Bad Pictures of a Half-Assembled Bike

I tried to avoid posting the few pictures that have been taken of my bike. I don't own camera, (PeterB will be bringing his on the trip), but I rattled a few off about a month ago on a friend's while I was taking shots of stuff to sell on eBay. As you'll see, the pictures aren't very good. The bike is is in a state of mid-assembly, and the pics aren't action shots like PeterB's photos. But my brother's marked enthusiasm for pictures of bikes has been noted, so I'll finally post what I have:



This is my Surly Long Haul Trucker. As the name implies in an overtly hip way, it's built around a touring frame. Unlike PeterB, I opted to build it largely from scratch. The frame is manufactured so that the smaller sizes accept 26"(MTB) wheels, and the larger sizes take 700c (traditional road) wheels. Mine happens to be a 54cm which makes it the biggest frame size to have the 26" wheels. This makes the bike look a little funny at first glance and means that PeterB and I will have to keep different cadences from each other in order to maintain the same speed out on the road. (His bike takes the larger 700c wheels which affects his gearing relative to mine - it's really not worth delving into.)

I opted for Surly front and rear racks, which are heavier than other options, but I like having a platform to store gear on both the front and rear rack. I also went with antiquated frictionless downtube shifters a la 1975. I want to focus more on simplicity and durability at the expense of any perceived benefits of newer, more complex technology. I'm the kind of guy wh0 would go crazy if the indexing got knocked out of whack in the middle of nowhere. I added SKS fenders which are nice but are fitted for 700c wheels, (a lot of bike shops who carry SKS fenders will tell you the P50 model will fit both 700c and 26" wheels just fine. This is a lie), so they don't look as pretty as I'd like, but I've decided to stick with them because the correct model isn't sold in the States and costs a fortune from Europe due to the weak dollar. I also have a Brooks leather saddle which is really nice. It's not completely broken in yet, so that should be fun for the first week on tour.

The panniers are made by a Canadian company, Arkel. They're the Cadillac of bicycle panniers - what a lofty title.... and they're huge. Huge enough to where I don't plan on using a handlebar bag.

I'll write more about the gear that's being stashed in the panniers later, because I know my brother, Brad, will want to see pictures of it all. Brad likes pictures. Lastly, I have to put out a huge 'thanks' to Jeff Frey who got me a sweet deal on the frame and racks. His generosity helped in a lot of ways when I was putting the bike together. So, thanks again Jeff.