trigs's endless tinkering: Moulton XTB, Raleigh Chopper, and now the return of the Surly LHT

After taking up too much space in various other threads, I thought it was time to pull together a consolidated place for my endless bullshit.

As a quick intro, I live on the edge of the Rhondda valley in sunny south Wales, so I've got access to some of the best road and off-road riding in the country. In reality I spend more time fixing bikes than riding them, especially now that I'm running a new repair workshop down in Cardiff, but when I do ride it tends to be heavily-loaded underbiking for the heck of it - think Rough Stuff Fellowship without the competence or style. Very type 2 fun with a preference for steel frames, weird builds, and causing myself mechanical headaches along the way by trying to repair the 'bargains' that the south Wales FB listings always seem to bring up.

You'll also get to witness my constant dipping in and out if fixed riding - back in 2014 I managed to significantly amputate my left index finger in a fixed chain, which has resulted in my dominant hand being less useful than it should be (the remaining finger is more decorative than useable). Since then I've dipped in and out of riding fixed, out of a combination of stubbornness and nostalgia, and as of right now I don't have a fixed build on the go. That'll likely change sooner rather than later, but fixed gear bikes have a weird place in my heart.

I'll intro each of my current bikes in order, and then follow along while I waste money on endless tweaking each of them.

Moulton XTB - aka Easy Squeezer

This is my fanciest and silliest bike all at once, and comes with a fun backstory given that I'm in no position to be dropping four grand on an absurd mini velo.

Thanks to the wonders of FB Marketplace, earlier this year I got to build up one of my semi-dream bikes: a bright red, uncomfortable, lightweight, Italian road bike from the mid-90s. The Basso was wicked quick and my ideal of what a fast bike should be. You'll note it was a one-by, which is a preference of mine since the fixed chain accident, and bar end shifted too cos again preference. It was extremely fun and far fancier than anything I've been able to afford before.

So when I managed to drop my whole set of keys down a lift shaft, including my last lock key, after riding the Basso to Cardiff on what should've been a fun to-and-fro fast commute, it all went a bit wrong. I couldn't find anyone to cut the lock so it was sat for a week while I waited for Abus to send a new key, in which time someone decided to give it a good kicking and bent the rear triangle. My lovely insurance company decided to call the thing a write-off (they're more used to dealing with modern S Works type bikes that can be easily replaced rather than repaired) and offered to buy me something of my choosing with the insured value of the Basso.

So, with more money to spend on a bike than I'd ever had (and cash not being an option), I decided to be the right sort of dumb and go for my true forever bike. Pashley/Moulton gave me my first job out of uni and I worked in the factory for a short time too, so I've always had a stupid love of the silly space frame bikes. And when Moulton released their 'gravel' bike in bright yellow with a rear disc brake, I've been smitten.

One drive to Warwickshire later and I had the yellow nugget of my dreams. It's heavy, makes all sorts of fun squeaks and rattles, but it's a total blast to ride off road. I've just come back from a week of touring in France on it, and I now want to tweak it to be a flat bar gravel setup to take advantage of the suspension on some of the rougher tracks around here a bit more. This'll dominate this thread most likely and one of three bikes I'd never ever get rid of.

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Surly Long Haul Trucker - aka Bichael

This is the bike that feels like it belongs to another era of my life, but one that holds too many memories to ever get rid of.

In 2018, I got the idea that I wanted to cycle fully around the world one day. At the time it made sense: I was 25, my job was fine, my relationship was rocky, and covid hasn't cropped up as yet. So I decided to build the bike up for the task I didn't yet have a firm plan for, and course it was going to be a 26er LHT. 3x9, extremely heavy, nothing new or wild here.

And as the relationship got rockier the plans got firmer, and in 2019 I impulsively decided to quit the job and do a 'test run' by riding the Transamerica rute over the course of three months that summer. That trip was lifechanging in so many ways, not least in giving me the confidence to be okay when that relationship came to its inevitable end later that year. The bike was overbuilt for this trip but I knew it'd be bang on for the RTW that was now going to be a reality come September 2020.

I don't need to explain the next bit really, but covid really killed the project as you can assume it would. But also in the intervening months I met my now-wife, and a desire to actually settle down for the first time would've likely stopped the RTW anyway. We now live very happily in our little Welsh house with a smelly old cat, and I'm largely at peace with the 'loss' of the RTW adventure.

The LHT doesn't really have a use any more, but every 6 months or so I get an idea to build it back up before not really using it and stripping it down again. So watch out for the next big idea I get for it!

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Charge Filter - aka Rusty Shackleton

I've given up pretending that my 15+ year compulsion to tinker with a project bike will ever be resolved, so I've set aside a specific section of my brain/garage for one bike that'll be tweaked and swapped and probably never the same. At the moment this is a Charge Filter Hi that I picked up off Facebook for 25 quid. After selling the shifters the bike basically cost me a fiver, but I've since loaded it up with bits from the parts bin and made it into a commuter.

Oh, and when I took it apart a torrent of rust-orange water came out of the BB shell, hence the name. The frame is structurally very sound though and is great fun to rude. Excuse the very bodged rear mudguard - didn't want to buy some so I made these slightly borked SKS ones work.

