My Custom Built Surly Disc Trucker

[fiveonomo]

I finally got the custom 2015 Surly Disc Trucker built.  I think she turned out great!  What do you guys think?

[swduncan]

Nice! What kind of pump is that?

[DaveB]

Nice! What kind of pump is that?

Zefel HPX

[fiveonomo]

Thanks.  Yep, Its a Zefal HPX Classic Aluminum Pump.  I bought mine from eBay, but there are other places to buy it from.  I saw them on www.chainreactioncycles.com for around $28.

[DaveB]

Thanks.  Yep, Its a Zefal HPX Classic Aluminum Pump.  I bought mine from eBay, but there are other places to buy it from.  I saw them on www.chainreactioncycles.com for around $28.

I bought mine back in the late '80's before they were called "Classic" and were just standard frame pumps.  Still works but is so heavy that I never use it. 

[RonK]

Thanks.  Yep, Its a Zefal HPX Classic Aluminum Pump.

Be warned - if you want to keep your  new paintwork pristine make sure you protect it at the foot end of the pump. Otherwise it will rub through pretty quick.

[fiveonomo]

Thanks Ron, I thought about that when I put it on there.  The frame was professionally stripped down to metal and powder coated, no paint.  With that said, as tough as the powder coat is I may run into trouble down the road with the vibration of it riding there, I don't know.  Like Dave said it is heavy.  In my case the build was going to come out heavy anyway, we will see how that plays out down the road.  Coming from my carbon race bike it feels like I am lifting a Sherman Tank.

Thanks to the people here that helped when I was asking questions during the build.  I got the occasional response of, "If you don't know what you are doing why are you building a bike".  Totally unnecessary but you take the good with the bad and move forward.  For the most part everyone here was very helpful, and I think the bike turned out great.  It rides great and looks just like I wanted it to.  Thanks.

[seadug]

The bike looks great to me! As for the "if you don't know what you're doing why are you building a bike" part.  What better way is there to learn. Hats off to you.

[RussSeaton]

I like the color.  Orange frame, fork, and stem.  But "custom" must mean different things to you and me.  To me custom does not mean taking a factory built standard frame and repainting it.  To me custom means having the factory build a frame to fit my body precisely.  Nothing standard or off the floor to it.  Looking at the way you have the bike setup, I think you would have been wise to take the repainting costs and invest them in having a custom frame actually built for you.  You have a short little stem sticking straight up in the air.  You have about 2 inches of seatpost showing.  The frame does not fit you.  It is way too long and low for you.

[fiveonomo]

Thanks Seadug, I agree with you.
 
Russ, to me custom meant changing what was stock to my likings or to my specs.  I spoke to a frame builder at the beginning of this process and his cost was no where near what I paid for new powder coat to go on the bike, $200.  I spoke to this particular builder only because my bicycle club sponsored a class he taught, then there is I did not want a custom built frame, I wanted a Surly LHT or a Disc Trucker.  Therefore the bike is not an off the shelf bike and you would be hard pressed to find this exact Disc Trucker anywhere.  Anything special....no, different and built the way you want it....yes.  Maybe I could call it my different built Surly Disc Trucker, I don't know.  Hayes CX Expert disc brakes, Shimano Tiagra components, Salsa bars, Shimano Deora crank, Hand built wheels, Surly Knard tires, Brooks seat, etc,.  Several other things that I would say was built for me or to my wants. Custom is the word I used and I guess it has a different meaning to different people.  You are correct that it is a off the shelf frame/fork set, but other than that it's different from stock.

Unfortunately the only way it does fit/work is like you see it.  In a perfect world I ride a 54CM like my race bike that was fitted to me.  I wanted my touring bike to have 700c tires and with the Surly Truckers to get the 700c tires they start at 56cm, nothing smaller.  I could of looked at other bikes but I chose not to as I wanted the trucker.

I'm not sure if the fit of this bike will cause issues.  When I stand flat footed straddling the top tube it barely touches the bottom of my groin area.  When on the saddle and peddling I am getting the extension that I want in my legs.  The position feels very comfortable, however I have not really had a chance to ride any distance.  Russ can you tell me what I should be looking for with the improper fit of this bike?  What issue is it going to cause for me now and down the road to ride it in the position you see it in?  Way to long and low, meaning the frame is too big?  Im always learning something about bicycles, I would love to hear from you on this.

I know fit is very important in a bicycle, but like so many other things sometimes we go a little overboard with don't do this or don't do that.   

[DaveB]

I wanted my touring bike to have 700c tires and with the Surly Truckers to get the 700c tires they start at 56cm, nothing smaller.  I could of looked at other bikes but I chose not to as I wanted the trucker.

We've had this discussion here before and several of us recommended not compromising the frame size for your unnecessary insistence on 700c wheels.  Too late now and I'm sure the bike you have will be adequate.

[RussSeaton]

You have a 54cm road frame fitted to you.  So you know what a properly fitting bike is.  Does its saddle height, seatpost extension, stem angle, stem extension, top tube length (most important) look anything like your orange Surly?  Assuming your 54cm road bike was correctly fitted to you.  Touring bikes, road racing bikes, cyclocross bikes all look a bit different, but they are really all pretty similar.  A correctly fitting one will look pretty similar to the other one.

