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10-09-08, 12:35 PM
I have been in the process of ordering parts for my LHT build over the last few weeks, so I thought I would share my choices with the rest of you so that you can give your opinions, hopefully stop me from making any horrible errors (as you have already caught a few in previous threads), and so that you can use this as a spec sheet / price list for your own builds.
ME
5' 8.5" tall with a 33" inseam. I weigh under 140 lbs.
FRAME
The first question was (the long debated) frame size question - 54" or 56". While there might not be that much difference in fit between these two bikes once they are built, the choice between 54" vs 56" will make a very large difference in specing your build. 54" takes 26" wheels while 56" takes 700c and the bikes have two different geometries. I decided on the 56" because 1) I thought it would fit me better, and 2) I am used to riding 27" and 700c and really did not want to switch (this is obviously not a good basis for a decision).
$420 + tax from LBS
WHEELS
This is my first touring bike and I admittedly went a bit over board on the wheel set. I am confident that two of me could comfortably tour on these wheels. It is beyond over kill for my needs. With that said...
I looked at a few of the common touring rims
Mavic A719
Velocity Dyad
Alex Adventurer
I decided on the Velocity Dyad because they seemed to have good reviews, were slightly cheaper than the Mavics and slightly more expensive than the adventuers. The Adventuers would have been fine, but as long as I was going to do a custom build, I figured I would go with Velocity.
Initially I wanted to go with 36h in the front, 40h in the rear. I found a 40h Phil Wood tandem hub laced to a Velocity Dyad for 120 shipped from ebikestop, but they sold out before I had a chance to order. This was serendipitous as I ended up ordering a shimano hf08 front hub laced to a Velocity dyad for slightly more from the same store which happens to have 290mm spokes, which ended up being the same as my rear wheel (more on this below).
It is far cheaper to order wheels than to build them yourself, but I ended up building a custom rear wheel for reasons I will explain in a minute.
HF08 hub w/ Dyad Rim $153 shipped (ebikestop)
REAR WHEEL and 7-SPEED FREE WHEEL HUB
Choosing 40 h in the rear was unnecessary. I wanted a stronger rear wheel, but in retrospect a 36 would have been more than enough and far easier to find parts for. That said, the options for a 40h rear touring hub are rather slim. I looked at the Shimano HF08 and a DT tandem hub which are both 145mm instead of 135mm, and, in the process of researching how to respace these hubs to fit the LHT, I came across a few mentions of building 7 speed rear wheels in order to have minimal (or essentially no) dish. This would make the wheel much stronger. Like I said, this is over kill. I briefly considered purchasing one of these hubs new in order to swap out the 9 speed freehub with a 7-speed from an older hub, and then respace it to 135mm. I would feel much more comfortable operating on the hub, and probably would have done this, if I could have found one used for cheap. As it stood, I could not, and I did not. I ended up purchasing a 7-speed Touring Freewheel hub from Phil Wood because 1) it is far cheaper than the cassette model (and would not require swapping the freehub), 2) it came spaced for 135mm, and 3) I felt more comfortable ordering a hub specifically designed for its intended use (a 135mm 7-speed touring hub).
Spokes, I went with DT Competition 2/1.8 - same as my front wheel. When I went to calculate the spoke length for a 4x wheel it came out to 290mm for both sides. I also put in the specs for my prebuilt front wheel and found that it was the exact same! This provides the advantage of being able to carry uniform extra spokes and being able to reconfigure existing spokes should I break several.
So, I ended up with 2 x 40 h Dyad Rims with identical spoke lengths and no dish in the rear wheel... again, over kill.
$50 shipped. Dyad Rim
$151 at LBS. Phil Wood Touring 7-speed Freewheel hub
$82+tax at LBS. Spokes on order. Box of 100 w/ nipples. Manager said they could buy some back from me, otherwise I will post them on Ebay.
DRIVE TRAIN
This was the trickiest part for me because I had previously only worked on vintage 10-speeds and fixed gear bicycles. The 7-speed design increases the complications as (while 7 speed is new to me!) these are older free wheels and difficult to find in gear ratios that are optimal for touring.
Sheldon Brown wrote an article on the 11-34T Mega7 Freewheel. I am assuming that this added attention to it and it is one of the reasons they are difficult to come by. You will not find one. Although, I did find a few Romanian websites and Japanese Yahoo! Auctions that had them... so it is possible that they are easier to come by outside the US.
I have a 13-34T and this will do fine for now. I also have a 13/28T from a new schwinn prelude but I will not ride it... I looked at the design and that thing is scary poor quality.
For cranks I decided to go with the Sugino XD300 which are the steel version of the XD600. The rings are 26-36-46. I will swap out the 46 with an aluminum 48 when I feel like it. Having a steel granny gear should be better for durability and strength.
UPDATE: I could not find the XD300 in 175mm because Sugino has discontinued these cranks. XD600s are still available. I found XD500's (older stock) at Calhoun Cycle and Velo Orange. They were slightly cheaper at Calhoun. These have a steel granny gear but aluminum middle and large chain ring with tooth count 24 - 36 - 48. This will put me slightly outside of the capacity restrictions on my front derailleur choice, but I have read that shimano's are conservatively speced anyways. I am not anticipating any problems.