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Wheeler Proline - aka Speelo Wheelo

This is an actually finished project for once, besides the saddle that needs changing. During lockdown my wife wanted to take up riding, so I built this basically NOS 1993 Wheeler up to her spec. She's got various fun chronic illnesses including something called Ehlers Danloss Syndrome (EDS), which means she's in all sorts of fun pain and her joints have a really hard time with any sort of stress. So swept bars with a load of rise were the order of the day, and it's basically her ideal bike now. The only thing is that we want to tour together and her health means her body can't handle the sort of repeated days of riding that she wants to do, so the next thing is to sort out an ebike for her (or maybe a tandem...). The Wheeler won't be going anywhere mind you!

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Raleigh Chopper MK2 - my first unfinished project

Roll back about 20 years, I was an idiot pre-teen (standard) who was lucky enough to have parents keen to pull my face out of the Game Boy for ten minutes now and then. For my engineer stepdad, that took the form of introducing me to the mechanical bullshit he got up to back when he was my age. He used to tell me stories about him sending it down the local tip on his Raleigh Chopper, about how he snapped the frame and how his dad got the local blacksmith (!) to rebraze the joint so he could do it all again.

He eventually moved onto a 10 speed road bike and then drifted into driving shitbox cars around the rural Essex lanes as was a rite of passage for a man of his age, but the Chopper antics stuck with him. So one day he turned up at home with this lightly used mark 2 Chopper, and the plan was for us to work on it together.

That never happened, as I moved onto my own 10 speed road bike antics and caused all sorts of fun problems as I rolled into my teens. The mechanical interest my stepdad sowed never went away, and I’ve since become a reasonably component bike mechanic, but the Chopper was left languishing in dry storage for a couple decades.

Now I’m in my thirties and a bit less of an idiot, I’ve decided it’s finally time to bring it back to life. I don’t have a kid who could have a dumb time riding it, and it’ll never be a good bike, but I want to finish the project… now I just need to find the money!

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Giant Contend 1 - aka Brown Bike

And finally my dullest bike, and one I currently slightly regret. I got very tempted by the cheap post-pandemic bikes and decided to treat myself to a brand new bike from a shop for the first time ever. 9 speed, rim brakes, and overall a very good bike. The trouble is that it's not getting used, and I really should've just got a hardtail. But anyway, it'll be getting mudguards and will be put into service as a fast commuter soon, and honestly it's nice to have one of the last actually good everyman rim brake road bikes.

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You XTB was a re-imagination of the AM-ATB

I had a TSR followed by an AM and a few others along the way. Did LEJOG on the TSR, very capable bikes.

Any excuse to spam pictures of Moulton's.

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I love discovering how many people on here secretly have or love Moultons. Nice bikes!

Tandems are great fun - We have had a great time riding and doing light touring on ours. I'd say it is tiring for both riders though, or potentially VERY tiring for you as the main power source. Going downhill is no problem, but uphill is much harder than on a single.
Maybe look into an e-tandem or converting one?

This is going to be an instantly iconic thread💚💚

And we’ll kick it off with some very mundane content - post tour cleaning!

French gravel is 👌 but also kicks up a bunch of dust and grime. Here’s the before…

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And after - never had a bike with so many nooks and crannies to worry about. Looks the same from afar but v satisfying to see the first scars appearing on the paintwork

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Epic stuff

#beausage

The Moulton is particularly good, I'm a real sucker for a bright, bright yellow. I followed along with your croissant tour, the route looked very nice, have you got more details to share?

Oh sure thing - here’s the full thing but I only rode from Nantes onwards. I highly recommend the Angers to Caen bit - such a good route

https://www.komoot.com/tour/1738732358

Fun side quest today - this morning at synagogue a very earnest and not-always-okay youth we’ve sorta been looking out for asked me to look over the bike they bought to take away for their first term at uni. Turned out to be a very decrepit old Raleigh five speed with rotten tyres and a very fucked headset.

I know this kid is skint even by student standards so buying new tyres alone is out of their reach, so I offered to get them a different bike as a sort of going away gift and they eventually agreed. One hunt on FB later I found this excellently oddball Charge Lazy Susan cruiser thing for forty quid. All I’ve done is clean it, adjust the front brake, fit some basic lights and attached an IKEA washing up bowl to the rack.

It’s such a weird cool bike and I’m a bit jealous! And also it’s cool to be realising that at 31 I’m the grownups now - I can help out and I’ve been there so I know being 18 is so hard at the best of times.

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Fab, thank you! That Charge looks rather excellent too, what a good find.

Ideal uni bike, nice work.

Charge have done some great bikes over the years

The teen was very happy with the Charge so overall a great outcome.

Also in an excellent case of weird coincidences on the walk back to the station I found these stock wheels from a Charge Cooker going free - very grotty and annoying XDR freehub but free! Now to build a 27.5+ bike around these…

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Great thread with some lovely bikes and nice stories behind them, thanks for sharing!
If I may ask, what's the basket on the Wheeler? I'm building a similar bike at the moment, I have the same rack but I'm kinda struggling to find a proper basket. Ta!

Immense universe karma

@vpCogworks it’s just a standard Wald 137 with strategic zip ties! Not a perfect fit but has worked for four years at this point

@JacqueLucque absolutely great, and may be helpful with the dumb rigid-singlespeed-MTB-thing I’ve been loosely planning for a while…

Thanks for the reply, appreciated! I'll also go down the ziptie route most likely.