Cupcakes' Surly Cross Check

Ah ha. http://www.nvocomponents.com/

I was thinking today about handlebar height and realised that this bike might need two settings - 'off road' and 'road'.

Dat animation.

In commuting mode. Mudguards look odd because they're for bigger tyres, which will come when I get paid! Bars are also likely to come down as they feel weird there but I wanted to try and get them to a good drops height for rough ground. Unfortunately the hoods feel uncomfortable now.

Chain is too short and cross rings are coming when I get paid as well.

Happy for now though, just need to find some thing to cover the sharp guard stay ends.

dglshrn, if you want neater coverage at the back here's a nice hack:

I spaced the chainstay mount with some v-brake hardware...

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-mV0UbUYNXpk/Uwsdr1DuJKI/AAAAAAAAaaw/MQlIq_AwUfI/w735-h1307-no/20140224_102336.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-y355wvwGINw/Uwsdvtd9qQI/AAAAAAAAaa8/7EhPpXih1B8/w735-h1307-no/20140224_102352.jpg

dglshrn, if you want neater coverage at the back here's a nice hack:

Thanks man, that's what I was considering doing. It's so nice working on a bike with threaded mounts for a change.

Gah, getting so jealous of everyone's Crosschecks.

Been scouring ebay etc and in the mean time I've done this to my Pomp,

Nice ! Got a driveside shot ?

I saw a troll this evening on the train. "Nice troll" I said to the owner. "Thanks, have you got the same?" he replied. I hadn't the time to go through the whole surly fanboy thing :)

Anyway I shall order my racks and final bits and pieces tomorrow. While up at my parents place I managed to find a shim for the front mech which is one less thing on the shopping list.

I'll get some more/better shots of it soon.

Want to use it tomorrow but we can't take bikes inside at work anymore and I dunno about leaving it outside.

I've run into a few other Surly riders whilst on my 1x1 and they always wanna have the fanboy chat!

Naturally! ^ it's like a brotherhood. So stoked to add a second to the stable. I sense the appearance of a steamroller in my stable in the not so distant future too.

Racks and final bits ordered. Should get this finished mid-week.

I'm also very intrigued by the wheel/dynamo setup that JB is showing in his spreadsheet. JB tell us more !

Ah ha. http://www.nvocomponents.com/

I was thinking today about handlebar height and realised that this bike might need two settings - 'off road' and 'road'.

Stem with two bolt face plate and -/+10 degree option, job done.

I'm also doing the same, but with -/+17 stem on a very tall headtube rather.

Those Nvo work well, but that's all I can says about it, however it's usually wiser to stick with one position and get comfortable with it than to adjusted it every once in a while.

Stem with two bolt face plate and -/+10 degree option, job done.

I'm also doing the same, but with -/+17 stem on a very tall headtube rather.

Those Nvo work well, but that's all I can says about it, however it's usually wiser to stick with one position and get comfortable with it than to adjusted it every once in a while.

I was just looking for a neater way than removing the stem and flipping it every time, though realistically if I want to go off road and thus, lift the stem a bit, I'll know in advance. There's always the Sheldon method of putting a seat clamp next to the headset and doing away with spacers all together...

I've just had it out like this, and comfortable with 20mph average using the 39 up front which is telling me that a 36/48 or something is the way to go. I don't see myself using the 53 anytime soon, particularly with 32/35 tyres (those are 28).

And yes, I am aware that the chain is far too short.

I'm going to stick a rack on tonight as arriving at a pupil's house after 10 miles with a bag on my back wasn't a pretty sight.

You got 53/39?? that's a pretty huge gearing.

The more you load it up, the bigger the gearing will feel, the 53/39 will feel more like Pantani's 55/44 after you load it up.

IMHO, I would suggest switching to a compact (50/34), if 50t still a little too big, drop down to your suggested 48t or 46t wouldn't cost much, it will be useful to have a 34t when the time come.

It was never my plan to use this gearing, it's just what I had in the parts bin! I do have a spare 6750 crankset if I switch to 52/39 on the road bike, but I've been enjoying 50/34 on that for the last 6 months, despite the total lack of hills.

