Surly Steamroller owners...

Bitrunner - I think consensus is that shimano make some if the best road calipers around.

I do agree with their quality. Unfortunately, Shimano sells with the intention of you having to buy their product a second time once it brakes. I was always happy as long as they worked, but you cry when you realise that some broken simple peace of plastic results into buying the whole new set.

err,... :-)

This is the Steamroller thread, no hate thread of one's opinion about a certain brand. Don't want to follow it any further here...

Btw, I'm new to this community. Never had a fixie before, but after riding with fixed blokes on the road made me change my mind and can't wait until I've got the ride set up.

Seriously, I was fixed on a conversion before and I thought what's all the fuss about? Then I built the 'roller and it all fell into place. Like someone shouted at me today: "You're flying!" (down a hill) I genuinely feel like I'm gliding albeit pretty powerfully!

(emo)

Had Campag Xenon on I got them cheap from somewhere

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Just before we got home there was a beaming smile from her

Is it sad to wake up in the morning and start thinking about my Steamroller?

Then I built the 'roller and it all fell into place.

Surlys do this. Love.

Edit; it's not entirely rational, so it must be love.

Surlys do this. Love.

Edit; it's not entirely rational, so it must be love.

+1 I love my roller!

Edit; it's not entirely rational, so it must be love.

True say!!

I'm still jealous that ya'll get to fit on a Steamroller perfectly fine.

I still like my gangsta though, doesn't have the mad clearance like the Surly but can't have everything.

well, unless it's a surly

If they just did the frames 2cm higher they would be perfect. This is the only improvement I can think of.

Got mine pretty much how I want it now, one week after I built it up I'm happy to post pics. Took me a few days to decide on a stem/bars height but finally cut the steerer yesterday. Fitted full length mudguards today but these pics are from yesterday before I put those on.
I got the full bike and swapped over some bits from my last bike but still think it broke even cost-wise (I got my store discount and sold the parts I took off), plus the bits I changed were all upgrades.
So, we have a 2010 Steamroller with original wheels, brakes, seatpost. Upgraded Hope headset, SRAM crank, White Industries freewheel, FSA stem, Cannondale OS bars, Tektro levers, Charge saddle and Halo Berlin Courier tyres.
I haven't looked back over this thread but it was only a few weeks ago I was wondering if I should get another Surly, you all said basically it's a no brainer and you were right.
It rides like a beauty.

Congrats, it is more or less exactly the Steamroller I want to build.

Therfore I have a few questions :

• The crank is a SRAM S300 right ? does it fit OK for the chaineline ? no problem ? It looks serious and moderately priced but I was a little bit upset by the external bearing cups.

• which headset did you use ?

Thanks in advance

Luc

Same here, my build is going to go a similar way:
All Black for most parts.
Although, I was unsure if that was going to be too black... yours looks very good. btw, what size is your frame? 59 cm or 62 cm?

I'm still unsure which stem to take as well.

The size was answered. Should read further down the thread..

just been out on my steamroller for the first time in a few months. forgot how great it is

Dear My Steamroller,

you're heavy but wonderful and that's why i love you

kisses

kboy

Me and t'roller enjoying Black Tie ride. I don't own a suit so posh dress and shoes it was.

Not 100% happy with her at the minute but she still rides like a d-ream.

Dear My Steamroller,

you're heavy but wonderful and that's why i love you

kisses

kboy

Hello,

To be clear the frame weight is of very low importance.
On a bike, what is important is moving parts weight.
Power been equal, you will be faster on a heavy frame with light moving parts (wheels) than on a light frame with heavy moving parts.

Even more than moving parts weight , inertia is the key. It's the reason why folding bikes, that are very heavy can reach their maximum (ok in this case this maximum is low) speed rather quickly with their small heavy wheels and their heavy little frames.

So you can safely love Mr Steamroller, even if it shows a little round belly :-)

Cheers

Luc

To be clear the frame weight is of very low importance...

No shit Columbo!

ha Ed...

