Surly – Long Haul Trucker (LHT)

Model Year:
Surly Long Haul Trucker (LHT) 2009 – Olive

Bike Setup:
Mavic A719 rims, 36 spokes
White Industries MI5 hubs
Schwalbe Marathon Racer 700c x 30

Truvativ Stylo OCT 3.3 GPX crankset 22/32/44
Shimano Deore XT M770 front derailleur
Shimano Deore XT rear derailleur
Shimano M770 cassette 11-34

Shimano XT Shift / Brake level set
Shimano XT V-Brakes

Thomson Elite X2 seatpost
Chris King 1/1/8″ no thread headset
Control Tech Flat bar
MKS pedals
Brooks B17 saddle

Finally finished building ….

Took some time but finally, finished building this “ultimate" touring bike  of my. The building is with comfort and durability in mind. After rounding Taiwan island twice, have gathered considrable amount of experience on what a medium distance traveling would be like. Once you spend more than 10 hours on the saddle, there are certain things you need to take into considerations.

Initially, I was skeptical about using a road bike geometry frame for touring. I thought it would require too much of bending and hence would not be comfortable. After testing the bike, boy! Was I I wrong about the geometry! It was very comfortable and indeed Surly has designed the bike fit for touring. The bike was fast, comfortable and nimble. Steel frame does make a difference.

Other than the frame, I did some research and put together parts that would be ideal for touring. In another word, the bike has to be able to bear heavy weight (including the cyclist), has reliability so as to reduce the chances of breakdowns and comfortable enough for long rides.

Surly Long Haul Trucker (or known as LHT) has received numerous reviews as being a value for money touring bike. Not only about price but the design and comfort were rated highly as well. Complete bike is available but I did not like the specs. hence, I have decided to buy the frame and build the bike up.

An interesting note: Surly is a US brand but the frames are made in Taiwan. As a consumer in Taiwan, this frustrates me. Surly frames are not available in Taiwan, some complete bikes are sold but in limited quantity. Usually, standing at 183cm, I find it more difficult to get a bike that fits my size. So I am sure, the retailers in Taiwan do not stock a 56cm size. I did not even bother to try asking the Taiwan retailers. Went to the internet and ordered it from a bike site in US. To my surprise, the frame was delivered to me within a week … now that’s efficient.

There aren’t many colours to choose from. Every year, Surly will introduce 2 colours. So for 2009, it is either olive green or beige. I chose olive green. In Taiwan, some call it the postman green (a bike for Taiwan post?). With olive green, I thought it would be nice to match it with silver parts. I did my best in locating for sliver parts. Most of it are silver except the crankset.

Here is another shot of the Surly logo.

Let’s look at the parts. To build a bike that is strong enough to carry heavy weight, you need a strong frame (yup, checked). The you need a set of strong wheels. My choice … a set of White Industries MI5 hubs with Mavic A719 rims, using 36 holes. I would have gone for Phil Wood hubs if not for the price. This wheelset combo is said to be “indestructible" … at least that is what their websites says. White Industries hub enjoys a fairly good reputation for being tough (it is said that Phil Wood hubs are the toughest) and Mavic A719 rims is designed for touring and cyclocross said to be tough too.I guess the combination of a chrome-moly frame and these sets of wheels, the bike should be able to withstand some medium weight touring.

Another thin about touring is the tires. Get puncture-proof tires!! Repeat after me … “Get puncture-proof tires!" I cannot stress this enough. Because by stressing on this, you save yourself a lot of stress (get it?) I am currently using Schwalbe Marathon Racer tires, check out their website on their puncture-proof technology.

Chrome-moly frame

White Industries hubs. Love that polished silver look. It looks big but it is actually pretty light for its size. Sealed bearings to prevent mud and grime from getting into the bearings and affect the smooth running of the wheel. On touring, sealed bearings is also good to reduce the chances of hub failure. However, if it really does fail, then good luck to me trying to fix it on the road.

Another thing about wheels, it was suggested that 26″ wheels are better for touring due to the availability of tires and rims even in remote places. I personally snapped 2 spokes on my 700c wheel while doing my 2nd round Taiwan trip. It was a pain trying to find bike shops that stock spokes for my wheels. But I do love the speed of a 700c. Hence, despite the pain I might face, I will still go with a 700c wheel.

Initially, I was going for a all-silver quick release skewers. But found that most silver skewers are made for road bikes (130mm) rather than mountain bikes (135mm). In the end, I managed to find Crank Brother’s 2-stage quick release skewers with sort-of matching colour. Could not get the olive green, so I have to settle with cobalt green. It does look kinda nice after a while.