I can't spend any money this month, so this was a cheap-as-possible build, hence the mismatched tyres and inappropriate gearing.

So I've been looking for a 56 CrossCheck (or similar) because I thought that was what size my Pomp was but out of curiosity I measured it tonight and turns out its 54cm.

Is it mental that at 6'2 I'm riding a 54? I find it comfortable, honk my stem is around 110/120mm so that'll be stretching me out a little.

I'm 182cm and usually ride a 56/55 top tube with about 100mm of stem. I find the setup above pretty good but might stick a couple of cm more on the stem once I get the saddle properly set up. I stupidly went out for 20 miles for work and forgot any tools so couldn't make adjustments on the go.

Cross checks have long top tubes but the angle of the head tube seems to lessen it, particularly with the amount of spacers are usually used.

So I've been looking for a 56 CrossCheck (or similar) because I thought that was what size my Pomp was but out of curiosity I measured it tonight and turns out its 54cm.

Sound like a medium, the 56cm Cross Check would be way too long in the reach with the same bar/stem set-up (3cm longer).

ideally if you were to get the same reach as your Pompino regardless of the number of spacers you'll run, you'd potentially need the 52cm Cross Check, it's a little less than 1cm longer than your Pomp.

Is it mental that at 6'2 I'm riding a 54? I find it comfortable, honk my stem is around 110/120mm so that'll be stretching me out a little.

Not mental, I usually have 57cm seat tube with 53cm top tube, new bike will have 60cm seat tube and 54cm top tube (for shorter reach bar).

Have you thought about going for the Planet X Kaffenback instead? same geometry but with disc and derailleur.

Only up to 32c on Kaffenback though Ed.

Gah, getting so jealous of everyone's Crosschecks.

Been scouring ebay etc and in the mean time I've done this to my Pomp,

Looking at that picture, are you certain it's 54cm top tube? it's not easy to measure it horizontally, as the headtube look quite big for a medium, more like a large with a 55.5cm top tube, which would mean the 54cm Cross Check will fit you rather.

I've just checked the geometry chart and I think its large actually, I was measuring along the top tube itself not taking the effective tt measurement.

So seems like the 54cm CC would be a closer match with a 560mm effective tt compared to the Pomp's claimed 555mm.

To go in a completely different direction though the freewheel I put on the Pomp has issues and probably wants replacing, I thought "better not do that until a few frames I'm watching on ebay finish incase I'm going to buy something that would suit a 130/135 cassette hub".

That plus spotting a 54cm LHT that was for 26" wheels on ebay got me thinking about what I already have that could be repurposed instead of buying another frame/bike and I reckon that my Muddyfox:

Plus the Rando bars, bar end shifter and lowrider rack (forks have no mid blade eyes but I have clamp on mounts) from the Pomp and the rear mech and chain guide I moved from the MF to the Pomp just the other day plus a new headset (one currently fitted is missing bearing and brinelled to hell), a dirt drop style stem and a set of full guards could be pretty awesome.

Have you thought about going for the Planet X Kaffenback instead? same geometry but with disc and derailleur.

Kaffenback would probably be the ideal way to go but a new one would mean,

• buying a new (relatively expensive) wheelset
  
• using clamp on mounts for the lowrider which I'm already not too sure about, they are the main thing putting me off the Muddyfox idea above
  
• still possibly having issues with the rack fitting around the around the disc caliper
  
  
  

I've been looking for older canti mount ones on ebay.

I fell over this morning and dislocated my shoulder so bike building is off for a week or so, as is the planned warm-up camping mini expedition this weekend. So frustration, many delay, very sore, wow.

Ouch! Man, really sorry to hear that. Heal well.

[*]using clamp on mounts for the lowrider which I'm already not too sure about, they are the main thing putting me off the Muddyfox idea above

Why the reluctance to use clamp on mounts- just aesthetics?

I reckon converting the muddy fox to a drop bar mtb tourer sounds excellent. At least give the low rider a trial and see how it handles. I suppose you would need a massive chak-esque stem in there to make drop bars work on there tho.