moog's Surly Straggler

Haven't kinoko closed down?
How's the build getting along?

Only the shop. Still going on tinterweb.

A few packages arrived today so I've got everything apart from wheels, bb and bartape. The bar height with the stack of 3 spacers is about 10mm higher than my current road bike, it would be nice not to have them but I don't think it looks terrible.

Not sure when I'll be able to order them as my Hope hook up is having a few difficulties, hopefully I'll be able to order them next week.

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The wifes Straggler and my lht

Looking forward to seeing this progress. I'm due to order the same this week so that I can start my new build. I'm going for the same colour and your pictures are making me sure that it's the right decision. wayyyyyy better than the black!

Is there supposed to be a photo here?

What's the news on the last few bits then @moog? How long until you'll be rolling on this? :)

I'm waiting on the stuff from Hope, the guy I know who can get me a good price is busy with other stuff so I'm not sure exactly when I'll get them. Hopefully next week but it's not certain. Walking past it every day in its half built state is killing me.

Should have bought my wheels!

What colour hope hoops did you go for?

None yet but they will be black. The CX70 cranks are a bit of a weird blue/grey colour which is slightly disappointing but I'm sure I'll get I've it.

Wheels have been ordered as have PDW 45mm mudguards, fingers crossed I'll spend Saturday putting the last pieces together.

Looking really good. The Salsa Cowbell 2’s are excellent, I have them on my disc Trucker - but with bar end shifters.

What are your plans re the mudguard stays as they pass the front disc caliper? There are a few good ways of doing it but I chose to use this method:

Another thing I found during my Trucker build was that the Surly seatpost clamp just wouldn’t hold my Deda post, so I used a Thomson clamp. You might be ok with the Thompson post.

Look forward to seeing it built up. If the Straggler had existed when I bought the Trucker, I’d have been tempted.

The last bits arrived in the week and I finally got round to finishing it. Proper photos to come tomorrow.

@Sergeant_Pluck - I got PDW mudguards and used a spacer to move it away from the front disc caliper. I was mounting it to the rack rather than the fork mount so it didn't need much to get the mudguard mount out of the way.

I didn't take taking nice photos of the finished bike, I went for a ride to the Isle of Grain and took this shit one instead.

First impressions are:

• it's smooth, super super smooth, almost all road surfaces feel like brand new pristine tarmac
  
• I love the retroshift levers, crisp, straight forward shifting and not as hard to get the right hand position as I was expecting
  
• it's heavy, very heavy, not that noticeable when riding but lifting/going up and down stairs is a bit of an effort
  
• the PDW mudguards are great, kept me dry and no rattling at all (even on a small offroad section
  
• I'm not sure how long the Grand Bois tyres will stay on, they are really hard to get seated (although looking at the rim this could be because it's tubeless compatible?) and I got x2 punctures, one on a gravelly path and one for an unknown reason as I stepped through the front gate to my house
  

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Haha just realised this the the same bike on vulpine Instagram account!

Nice build!

Nice job on the mudguards.

I get on well with Marathon Supremes (touch wood) - not overly heavy and seem more than durable enough for London roads and a bit of mild off-road.

What are the differences between the Straggler and the Trucker, apart from the rear dropout design? Lighter tubing presumably?

Main difference is the geo. Trucker top tube is a little bit shorter, lower BB, longer chainstays, longer headtube and a slightly shorter fork. There are a few extra details on the Trucker too, extra set of bottle bosses, pump peg, spare spoke holder.

The other option is a zero degrees stem which would look smart and require a little less spacer, stiffer too, and lighten the steerer a tiny bit.

That is a 0 degree stem on it, 45mm of spacers under and a bunch on top that will be gone when I make the final cut to to the steerer this weekend.

Grand Bois work best under a much lower pressure, the less pressure it have, the less likely it'll get puncture.

The girlfriend's bike have the 650b Grand Bois 32mm tyres, and she ran them at around 60 in the back and 45 in the front (she's tiny), her commute take her to Old Street from Oval, so far no punctures.

Which model was it again? 32mm?

Yup 32c Cypres, what would you recommend? I'm on 70psi at the moment, didn't want to risk a pinch flat as my current hand pump is rubbish. Small floor pump will be on the xmas list...

60psi sound about right, it really down to you, if it feel too squirmy, just push it up 10psi more, felt too much vibration on hand, lower it 10psi.

The hardest thing is really getting used to the softer feel, as your brain will go "this felt really slow" while it's actually the opposite.

I'll try dropping it a little on the front, the whole bike feels a little sluggish at low speed but the smoothness is great. Every road on my commute feels like brand new tarmac.

strava or it didnt happen