Cyclocross - gearing up my surly crosscheck - help me out with ideas!

I've been riding my surly crosscheck as a singlespeed for awhile now and I'm ready to put some gears on it! i want to do thumb shifters with a double up front. i already have a set of dura-ace cranks, tektro levers and shimano cantis, but i need ideas on what parts to buy for the derailleurs and thumb shifters, etc...i'm hoping to spend as little as possible while still getting quality parts that will last me through the rainy season, as i work as a courier and will be riding through it all.

any input of the constructive quality would be very much appreciated!

Particularly if you run a double up front, don't go super high end on the front dérailleur. Tiagra or 105 should be great. On the rear, I'd say go for 105, and try to score used. 105 is nice and crisp, but far less expensive than Dura Ace or even Ultegra, with minimal performance compromises.
Good call on the thumb shifters.

I like the Dura Ace bar ends. Not too spendy, and bomb proof, though when it comes to urban riding, I've often wished for STI, so I can keep my hands up on the hoods in high traffic situations. I don't know where you could get them cheap. maybe try a WTB ad on craigslist.

I built my Cross Check with Dura Ace bar end shifters and Pauls Thumbies sized to fit an old school Scott AT-4 bar. I love the setup. The friction mode allows for endless tweaking of the FD. And, if you decide you want to go to drops, you already have the shifters. Not the cheapest setup though as the barcons ran me about $70 and the Thumbies ran $65. Paired them with an LX trekking crankset, LX FD and XT RD. No complaints, it all works well together.

I built my Cross Check with Dura Ace bar end shifters and Pauls Thumbies sized to fit an old school Scott AT-4 bar. I love the setup. The friction mode allows for endless tweaking of the FD. And, if you decide you want to go to drops, you already have the shifters. Not the cheapest setup though as the barcons ran me about $70 and the Thumbies ran $65. Paired them with an LX trekking crankset, LX FD and XT RD. No complaints, it all works well together.

I run my bar ends friction for the front and indexed for the back. At first i was ready to move to indexing in the front because I was constantly tweaking, but after about a week of riding I pretty much knew exactly how far to move the shifter. The back is indexed because friction would require more specific adjustments, and it's harder to peer back and see what needs to be tweaked while riding. I really like the setup. I have often wished the shifters weren't down in the drops while riding in the city. The thumbies look like a great solution, though you are pretty much doubling the cost of the barcons, which negates the price advantage they have over STI.

consider a 1x9 set up with a bar end,
34t or 38 t chainwheel and 11-34 cassette
with an LX deraileur is an effective, long
lasting, pragmatic solution. so far this year
have 2500 km on my cross check with 1x9.

Paul thumbies mated to D/A barcons.

Paul thumbies mated to D/A barcons.

Is that a statement or are you asking a question? It is the only way to get 9 sp thumbies on a Shimano bike, that's a statement.

Seriously, as everyone who posted will tell you, thumbies gives you the ability to use friction on the ft der. If you were using flat bar controls, you would have to use a specially designed ft der. With friction you can use any ft der. Good luck

Tim