A Tale of Two Surlys

...This is my project to convert my Steamroller to a Cross-Check...

Once upon a time I had one bike that seemed to do everything - a Cannondale F800, which did MTB, got me around town, went touring and even managed the odd TT (I should >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Cannondale Aficionados / Owners)

That got nicked and I replaced it with a full-suss Specialized. Obviously no good on road, so this left a gap for ... something ... after wanting a Surly MTB for a while I actually ended up with a Steamroller off ebay to fulfill the do-it-all hole left by the F800. This has been awesome, I have very much enjoyed cycling it, and it has got me properly back into road riding and wanting to do more touring. So... I began dithering about putting hub gears onto the 'roller, and everything seemed to get complex (mudguards? rack?)... in the end I found a Cross-Check frame on ebay and decided to swap over to that... I'll end up with the ratbike for pubs and short town trips, the Speccy for MTB and the Cross-Check for everything else.

The Steamroller looks like this:

I've had a love/hate relationship with that blue saddle. In the end I've decided to embrace it, so the Cross-Check will be pretty similar: mostly black, with the saddle and more blue bling, to fully embrace that hue. I'm quite inspired by magnuswinwick's recent Cross-Check project thread to have some brightly coloured cables and maybe bar tape!

http://www.lfgss.com/thread91252.html

Hopefully, though, I won't end up with too much anodised blue widgets scattered everywhere... though I did grow up as a 90s MTB-er and secretly have a desire to scatter my bike with anodised CNC components. I am aiming for 1x9 with maybe a 39 on the front and 11-34 on the back. Sensible mudguards. And hopefully moving as much of the existing bits across as possible to save money.

One of the really enjoyable things about the thread above was not only the thought that went into it (I doubt I will match that) but the build log, so I am trying to keep a log of the costs of both the donor 'roller and the new Cross-Check, including the sale of bits as I've swapped them around. That's here for anyone interested.

Quite a few of the 'roller bits will end up for sale (Frame, forks, Sugino cranks, rear wheel, probably front wheel). Drop me a PM if any of that sounds interesting otherwise I'll post some classifieds eventually.

Hopefully I can find lots of the replacement bits from Forumengers...

It felt like it began today, after a good while thinking about it, when I spent a couple of hours hammering at the donor Surly to remove the crown race, the headset and various other frame bits ready for it to go for a respray:

This photo makes the frame look OK but up close it has has a few scratches, which have been neatly patched with clear laquer. It's a 2005 frame and is in metallic dark green, and I'm after gloss-black to stick with the look developing in the 'roller, so all in I decided to go with a respray and dropped it off at Amourtex this afternoon.

Ironically, in an et-tu Brute moment, it was the 'roller that I cycled upon to deliver its nascent nemesis to Amourtex...

I hope I don't end up missing the Steamroller too much!

The Cross Check is the default project bike on here at the minute!

Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

I admire your dedication delivering a frame on a bike. I had to carry a frame in to work today and I chickened out and got the train.

yep it is a bit! When I dropped it off at Armourtex he said something like, 'should have no problems with this, we do a lot of these'...

The bike ride was a bit nervous, I kept forgetting that I had a big steel outrigger and kept aiming for the usual gaps... then worrying about scraping along the sides of shiny cars or getting my neck wrenched off.

So... after starting to get cross-eyed looking at blue cable outers on the web, I went round a few bike shops to try to see what shades of blue there are out there... I ended up a bit disappointed. The idea for blue bling came from a determination to embrace the otherwise-incongruous saddle because it would be an unusual colour for a project... but it seems the reason it might be unusual is because nothing matches!

What to do? Ditch the saddle and start over?

I did find that anodized blue isn't too far off and bought a mini light on a whim:

so I could do the cables in grey and perhaps match that to bar tape, and use just a few blue highlights.

Or the BLB Fly saddle in blue would let me carry on in the same vein (I still like the idea of blue as a slightly different look), and I could find cable outers to match that. But it does seem a bit anti my re-use-existing-bits principle to ditch the saddle off my current bike because it is 'slightly the wrong shade of blue'.

Mind you, as my first photo shows, the Concor is looking pretty stained at the moment, and that was from just 15mins in the rain on Tuesday night, I'd cleaned it on Monday. So perhaps ditching it isn't a bad idea. I must admit the idea of a suede saddle has never really appealed...

What does anyone think?

I did grow up as a 90s MTB-er and secretly have a desire to scatter my bike with anodised CNC components.

Got be purple then :-)

I can't find a good example offhand. Done subtly with the black frame, they could look nice.

I quite like the blue it's original purple green and pink have been done to death , go on chain reaction and have a look through the Bmx cables loads of shades of blues there

Hmm.. It's red & blue that I tend to see more often?

BLB do seem to be embracing blue, I saw something along these lines in the shop today...

but as you say ^^^ it has to be subtle otherwise you end up looking like an XR3i doing laps of a market square with blue LEDs under the doorsills...

