Touring - touring the US for the first time, thinking surly cross check?? Have questions??

Hey everyone out there, thanks for giving me a second. Next Summer my buddy and I are going to begin our epic journey across the good 'ol USA. We're going to take the rought that dips down into Colorado and along the continental divide, then were going across and up to Boston. I am going to need a bike that will be able to handle a full load. I am thinking about the Surly Cross Check, but I know the bikes gearing will be to high to do anything with a serious load so I'lll have to swap out the crank set. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions about what they have done when they toured the country and also, any details on the Surly (Did you like it, the frame quality and ect...?).

You can't go wrong with surly bikes. I have the LHT and it is an amazing ride. Who knows mabey next year we will cross paths I will be going cross country as well. As for input on that I may not be a good source since it will be my first big one. But I would recomend reading some earlyer posts on here and also check out http://www.adv-cycling.org/ they have great routes and can give you a good idea.


Cheers,

Coco

i'm a little unclear on your route. are you planning to ride the off road continental divide route? i'm guessing not?

that being said the surly looks like a good choice for road and light trails. never heard anyone say anything bad about surly, and the cross check comes with braze-ons for racks. there web site says it's good for touring, so a full load should be fine.
as far as gearing goes, there are people on here that can probably tell you what gear ratios to go with. my suggestion is tell your LBS what your planning and they should be able to tell you what to use, and check and see if they'll change them for free on a new bike, a lot of places will. i'd say if your going cross country the lower the better. my tourer is set up with pretty low gears, and while on tour i basically never use my high gears, but use my low gears a lot.
good luck and have fun :)

I'm also thinking of doing some touring on a Surly crosscheck. The plan is France next summer to check out the tour. Of course, Europe in summer is crazy expensive, so the crosscheck seemed like a good deal. I only weigh 135 lbs, so I'm not too worried about breaking a steel framed bike even if it's not specifically designed for touring, plus this way i'll have a very nimble commuter when I get back. But I'm pretty new to all the technical aspects of cycling...I have an OCR with a triple Sora drivetrain, can that be put on a crosscheck? Or the better question probably is would I want to? I'm just trying to save any cash I can (within the limits of sanity). Anyone?

I started out with a stock Surly Crosscheck, changed almost every part on it, swapped the frame to a Long Haul Trucker, then sold the LHT and replaced it with another Crosscheck. The stock Crosscheck complete is okay, but about the only thing I would keep in the long run are the shifters, handlebars, and wheels.

The gearing on the stock bike is not very good for touring. It would be best to change out the entire drivetrain (I run a 24/39/48 x 11-32) but the first thing I would do would be to replace the rear cassette and derailleur with a mountain set up. The barcon shifter can handle this just fine. Later I would replace the crankset with a triple, which means a new front derailleur and bottom bracket as well. After the drivetrain swap I would recommend replacing the cantilever brakes with V-brakes and with Diacompe 287-V levers. Much better stopping power.

In regards to the triple Sora drivetrain, I wouldn't bother if you are using the bike for touring. A mountain bike drivetrain makes a lot more sense due to the way lower gear ratios.

Anyway, the Crosscheck makes a great touring bike and is very versatile. Have a great trip!

i toured on a stock surly crosscheck through the northwest. that baby hauled many many pounds of gear on the rear rack and never gave me any problems. granted, should have changed the gearing to a mountain (i rode it with the cyclocross setup ;-), no granny) but in the end it just made my calves stronger. that guy is very stable, blazing down mountains, climbing, etc. just make sure to get a brooks saddle!

i recently finished a 750ish mile tour on a fixed (40x18) crosscheck. no complaints. it was great.