A Surly collection: Straggler, 1x1, Steamroller and LHT

oooh, do tell...

Nice thread, Mrs and I have three between us.

Cross Check has had a few tweaks, picked up a Brooks C15 which has been excellent so far, C17 is staying on the KM, works with the slightly more upright position.

Picked up some new wheels, SP Dyno/XT to Archetypes they feel a lot stiffer than the stock wheels (foolishly expected them to be a bit lighter but they ended up being almost the same as the stock Deore/Alex set). The front hub's wired (well temporarily wrapped around the fork a bunch) up to an Exposure Revo, performance has been excellent and doubled up with another Exposure light at the front for super-confident winter audaxing/road riding. Still working a little on the rear-light set up. Going to try and bodge the Exposure Redeye onto the back of the mudguards but not quite sure how I'll sort that out.

Brakes have been switched for full-size V's and Tektro levers, initially I wasn't that keen on the shape of these, but it's growing on me a bit. If anyone wants to gift me a set of Paul Mini Motos, that'd be excellent...

Stuck a Claris mech on the back too, has worked flawlessly so far with the Simplex shifters.

Finally, ditched the racks! Different combos of top tube bag, Revelate Tangle and Pika is more than enough for randonneuring and weekend trips.

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Started putting some bits and pieces on this, ran into a bunch of problems and stuck it at the back of the pile for another few weeks...

Quickly realised there are far too many shiny bits on it to make it much of a pub bike too

cool!

how did i miss this great thread?! subbb

Picked up one of these for the Karate Monkey and took it for a spin on Sunday - so noisy!

A day or two later, this arrived too...

Almost built up, just need to clean and refit cassette and a new chain and it'll be ready to go!

You really do have all the Surly's. How exciting. I meant to text you - getting a CC in the next few weeks. Fancy a trip to the Peak's/Lake's, even if it's for a weekend?

Ha! I condensed the Cross Check and Steamroller into the Straggler (+ L's LHT!)...

Weekend sounds good, got any rough dates in mind, started pencilling in stuff for the next couple of months.

Well I need the bike first. I'm up in the Lake's in May for a weekend of road riding, but some roughstuffing in the Peak's would be cool. Maybe in June? I know it's a bit of a way off but the first weekend of June would work for me.

If you do it second weekend in June, you could nip to Congleton on the Sunday, and help me power my cycle cinema at the local community weekend do.

Sounds good, I've blocked that off as the rest of June's already getting busy.

Looks like I might be in the Lakes the weekend of 16rd May for an audax, might just do that on the Saturday and ride home overnight though, save a few quid on the train... needs a bit more thought.

Drop me a reminder nearer the time, might be able to call by on the Sunday. Definitely busy on Saturday though with some family stuff, unsure if it's 1 day or 2...

Will do. No idea what film we're putting on yet, or what time. But cycle powered cinema and cider always go well together I find.

Built and commuted on for a week or so now. Very happy with the current set up - few minor tweaks: silver quick links, trim the excess brake housing and eventually pop some wider fenders on/38c slicks.

Hoping it's still as comfortable on brevets and the brakes are equally awesome when the guards are off and the knards go on!

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Very nice. What guards you got on there?

VO hammered noir or something...!

Cheers, may have a look for them.

I'm biased, of course (because its pretty similar to my cross check) but I think that looks ace. Must be great to ride.

How's the KM looking these days @andy_k ?

Nice bikes!

@snoops thanks!

@Dom Monkey is gone, big update post on the way along with a possible thread rename as this is turning into something of a Surly addition...

It's been 8 months since the last update, here's a quick run-down of what's happened since then, starting with... the Straggler!

The Straggler had a bit of a slow-start, for the first few months I commuted and ran errands on it but spent most evening/weekend rides on the Karate Monkey. After moving shelters at work and having the Cambium nicked and cracking the VO mudguards it went to the back of the pile and sat there until mid-summer before I had the motivation to start riding it again.

Fitting a set of Knards was a good idea, comfortable on-road and grippy enough on a dry day in the Peaks. Pictured below on a boozy 55th birthday bivi ride:

After that ride the Paselas went back on along with some new mudguards and a return to road riding. Took it out round the Goyt and Staffs Peak Grimpeurs and the exceptionally well catered Venetian Nights audax.

The Straggler should stay like this for the winter. The front mech is bent and needs replacing, I'm weighing up if it's worth replacing this immediately and fitting new chainrings with a slightly wider range (44/30 vs 42/32) or throwing an on-trend 1x10 set up on for winter as I already have the bits lying around. Longer term I'll probably rebuild the rear wheel onto a Hope hub, find some slightly shorter cranks, lighter pedals and possibly some Compass 35c tyres.

The Karate Monkey has probably seen the most changes and fettling, rather than a long and boring list... this is what it looked like after it's final ride, the Bearbones 200:

The 29+ front went early in the year, while the 35mm rim works with a 3" tyre, the profile wasn't great and I think you really need 45mm or wider to get the most out of that combo. The 35mm rims paired with a 2.3/2.4" tyre works really well. I went through a few sets of bars before finally caving and getting Jones Loops, highly recommend those and wish I'd just picked some up straight away. The Monkey also saw a few months with gears, mostly for a long, hilly coast-to-coast ride in Wales but also the Bearbones. A mix of Shimano 1x10 stuff and Hope retainer ring worked perfectly, didn't even bother switching the clutch on and didn't drop the chain once!

Super happy with the finished set up and slightly sad to see this frame/forks go but I've had the opportunity to pick up another frame I've been after for a while to ride through the winter, more on that in the next post...

Tell me more tell me more.