Changes for the Surly Cross Check
I've had my Surly Cross Check for 22 months. It's been a fixed gear the entire time, my first fixed gear. It quickly became my main bicycle and has somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000 miles on it. I lost track exactly how many miles along the way. This weekend I was still laying low due to this cold. It's fading and I decided to take it easy until it was clear of my system. I took the opportunity to make some changes to the Cross Check . Here's the BEFORE picture:
And the AFTER picture.
The bullhorn/TT bars are gone and in their place is a Nitto Noodle Bar and Cane Creek Brake levers. I swapped out the stem for a longer one I had laying around and added a rear brake. I've had the parts laying around since July when I made a visit to Hiawatha Cyclery in Minneapolis. I've had a busy summer and didn't have the time to work on bikes much. Plus I'm not very good at working on bikes. Everything went really well up until this afternoon, then things started to go wrong. I haven't wrapped bars with handlebar tape in 25 years. So that was a bit nerve wracking.
They came out okay, not a professional looking job, but okay. The stem I put on was shorter on the steerer tube. You can see it in the picture above. Later in the day I took it out for a test ride and stopped at my LBS to get a small spacer for the steerer tube.
I decided to take the little plastic mudflap off my Freddy Fenders and add a leather mudflap for better coverage. It went on really nice. I had to bend or mold the flat piece of leather to fit the rounded fender. I was very excited about it going on so nice. About 10 minutes later Susan stuck her head downstairs to see how things were going. I made the mistake of telling her everything was going great and I hadn't broken anything yet.
I totally jinxed myself. Almost on cue one of the mudflap screws pulled itself right out of the fender taking a big chunk of the fender with it. The fender is probably totaled and I'll need to replace them. Rats!!!Also today I put a second chainring and the Dingle cog. When I went to put the new 9-speed chain on that is required when using the Dingle Cog, I found out that rings, cogs and chains really do wear together. The new chain would not work on the outer chainring I have been using. It would not stay on the teeth all the way around. So I had to take off the Dingle cog and new chain and put the old cog and chain back on until I buy one more chainring.
After the test ride I could not get the front brake to stop rubbing on one side. I loosened and tightened and readjusted, and lubed things until my fingers were sore. I'd be in bad shape if I had to make a living as a mechanic.
Overall, I already love the new bars. I liked the bullhorns for climbing out of the saddle, but not for anything else. And since I've been putting in longer miles on the Cross Check more frequently I wanted a bar that was more comfortable for me. The rear brake was added for additional stopping options this winter. I plan on trying to ride the Cross Check in more snowy and icy conditions then I've tried in the past.
I haven't updated my miles in over a week because I've only ridden 7 miles in the past 7 days. My miles should increase gradually over the next few weeks as I put time between me and this cold. Yesterday I did some errands on the Xtracycle and today I did the test run on the Cross Check.
Sat: 4 mi
Sun: 0 mi
Mon: 0 mi
Tue: 0 mi
Wed: 0mi
Thu: 0 mi
Fri: 0 mi
Sat: 2 mi
Sun: 5 mi
Sept: 176 mi
2007: 5,325
posted by Doug @ 6:19 PM
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5 Comments:
Glad to see you’re getting better. I'm kind of like you when it comes to fixing bikes, I can do most of it rather well, but the finer points is where I lack. I can just barely get my front derailleur onto the biggest ring, it needs a fine tuning by someone other then myself.
Take care!
Are your old chainrings 8-speed? Remember a 9-speed chain is narrower, as 9 cogs have to fit on the same width cassette as a "geared" 8-speed bike.
- Antoine
Antoine, There's a lot I don't know, but I did check to see if the old ring fits a 9 speed chain. My old ring is a Rocket Ring. Rocket Rings are supposed to fit a narrower chain.
I have Noodles on my Bleriot and I'm in love! I'll ride nothing else as the 48cm Nittos actually fit my shoulder width. This is the first time I've been comfortable on drop bars in something like 30 years...
Glad to hear you're feeling better. Perhaps you'll be able to get a couple of miles in while the colors are good.
Doug, I'm cheap. Before you toss the fenders, I'd try to repair it. See if there is a local metal-fab shop and see if you can get a small piece of stainless steel or aluminum and bend it around a dowel or something round to simulate the fender. Heck, a couple of pieces of beer can might do it. Drill the holes you need, trim sharp edges and wrap the thing in electrical tape to protect the tire from sharp edges. If you use a bolt above the existing holes and below, it ought to hold things in place. I'd probably also do the same on the backside of the fender and then mount the mudflap. Some epoxy wouldn't hurt either. And use carriage bolts with the head under the fender so the tire can't get hurt.
I doubt you're to blame for cracking the fender. If it was so easy to break, you would have found that just riding would have killed it soon enough.
A neat finish I've used for bar tape is to not try to square-off the end when you get near the stem. Just let the corner stick out and wrap electrical tape to hold it all in place (I don't use the tape that comes with the bar.) Then take a razor and very carefully cut a nice, straight line all the way around the bar through the bar tape and electrical tape. If you don't nick the bar or cut your computer cable, it gives a nice-looking finish.
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