, but so far so good. I’ll report more as I figure things out.
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