For the gear system, I wanted to switch from Shimano to Sram system. Giving Sram a tried after using Shimano for quite a while. So the initial idea was to have Sram X9 system together with Avid Digit SL brakes and Truvativ Stylo crankset. After bringing my frame and parts to my usual bike shop, the owner Mr Chang, try to talk me out of using Sram. I mean, it will be a new experience using Sram but then again, Shimano XT is a tried and proven system for me. After near 3,000km of riding, my old XT system is still going strong.

Convinced via experience.

Went back to Shimano XT system with dual control levers which takes some getting used to. Especially while climbing, it is a departure from the push levers that I am used to.

The only part that I have from Sram is the crankset. I was going to source Sram X9 system locally in Taiwan and wanted the latest Truvativ Stylo OCT crankset. But in Taiwan, stocks for Truvativ is still a little behind. So I took the decision to buy from US and was thinking of combining with other Sram parts locally. Since now I am using Shimano XT, the crankset remains as the only non-Shimano part on my bike. Would have preferred a silver crank arm instead of the black but I guess with money spend, I have no choice.

The Truvative GPX BB set is smooth and riding is efficient. Not sure I am expert enough to tell the different between Truvative and Shimano XT crankset.

Final shot of my bike. Shimano XT V-Brakes. It is the only “old" XT part that I transferred from my previous bike. The new XT brake arms are black in colour and I was determined to keep this bike as “silver" as possible. Transferred old XT brakes over in an attempt to complete the “silver" look.

So here it is … My Surly Long Haul Trucker completely build up for touring. Any comments? Anyone?

Cannondale – Bad Boy

After the trip, I decided that I wanted a bigger frame. Still continuing with a hybrid but just bigger, maybe 20″ or 21″ frame would be good.

Cannondale Bad Boy

But you know something, the bikes in Taiwan appears to be made for drawfs or hobbits. I just cannot find a 20″ frame. Every where I go, they tell me “We have to make special order for that size" … What the &*%#@! I don’t think I am that tall!

It is a good thing anyway, since I have to make order, I can choose whatever bike I want and not limited to whatever stock they have in the shop. After much research and finally I made up my mind on a Cannondale Bad Boy, size XL (about 22″). Just the ring of that name sounds good … Bad Boy (that song goes off in my head again … bad boy, bad boy what you gonna do? what you gonna do when they come for you …) It is describes as Clark Kent disguising his super powers … hahaha … good one. Matt Black … even the logo decels are low key. A very low profile, low key but a very cool low key bike.  Transferred most of my “good stuff" over i.e. Shimano XT set, the handle bar, Thomson Elite post and stem. Bought a Brooks B17 saddle (heard it damn good for touring). Next steps, thinking about building a special set of wheels. Mavic A719 rims with Phil Wood hubs (reputed to be THE hub for touring and one of the strongest hub around). This set of babies is in preparation for the long tours that I am planning. (BTW, I did not get those Phil Wood hubs, damn expensive stuff!)

Bad Boy is another hybrid. It was designed to be a city/urban bike. And that is the problem! That means it still has 700c wheels but with a more aggressive frame design for speed. But I wasn’t looking for speed but comfort. Hence, during the 2nd round Taiwan trip, the ride was less comfrotable compared to Gary Fisher Nirvana. After riding for some distance, I found that 22″ is too big for me, I should have gone with a 19″ or 20″ max.

So with this new bike, a 2nd round Taiwan trip. Just before the trip, I was not confident with my Brooks saddle as it has not broken in yet. I do not think that this Brooks saddle is going to be kind to my butt during the trip. So I had it changed back to the Alley saddle I used for my frist trip.

The result was a cool bike but uncomfortable ride. Broke 2 spokes in some small town where no one had the spokes for 700c wheels. Suffered backache and neckache for about 2 days. This means I am going into search mode for another touring bike.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a great cool looking bad dude bike for city riding but it was not designed for long distance touring.

Gary Fisher – Nirvana

The bike that was featured in my first round Taiwan trip in 2008. A Gary Fisher Nirvana, a hybrid.

Gary Fisher Nivarna

What is a hybrid? It is basically a cross between 2 types of bike. In my case, it is a cross between a mountain bike and road bike. That is to say, it has a mountain bike frame but with 700c wheels similar to road bike.

It was not the best looking bike there is. The paint job was a little on the horrible side, colour is all wrong. The logo looks to me outdated, like a bike from the 70s. But, it serves my purpose.

Not too bad a bike, a bit heavy but I was not too concerned about that. The only concern that I have is that the frame appears to be a bit small for me. Standing at 183cm, the bike has a 17.5″ frame. Had to raise the seat post by more than a bit, added a stem extender. But somehow, the bike looks funny to me with the extension. It is like a short person wearing super high heels to compensate. Anyway, had some modification made, change the gears and breaks to Shimano XT set. Changed the stem and seat post to Thomson Elite (heard that they are good). Bought Ortlieb handlebar, saddle and pannier bags. I was set for my first round island trip (I think).