tpelle

Back in early June I ordered a Surly Long Haul Trucker from my LBS. This was originally supposed to be a complete bike from Surly. I guess Surly oversold the complete bikes because they were unable to furnish the bike complete. My LBS just went ahead and got the frame and fork from Surly, and built the bike themselves. As far as I can tell, they either matched Surly's specs, or in some cases upgraded the components one step.

The bike rides great! I was surprised at how lively it is compared to my other two bikes (a 30-year-old 10-speed Ross Gran Eurosport, and a TREK 820 mountain bike). The Surly actually feels lighter than the other two, although I haven't actually weighed any of them.

I had them put on MKS toe-clippable pedals with MKS size "LL" clips - I like riding in street shoes. I'm more of a casual rider, and will use the Surly mostly as a road bike. I wanted basically an updated version of my old Ross - steel frame, non-point-and-click shifters - but with a triple for the steep hills around my AO. The LBS put on thinner high-pressure tires - 700x28 - versus the 700x35's that Surly normally installs. This is great, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm also a big guy - 6' - 2-1/2", 255 lbs, with a 54" chest and 38" waist, 36" inseam, and size 14 feet. I wanted the Surly because I figure it would haul my lard butt around without folding up under me.

Anyway, here are some pics:

audsnico

It looks good with those 700c you have on it!

Can we all post ours? My 46cm complete just came in last week. Taking it from Cairns to Melbourne (2500+ miles) for my first tour.

Here's Mr. Right:

karmantra

tpelle: What did your LBS charge you for building up your LHT? I know the going rate back in May was $930--did they charge you the same amount as if you would have bought a complete LHT at the time?

kipibenkipod

Can you please post your inseam and hight.

audsnico

5'3" height, My inseam is 29"-30"

tpelle

The price had gone up since May - the quoted price was $985 plus $25 for some cheap pedals, for a total of $1010. By the time we were done, using my pedals but adding their bottle cages and bottles, the final price for the bike, less tax, was $1024.78. They didn't add anything for the upgrade in components or for the labor for the assembly - as I guess they figured if there was a long delivery delay I might cancel the order, and they had promised an early-July delivery, so they did what it took to meet their date. I admire that. They maintained that after all was said and done that they didn't really make anything on the bike. They're good people, though, so I'll be a repeat customer.

There are two bike shops convenient to me. The closest is part of a multi-store chain, but I didn't get along with their sales people - one of my bikes is nearly twice as old as most of their salespeople, and when I went in there looking for a bike, and made a remark comparing the bike that he was showing me to my old 10-speed, the kid remarked that they didn't make the components out of stone any more!

OK, so we'll go to the other bike shop.

The folks where I bought the Surly were great - and they are all old enough to buy an adult beverage without resorting to a false ID. They are also politically active in bicycle advocacy, which I admire.

chari-chari

The bikes look great! tpelle, what kind of pump is that you have in the first photo? I've been wanting something that just "slots onto" the frame like that, but haven't seen any around.

tpelle

The pump is a fairly cheap Nashbar frame pump. The Surly has a little stud on the back side of the head tube that engages a hole on one end of the pump to hold it in place. The other end of the pump wedges into the angle between the seat tube and the top tube. The pump itself is spring-loaded so that you compress it a little to fit it in place, then the spring tension presses it out against the head tube stud and the seat tube.

There are a lot of pumps that work like this - make sure you measure the space where it's going to fit so that you buy the right size.

The key to making this work on the Surly is the little stud on the head tube. The angle between the top tube and the head tube is greater than 90 degrees, so the pump would tend to slip down without that stud. The pump comes with a little velcro strap to hold it up in that case.

FraAngelico

that blue is hella betta then the yuk yuk green

quester

My LBS said they'd build one up, but it would $200 - $300 more. Anyone know when the new completes will be coming out?

brianmcg123

They arrived in stock on July 6th.

aphatrider

what type of headset is on your bike?

aphatrider

and stem

tpelle

It's a Ritchey headset with a Salsa stem. Nitto bars.

audsnico

My understanding is that they are mostly sold out already. My LBS had a 56" in stock, in Austin, TX if anyone around here is looking.

tpelle

Yep! That's why my LBS did a custom build for me. Even though it had been ordered back in early-June, Surly couldn't fill the order with a ready-built complete bike.

HardyWeinberg

if this is show-and-tell, here is my LHT in the stairwell at the dentist's this morning:



It's a 54cm frame, the largest w/ 26" wheels. I got it in the 1st batch of LHT completes, in April. I swapped out the saddle and tires from the get-go, added commuting paraphernalia (fenders rack etc...), and then later replaced the seatpost.

Lolly Pop

Lovely bikes!

and lol @ "Mr Right" -- so that's where he is!

sprintcarblue

Out of curiosity, did those of you who bought the completes frame save your frames? I completely disassembled mine and have one coat in it. Though I haven't too much of an idea what I'm doing, and I left the BB since it is sealed and such...

HardyWeinberg

Not specifically. The shop did a couple other thoughtful things not on surly's spec sheet (either one, the QBP and web site lists differed) so I wouldn't be surprised, if they thought it was important, that they would have done at least a partial job of it. The other bikes in the household are 8 and 20 year old steel frames w/ no meaningful rust (some surface rust here and there) on them despite pretty brutal environments (NE sea air, road salt) most of their lives, so I'm not too concerned about the LHT frame's life being measurably shortened. I have a nagging concern about it 'cause the bike came home so pretty, but I'm living with it for now.

SoonerLater

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My LHT is blue, but I love the former olive/pea/avacado green color of the LHT (which I've seen only in pictures) that I'm seriously thinking of paying to have my Feb '07 LHT repainted this winter in that shade of green.

tpelle

Personally, I really like that new Black Cherry color. The "completes" are only available in the Blue, but when my LBS had to switch me over to a frame/fork kit I wish they had gone for the Black Cherry. On the other hand, the color (as long as it's not Pink) isn't that important to me, the Blue looks good, and I've gotten compliments on it, so I'm happy.

SoonerLater

I like this color best

but why is this jerk wearing a full face helmet... like he's gonna race his LHT -- bmx style -- to the air guitar festival?

HardyWeinberg

I would so very much prefer the red color. Blue is the one color I will always reflexively avoid, given a choice. And I do like the previous green OK too. Not that I'm going to repaint mine. That said, it does look nice, or at least 'huh, doesn't annoy me like I thought it would'

I was hanging w/ my 6 yr old at his school playground last night, found myself dangling from monkey bars that were pugsley purple. I thought a) the color aged really well and b) for all the paint rubbed off, in a rainy clime, the bars themselves were doing well too, but maybe they get so much palm grease from kids spinning around on them that they never have a chance to rust.

audsnico

I prefer the Blue, but am dreaming of the day when I can paint it sparkly pink. On the other hand, my bike is a boy, so maybe he wouldn't like it that much