Cupcakes' Surly Cross Check

I have the mini v on another bike: they work well for me but would never have fit over the humungous tyres I bought !

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Excuse the awful photo. But its getting there.

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Good news for people who like blurry photos.

Done, other than fitting lights and probably chopping the steerer, and I need to get some more black tape to finish the bars properly.

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Classy build. My crosscheck is a tad on the heavy side but when I ride it I forget about it because
the ride is a pleasure. I can't keep up with my mates' light roadsters but who cares when you ride a bike that is so sooth and forgiving over all terrain?

Took this out for a proper shakedown ride yesterday.

First impressions were good. I was in Kent and found a surprise off-road descent, which the 37mm tyres took in their stride.

Uphill it was hard work, but I am a somewhat off prime form so it could well just be a rider problem rather than bike.

The front mudguard was squirreling around a lot. I'd be tempted to invest in some beefier stays, such as the ones sold with longboards- if they can be bought on their own, that is.

Using the DT shifters was a pleasure and gave me no issues.

The only real gripe I have is the brake hoods. Braking power from hood or drop was excellent but the hoods themselves are so so uncomfortable. I was getting numb fingers due to pressure on my palms (maybe trapping a nerve?). I'm seriously considering ditching the v brake setup, and going back to cantis, or maybe road levers with cx9s, or perhaps road levers with travel agents and the current v brakes. Opinions welcome. I love to ride on the hoods so the discomfort is a major blow. I'd used these levers before but not on longer rides.

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What levers are they Rich?

Could you not swap for something a bit more comfy?

They're the tektro v brake levers, RL 520 aka hens teeth because theyre the only* drop bar lever that pulls enough cable to operate a v brake.

*Unless I'm missing something, that is.

A bit of tape measure investigation suggests my comment up thread about mini v brakes not fitting might have been premature. I reckon they might just squeeze on, albeit with ~1mm clearance between cable and top of mudguard. This would solve the problem and allow normal road levers. I think I'll borrow a brake from my other bike and give it a shot.

One more from the ride yesterday. This is pitchfont lane, which is in Kent and descends off the west end of Clarks lane. I chucked it into my route without knowing it was gated and muddy. Good fun.

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nice!

Looks like a nice ride. I run cx9s and sram s500 levers on my cc. The cable just misses the top of my chromoplastic on the front. Depending what happens this afternoon, cx9s and said levers may be for sale, if yer interested.

I've run SRAM 500 with v-brakes with no problems. They are very comfy too, I did a 6 hour mixed road and off road ride with them without any problems.

Yes, potentially interested. I do really like the feel of sram hoods.

Your afternoon sounds ominous!

Yeah? Breaking all the rules...

Which brakes?

Not really, if my genesis doesn't go off evil bay, then I'm thinking about getting some work done on it, and using it,meaning I don't need some of the bits off my cross check.

Cheap Tektros from Planet X I think. Will check.

Thanks. If it's not too much trouble, and you can measure the arm length, that'd be grand. I don't know if the length varies much, or at all, on full size vees.

No problem. I'll do it later this evening.

I think old age is diminishing my memory. I was convinced I'd run Tektro v-brakes on this, but they are very clearly labelled 'Mini-V' and the arms are just 75 mm from the centre of the pivot to the centre of the cable holding bolt.

No worries - that makes sense though.

I offered up a mini v myself (a shimano one with 85mm arms) and it looked like it would work. Just. By the 1mm I suspected, or a bit less :)

This means cx9's would definitely fit, although the received wisdom is that they won't pair well with sram levers.

Rich, what did you do about your braking conundrum?

He had my cx9s and sram s500 levers. Awesome set up.

Indeed. Works well if a bit grabby. I have managed to fit 38mm tyres and full guards under them.