My roller feels really light compared to all my other bikes. I've never though of it as heavy though I supposed compared to alot of track bikes it really is.

most pointless comment ever

Just curious about this...

...when you say moving parts you mean wheels and drivetrain?

I'd guess hubs basically count as frame weight, as they are in the middle. Also a quick google/ww search show bmx cranks around 500g and lightish road cranks at 400g, so I wouldn't have thought they make much difference?

That basically leaves tyres and rims as the only real 'moving weight'?

However, if you're riding in a city and starting and stopping all the time, you're still having to push the whole weight of the bike to go from standing still to moving. In which case frame weight surely does come into it?

fwiw my old track frame isn't light (mainly bc of the insanely heavy roundblade forks), but it's still great to ride... so I realise there's more to a bike than weight. But still I don't think for city riding frame weight is a non-issue, it's just another consideration.

Feeling the love. Gotta post another pic of my SR circa May 2011: new Fizik honey bar tape (slight fail on the wrap), Brooks cork bar ends, new hood covers (Campag), mudguards tweaked to be rounder.

Note: the retro front light I got from Bobbin Bikes fell off. The bracket became distressed. They sent me a replacement, but with the light evenings I can't be bothered to fit it.

No shit Columbo!

Strange but true. The cyclist weight is an adaptable point much more important than the frame weight (except for highly fit people like road racers.. I’m not one of them by far).

Instead of hunting some grams on the frame it's far easier to hunt for some kilos on the cyclist :-)

Moving parts are a completely different beast, they decide if you accelerate quickly or not (inertia...).

Frame weight is likely an important point for a road race bike used on long distances with very few stops, and likely long climbs by a very fit road racer.

I doubt than a steamroller (or any urban bike) is used in this situation. Most of them are used in a stop/accelerate/stop/accelerate/stop/accelerate sequence. In this case inertia of moving parts is far more important than frame weight.

The way I formulated my sentence is probably confusing (English is not my native language) I meant , that, if one wants to tune the set up, first he has to check for weight in the moving parts, second, lower his body weight, and third only, complain about the steamroller frame weight.

So let's love Mr Steamroller !

Luc

i think you meant weight in the rotating components.

Agree with you VELOFUNFR

When I say heavy I compare with the Roberts track frame I had before, which was great but nowhere near as comfy to ride. It was great fun but would've killed my back and hands on longer rides

I think my roller might be amongst the heavier ones. Got a chunky mtb seatpost, chunky stem, heavy wheels / tyres with a disc on the front, heavy seat etc etc

matters none though, as it does what it should and greatly so

i think you meant weight in the rotating components.

Hello

Yes it's what I mean, and (important point) in the context of a urban situation where most of the effort is used to accelerate.

I'm no specialist in physics but I don't think the difference in rotating/non rotating part is huge when for example climbing a mountain. In this case, a gram is a gram, rotating or not (even if sometimes to regain some speed the climber has to accelerate).

In urban situation where the main point is to accelerate again and again and again, the moment of inertia becomes important.
And to be precise I suppose that the place of the weight is important. A rim, a tire or a tube can cause a big variation in this moment of inertia, I doubt a hub can.

This is easily verified in real life when using heavy tires (I remember using Schwalbe Marathon Plus on one of my hybrid bikes… the first day it was a huge surprise..)

To this we need likely to add friction , tires rolling resistance, global behavior of the wheel like (lack of) lateral stiffness that can translate part of the effort to a lateral movment instead of a forward movement, same consideration about stiffness applies to the frame itself (highend road race frames are.. stiff.. really stiff...)

The weight is not always the enemy. When riding on the flat out of this repeated acceleration context, it is of low importance, and when riding down hill, a heavier set will go faster.

But at the end, what I wanted to say was just that we can safely love Mr Steamroller even if it is slightly heavier than other frames.

Luc

These Velo Orange wingnuts would add some extra (non-rotating) weight, they look the biz and would mean one less tool in my bag – which is a weight saving.

I may have to get some...

Surely a theft aid or am I being stupid?