Cookies, thank for the tip, that lead me to some Clarks cables, which look pretty good, certainly as a match for the BLB saddle, and not too far off the Concor I have... and they do both brake and gear in the same set, so matched outers seems a bit more likely, as opposed to mixing different brands... also while browsing the BMX section I found these...

blue bling donuts

hmmm dangerous....

Interesting idea. Personally, I find the BLB bike pretty awful, so if you're gonna do it, it has to be done subtler than that in my opinion. Maybe just saddle, cables and a few bits here and there.

But it of course depends on what you're trying to do :)

Hi looking forward to following this thread. Would be innterested in some of the parts from your steamroller , for my steamroller .

Arthur, yep, I agree, that BLB bike needs to go into anti. The one in the shop was on a silver frame, which helps, I think, but it also had a blue crankset as well as the wheels... I think it is particularly the wheels that are the fail - just seems a bit much? I am quite a fan of following your advice for just saddle, cables and a few bits...

Bikenut, awesome, would be nice to rehome spares to another 'roller! Anything catching your eye already? My shopping list is nearly done, I am hoping to do some ordering tonight, so spares are looking like --

• frame (headset, seatclamp avail too)
  
• forks (crown race to match headset)
  
• Sugino cranks
  
• front sprocket
  
• wheels, inc singlespeed cog, or happy to split these
  
• probably the pedals, unless I keep them for commuting
  
• .........and maybe the saddle depending on the outcome of all of the above!
  

First big parts order gone in, from http://www.rosebikes.co.uk ... a new supplier for me, anyone had any dealings with them? They are German, their prices seem excellent - it was a tip from the guy from whom I bought the C-C frame.

Not had any problems with Rose. Stand well back from your door when they deliver their next catalogue though ;-)

Bought a (wrong) headset from them a while back here in Germany, which I then had to send back. The process was straight forward, got an e-mail when they received the returned item and the money was transferred to my account. So my experience was pretty good. They have very few (if any) singlespeed and fixed gear components though.

Yes I have had goods from rose bikes , and from my point of view I would recommend them . Good prices and service may take a day or so longer to arrive ,compared to UK sites , have you got the catologue? Its great to look through .
Regarding parts , I was looking at cranks and sprocket . Just got new halo wheels for my roller , or I would of been interested in them to .

Ah good to hear, thanks! Meanwhile, have placed a couple more orders with the staples, Wiggle and CRC, and apart from coloured pieces, I think I have everything I need to complete the project. Amourtex promised the frame for Monday coming, which should coincide nicely with some deliveries...

I better get down to BLB tomorrow and have another look at blue saddles...!

BLB blue it is... seems to match other stuff... and I am glad to get rid of the suede saddle!

So, just taken some bits off the 'roller so I guess it has rolled its last. First up for sale will be the crankset, I'll post a classified next -- Bikenut63 I'll put you down for prov dibs.

One of the reasons I have been quite motivated to do this project is that I felt the 'roller arrived off ebay with a bit of a jumble of mismatched kit - as if the previous owner had assembled a bunch of brand names with no real theme - eg the delicate high flange hubs versus the brute of a BMW cluster fork! In this case, I've just discovered the left-hand crank is a different colour to the right! I always was confused as to what colour it really was - assumed it must be the light, but no...

Classifieds are here for anyone interested -- A Sale of Two Surlys

Rightoh, I think all bits are pretty much sold now, the 'roller is fully asset-stripped. A pleasing number of bits are carrying onto the Cross-Check. It feels like the small bits, which it might be easy to forget which pricing up a project like this, such as the inner tubes, are kinda coming for free!

I collected the Cross-Check frame from Armourtext today...

...and immediately had to add some blue bling...

...but then added something a bit more meaningful and did the headset & fork crown race, and put in the forks.

For my shifting, I'm using Dura Ace downtube shifters. Partly I just quite like them, but that might just be nostalgia. But also partly cost - don't think I can afford STIs. The simplicity of the cabling appeals more than bar-end shifters. And also because I'm aiming for 1x9 -- if I had a double or triple at the front, then two downtube shifters might be a tad too nostalgic...

Looks like they did a nice job with the powdercoat. How is it around the dropouts? I've found some wheels struggle to fit easily if the coat's too thick.

Yep, I think so... certainly looks good to my untrained eye. I only found one bit around the seat tube that looked like it might be a wobble in the thickness - or they have exposed an old ding! The dropouts look very neat, consistent thickness, but a bit rounded out round some of the detail, so maybe this will be an issue. Presumably I can file the paint down a bit if so?

All the screws have so far gone in OK - the bottle cage nuts and the screw holding in the gear cable guide. I did expect those threads to get filled up with paint - can that be a problem or in fact is it usually OK?

Rose have just emailed to say the wheels are built & shipped, I was hoping for them by the weekend, but looks like it might be into next week to get this finished.

Presumably I can file the paint down a bit if so?

I'd go in with a fine grit piece of wet & dry for removing paint/powdercoat. File only comes out for removing metal.