As for wanting the Surly Trucker, why?  Most bikes are pretty darn similar.  They are somewhat interchangeable.  Trek 520, Gunnar Tour, REI Randonne, Surly Trucker, Salsa something, and a few others I cannot recall.  They are all TIG welded steel frames and forks.  Maybe a little different geometry or such.  But you could interchange them and you would never know the difference without a decal telling you which you were riding.  Gunnar is the TIG welded frame division of Waterford in Wisconsin.  They offer a stock disc touring frame for about $1000 and a fork for about $400.  Add about $300 to that for custom.  About $1800 give or take for a custom built frame that will function exactly like your Surly Disc Trucker bike.  Except fit correctly.

As for describing how a properly fitted bike is different than a non correctly fitted frame.  One feels right, the other does not have that "right" feeling.  Steering, how it handles going down the road, etc. are all different.  Maybe not a lot, but different.  One is right.  The other is not right.  Maybe not horribly wrong, but its not right either.  One you just think about turning and the bike turns almost by itself without you doing anything.  The other you have to fight it to turn correctly.  For me all my road racing type bikes and cyclocross bike and single speed bikes and loaded touring bike all behave similarly.  Not much difference at all if I standardized them by putting the same tires on them.  The size of the tires is probably the biggest factor in how my bikes ride.  They all feel similar.

Does your 54cm fitted road bike feel the same as your orange Surly?  I know one is twice the weight of the other.  And one has big wide tires.  But they both should feel about the same riding down the road on the flat.

I've had a poorly fitted bike.  A small Trek 520 frame.  Long seatpost, 12cm Nitto Technomic stem raised to the maximum.  It rode fine.  I toured on it.  I made it fit.  But it still did not really fit right.  I now have many bikes that fit me.  Better I think.  Much better to have correctly fitting bikes.  Instead of trying to make an ill fitting frame fit right.

[fiveonomo]

No doubt Dave, I was part of a couple of the discussions.  I read a lot here and some other places to.   Like anything else you can get slightly different answers depending on who you ask, the reasons are to many to speculate here.

Thanks for taking the time to post Russ.  I do agree with your assessment and thoughts on proper bike fit.  It is my opinion that you are correct, I was thinking maybe you had some information I was unaware of. 

I have a Cannondale Super Six Ultegra Di2 in 54cm.  This bike was correctly fitted to me and that fitting came with a spec sheet to re-set things if I ever got them out of whack.  I am very comfortable on that bike and have rode many miles on it.  Bike MS 2014 I did back to back centuries, 200 miles in 2 days and the bike was great...what a proper fitting bike should feel like.  If I could find anything that would feel better I would be shocked, so I agree about that feel right and the feel wrong thing as you are right on the money with that.

I wanted the Trucker and I was aware that there were other options out there.  I read a bunch about the size of the bike and there were varying opinions across the board.  Many guys that were 5'10" like me said they fit fine on their 56cm Trucker.  Now, you and I know there are many variables that come into play when we are talking about bike fit and height is just one small part of the equation.  With that said, there was enough information out there that I felt comfortable moving forward on the 56cm.

When you line the Trucker up with my other bikes (I have a Specialized Epic Comp as well) all of the saddles are pretty much at the exact height.  In my shop I have them all parked beside each other in stands and this is easy to see.  The top tube on the Trucker is a little bit higher than the Super Six's top tube, and the handlebars are higher.  Of course the position for the two bikes are different, more aggressive on the Super Six and more upright on the Trucker.  The saddle heights are the same though.

So far the bike feels good.  I don't feel like I am reaching to far at all, I really don't and steering has not been an issue.  When I am standing over it I am ok to do so flat footed.  I have only ridden the bike down my street so I cannot say to you for sure that the bike will be a comfortable fit but right now it feels great.  When I get home Tuesday I plan to ride 35 miles or so unloaded and I will jump back on and report my findings.  I hope I didn't screw up because I really like this bike and I am hoping to make it work.  I know what right feels like on a bike, I should have a better idea on Tuesday.

[RonK]

Thanks Ron, I thought about that when I put it on there.  The frame was professionally stripped down to metal and powder coated, no paint.  With that said, as tough as the powder coat is I may run into trouble down the road with the vibration of it riding there, I don't know.  Like Dave said it is heavy.  In my case the build was going to come out heavy anyway, we will see how that plays out down the road.

Put a little helicopter tape under the foot will protect it.

I still have my Zefal HPX bought 20 years ago but never use, simple because it hinders the handling of the bike if I need to lift or carry it, and because I dislike more clutter on a frame already loaded with bidon cages. I prefer a Lezyne Micro Floor Drive HP on tour, carried in a pannier.

Coming from my carbon race bike it feels like I am lifting a Sherman Tank.

Yes, I was disappointed with my LHT, so much that I replaced it with a titanium tourer. My personal view is the LHT is much overrated.

[woodrowstar]

Check out Surly's website for the correct bracket to use with disk brakes for installing the front rack level.

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