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Messages - Gsplfnk

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Gear Talk / Re: Surly Disc Trucker v. LHT
« on: April 06, 2012, 09:47:22 pm »
Greetings! Nice to meet you all.

Just took ownership of my Surly Disc Trucker this AM. First build out in of the new Trucker Seattle. I spent quite a bit of time with meet and greet and such, then hauled trucker ass to the ferry for an 80 mile adjustment ride.

I can tell you these things after one day. Never was there a stouter nor more stable ride in this world, and possibly the next. First 80 mile impression, mind you. I turned my Trek 520 over for some major work as I picked up the newbie (not getting rid of the Trek--too wonderful, and very very dear after 20 years). But I have to tell you, everything that Surly and their fans tell you about the Disc Trucker is absolutely true. I have been around the globe four times in miles on my 520, did @14,000 miles a year for each of its first three years --I was gainfully unemployed and rode long every day of every week), so believe me, these words don't come from the brief infatuation of a novice. My Trek is legendary in Seattle in terms of mileage. The problem with it is that it was a big frame to begin with, and in the 20 years since we have been together, it has either grown a lot, or I have lost a couple of inches. (Sad to say, I'm the one who has grown older and shorter during the past 20 years.)

So take it from an extremely fit and somewhat knowledgeable and experienced 63 year-old. The Trucker is heavier than the 520 by lots. So if it's speed you're after, don't go there. But if you want the best riding battleship in the touring fleet, GO THERE! Oh, and my only real sore point (for each and every one of the 20 years) about the Trek was the brakes. If I was loaded down with groceries or books or firewood--which is pretty much all the time (I can drive, but I have never owned a car, so I am demanding of brakes on my rides large and small), the Trek gets pretty harrowing in terms of stop-ability, real fast. The disc brakes on the Trucker have taken all of that stored up angst away today. I made sure I was riding heavy (my four large test-weighted Ortliebs and me), and I am here to tell you that, while I still can't stop on a dime carrying this kind of weight, I can do it if necessary in less than half a block going full-tilt down hill. My warning to children: if you run out of safety room trying to stop at an intersection with this rig and you get killed,  it will have been your own damn fault.

More when there is more to tell.

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