My Surly Long Haul Trucker - Nearly finished

I put on the handlebar tape today, and it's looking mighty fine in my very biased opinion!

Worried about bicycle fit?

When buying odd bikes like surly LHT's over the internet it is always a bit daunting thinking about what size to get.

Here are two valuable resources:

Bike fit calculator.

A Table from the Google Surly group of the size of LHT users got and whether it fits! (what a great idea!)

My Current Surly Build

My build can be seen here on google documents. I think I will also put up some costings when I can be bothered as Andrew has on his fantastic blog here.

I got the Surly

Well after much over analysis, at one point even considering a Kona Sutra, I bought the LHT (54cm). I live in Brisbane and there is only one shop that actually stocks the LHT (Epic Cycles, great shop with nice people) and they didnt have my size. I ended up purchasing the bike from brunswick street cycles in Melbourne. They stocked it for $1999 and shipped it for free in 4 days! Needless to say I was very happy with their service.

Another option I considered was to purchase the LHT from wiggle (around AU$1550), but I did more calculations and realised that with the $170 postage, GST and customs duty I would have to pay the dollar difference amounted to about $50.

I will post some photos up once I get my upgrades on (and my camera back from my sister). I have already added the SKS Chromoplastic fenders (P55), I intend changing the drop bars (I don't like the curve) and adding a Brooks B17 saddle. I also am getting a Tubus Cargo rack.

I have also got Time ATAC LOC pedals.

All in all I love the look of the bike, it is noticeably heavier than my roady (duhh) but feels solid and not overly 'truck' like. The granny gears are crazy, but I assume will come in handy when I belt up the alps hauling 70kg of gear!

Custom Surly LHT vs Dawes Ultra Galaxy

While money isn't the biggest issue on my mind when looking at potential touring bikes, it is certainly a major factor. Ideally I think i'd like a Surly LHT frame due to the quality, tyre distance and it's long, sturdy, work-horse frame that is built for hauling lots of gear. I'm not, however, willing to spend rediculous amounts just to get a Surly over another similar touring bike.

Apart from the frame I want decent running gear, probably Deore XT or at least LX with a brooks saddle and quality tyres, racks etc... The stock LHT is not equipped with great running gear (solid, but not great) and does not come with fenders, racks or pedals. It also has bar-end shifters, which I would prefer not to have. Basically, a stock LHT would need some work to get it to the standard I would like. The other option is a LHT frame, built up with custom parts.

I did up a spreadsheet to figure how much it would cost to build up a Surly LHT frame to the same specs as the Dawes Ultra Galaxy. It would cost about $3150, and that was with a fair bit of stuff on special. The Dawes Ultra Galaxy, on the other hand, comes with great running gear, pedals, racks, fenders and nice schwalbe tyres for $2675 + $100 PH.

Quite a saving...plus I would not have to build it! (or more likely pay someone else to build it, which would cost another few hungy!).

I will therefore go for the Dawes Ultra Galaxy..... I have decided! (unless a great Surly LHT comes up for sale second hand)

UPDATE

Okay so I didnt get the Dawes Ultra Galaxy. Why? Well I realised there is such a thing as GST and import duty that must be paid! (thanks Howard). That would add about 15% to the cost, making it around $3k too.... too much IMHO.

After reading the surly google group threads for hours on end, I settled on the idea of the stock surly LHT. While some parts will probably require upgrading, others definitely, upgrades allow you to spread the cost out! Also the LHT can be sourced in Australia, if not Qld, for around $2000.

I discuss my decision a bit more in a more recent post here.

Surly LHT

IMG_1827
Originally uploaded by birkenspank

This is sex on two wheels... I am totally getting a LHT with brown leather Brooks bar tape and saddle... and maybe some stainless steel mudguards... would that be too much?

What bike?

I have decided to buy a bike before I leave, so I now have time to make an informed choice. Something I would not have had had I been forced to buy one in Rome in a few days!

There are quite a few different touring bikes on the market, ranging from ‘kinda expensive’ to ‘bloody ridiculously expensive’. I guess it isn’t surprising given they are meant to take punishing terrain, while hauling large loads for long distances – apparently something that can do that isn’t cheap. Anyway, from reading books and looking at my own situation I have come up with a list of things I want in my touring bike:

• steel chrome-moly frame: sturdy, easier to fix if it breaks but heavy
• road-style with drop bars: I’m not planning any off-road escapades and I like road bikes a lot more. Plus it will be nicer to cover ground and I don’t mind sweating the hard stuff going up epic hills…though I have never done this with 60kg of packs strapped to my bike…..
• capacity for fat tyres: I hate flat tyres, and I assume I would hate them a lot more if I was miles from nowhere – so I want impregnable tyres, and these are generally quite fat (wont fit in a normal road bike fork). Schwalbe seem to have some nice tyres – the marathon plus tourers seem pretty much what I want (they are minimum 32 wide though…which is wiiiiiiiiide).
• decent components: I don’t need top of the range, but I don’t want crap, good brakes I think will be a must if I’m planning on tackling some large climbs.
• lots of pannier lugs: Given that I’m basically buying this to carry stuff, I want it to be able to do that well. That means a sturdy long frame with lots of lugs!

So far, the bike that seems to fit the bill best for me is the Surly Long-Haul Trucker (LHT). It costs about $2000.00 new with a standard kit (not too bad, not too great) or you can just get the frame and do what you want with it for about $800 or so. I like the idea of just getting a frame and building it up…but realistically that will never happen. A cool shop in Sydney seems to be able to build up a custom LHT for up to $3000 – this looks pretty ideal but is quite expensive.

I won’t jump into buying a $3000 surly LHT… I think I will trawl eBay, classifieds and bike shop sales first. If I could pick up a stock LHT for about $1000-$1500 that would be perfect and then spend a bit on upgrading certain components. One component I will definitely be getting (other than awesome fat tyres) is a Brooks Saddle; they are awesome.

Other touring bikes I’m looking for……………will come when I find any….