moog's Surly Straggler

Most days I only ride with a change of clothes and tool pouch in the panniers so nothing super heavy, the most I've done is x2 kryptonite D locks, tools and a coat. The steering/front end feels more planted and a bit more sluggish (not in a terrible way though).

Evenly loaded panniers is essential though, early on I tried just using one pannier, bad idea...

Thanks nev, yup still loving the retroshift. Being able to see where you are on the cassette without looking down/back is great. Not being able to shift from the drops is a minor annoyance but I'm on the hoods most of the time so it's no biggie.

I'll get more photos of the knards tomorrow.

Knards + guards

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Hi Moog,

I got lucky and just picked one of these up second hand. I stumbled accross this looking for some inspiration. It's a really nice build - the retroshift looks especially cool.

The one i've picked up currently has 23c tyres on bit I want to go bigger... What's the clearance like with the knards? Reckon I could squeeze a 50c big apple in there?

They squeeze a Fat Frank in the Cross Check, Big Apple will fit.

Thanks Ed! Is that picture from Lovely Bike? I think i stumbled accross that when i was looking for inspiration too.

Might try some Big Bens since they're marginally cheaper.

Check the weight difference and whether it's wired or folding.

Awesome! Love it. I'm going to put some 29er tyres on mine and take it on the south downs way. Haven't been cycling for ages as I've been manically busy working and renovating my house. But can't wait to get out now!

I've got big apples on one bike (wired) and folding super motos on another and the difference is night and day!

lovely build @moog - i enjoyed seeing that come together

@El_sabor sorry I only just saw this message, how did you get on with the 50mm tyres? Did they fit?

@jonny thanks dude, hopefully I'll bump in to you sometime soon and you can see it for real over a pint of the black stuff.

I've done a few longer rides but most of my riding so far has just been commuting and running errands across town. The front panniers are still great and not wearing a backpack all the time is a revelation.

The only thing I'm not stoked on is the number of punctures I've had, I switched from the Grand Bois to Knards but both have been defeated by South London's roads. The Knards are too sluggish for riding on the road and after struggling to find lightweight puncture proof tyres* I've decided to try going tubeless. A guy at work gave me some spare valves he had and I've ordered Gorilla tape and Stan's sealant. Fingers crossed it works with both sets of tyres and I can get them set up leak free.

*The distro for Panaracer doesn't have the folding version of Paselas and I don't want to spend the £70 SJS Cycles want for a set.

Think I saw you at Camberwell green lights on Friday morning, looking pretty rad!

Thanks, that was probably me, me commute is New Cross > Wandsworth.

Moog,

Looks lovely. Have you had any problems with the dropouts?

No problems with them yet, I cleaned it today though and noticed the wheel was slightly off centre, not sure if it was caused by the drop out screws being uneven or if the hub bolts weren't done up tight enough. I'll investigate later when I lube the chain.

Are the folding Paselas much better? I've been using the wired ones.

They folding version are lighter, the 35c wired version weigh almost as much as 41c Knards.

Ah, that's not so bad then. Still pretty light for how tough they are.

@edscoble Is that on 650B rims?

Tubeless supplies arrived today so I thought I'd give it a go. Most of it was really straight forward but I'd under estimated the difficulties of seating the tyre without a compressor. A quick trip to the corner shop resulted in this coke bottle air charger. The front tyre went on first time with the bottle around 40psi but the rear was a total sod and needed 3 or 4 blasts at 60psi until it started to play ball.

Now I just need to hope that they are still inflated tomorrow morning...

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Jesus! What kinda a corner shop have you got? Ours sells papers, fags and tins of pop, definitely not bongs!

New Bigxtop rando bag arrived earlier this week, perfect for when I don't need to fill the panniers.

Will give it a proper test riding to Southend tomorrow

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Looks great! i'm in the process of making a few changes to mine. new bars, tyres, that sort thing. I live near the south downs now so the straggler is perfect for chalky south downs way trips.

Yeah it is perfect for the chalk. Did the CX100 last weekend and it was perfect for it. If you're looking for new tyres, I find the rock'n'roads better than the Knards on pretty much every surface.

Bloody hell i've just looked that up. looks pretty hard. But more importantly Jo Burt (author of Mint Sauce) rode it too.
Was it fun?

Tardy reply, sorry.

Yes much fun, will be doing it again this year for sure. Only with added gel pads under the bar tape, was brutal on the arms....