I went with 175mm even though I am used to 170mm because many calculators tell me this is what I should prefer and because I am skeptical as to whether or not I will notice any difference at all.
I've got some cheap clipless pedals and shoes.
Bottom bracket I went with a Shimano UN26 because it comes in a size that matches the one that comes stock on the LHT and it is available. These Shimano bottom brackets seem to go in and out of stock and change model no.'s, but essentially all be the same sub-$25 bottom bracket.
I got the 772 "shadow" XT rear derailleur (long cage) which allows direct feed (no loop). This is about the same price as the regular model 771, but is sleeker.
UPDATE: This derailleur will still work with the change to 24-36-48. [rear: 34T-13] [front: 48T-24] = difference 45T. total capacity listed for this derailleur is 45T, so I should be good. I can probably move safely above this capacity if I find an 11-34T freewheel or if I decided to up the chain ring size to a 50T.
Tiagra Front derailleur... just because. The only thing I had to worry about was making sure it could handle triple and that it could handle 48T, other than that I just went with the cheapest I could get, which is the Tiagra, which is also stock on the LHT.
UPDATE: I am definitely exceeding the capacity on this derailleur. First, I think I purchased the wrong one because mine only has a 20T capacity rather than the 22T model that is stock on the LHT. Also, I am going to be running with a 24T difference. Still, there is a good chance this will work alright.
UPDATE 2: I decided to return the Tiagra and get an IRD Alpina FD on the recommendation from a post in this forum http://groups.google.mw/group/SurlyLHT/msg/462df861510bc4cb Also, after doing a little more research on front derailleur capacity limits, I became a little more worried about going 4T outside of the listed capacity. I ordered the Alpina from Harris Cyclery and based on their time chart it can be here on Weds which is still on schedule for the final build.
I went with Ultegra 8-speed bar end shifters because I wanted bar end shifters and 8-speeds will index fine with 7 speeds but will have a dead click. If it doesn't index correctly I can run it in friction mode.
I also bought a cheap pair of indexed 7 speed exage down tube shifters because they are light and I can toss them in my tool kit in case I find myself not liking the bar ends. (I have never used bar ends before)
Freewheel $freebies
Bar end shifters $50
spare shifters $20
RD $75
FD $55
Cranks $110
BRAKES AND LEVERS
I went with cheap Tekpro cantilever brakes and brake levers ~ $50 total. ebikestop
HEADSET
I had a cane creek I stripped from a new bike a while back, so I am going to use that and replace it when it pits (probably not too long). This is not a good head set. That bike did have good brakes and levers... too bad I gave them away. (Schwinn Prelude. The bike cost me $50 on sale at target last january).
STEM
From Prelude, will replace if I don't like it (too long or short, angle weird, etc). I still need to get a star nut and some more spacers and cut the fork down.
SADDLE AND SEAT POST
I have one already. Brooks B17. Decent seat post - not sure what brand.
$75 B17 from Licktons
BARS
I need to look through my friend's bar bin. I will probably buy some new ones, but this will be towards the end of my build.
$tbd
RACKS
Still looking... Surly makes very very nice Nice Racks. Way way too expensive. I am looking at some Jandd and they seem more reasonably priced. They are about half as strong though, but still plenty strong for when this is fully loaded (I hope).
$tbd, looking to spend 100 total for front and rear
PANNIERS
I want front and rear for proper load balancing. I strongly considered the Ortliebs on sale right now at REI but man... that's some expensive gear. I might make my own from old water proof back packs, or, I might get them used from ebay or local lists.
$tbd, looking to spend <100 if possible
DESTINATION
Washington D.C. from Metro Detroit with a couple day stop in Pittsburgh, hopefully. Presuming I can get this built before the end of the season (rapidly approaching).
Expected project completion: Thursday, October 16.
Pictures to follow.
ME
5' 8.5" tall with a 33" inseam. I weigh under 140 lbs.
FRAME
The first question was (the long debated) frame size question - 54" or 56". While there might not be that much difference in fit between these two bikes once they are built, the choice between 54" vs 56" will make a very large difference in specing your build. 54" takes 26" wheels while 56" takes 700c and the bikes have two different geometries. I decided on the 56" because 1) I thought it would fit me better, and 2) I am used to riding 27" and 700c and really did not want to switch (this is obviously not a good basis for a decision).
$420 + tax from LBS
WHEELS
This is my first touring bike and I admittedly went a bit over board on the wheel set. I am confident that two of me could comfortably tour on these wheels. It is beyond over kill for my needs. With that said...
I looked at a few of the common touring rims
Mavic A719
Velocity Dyad
Alex Adventurer
I decided on the Velocity Dyad because they seemed to have good reviews, were slightly cheaper than the Mavics and slightly more expensive than the adventuers. The Adventuers would have been fine, but as long as I was going to do a custom build, I figured I would go with Velocity.
Initially I wanted to go with 36h in the front, 40h in the rear. I found a 40h Phil Wood tandem hub laced to a Velocity Dyad for 120 shipped from ebikestop, but they sold out before I had a chance to order. This was serendipitous as I ended up ordering a shimano hf08 front hub laced to a Velocity dyad for slightly more from the same store which happens to have 290mm spokes, which ended up being the same as my rear wheel (more on this below).
It is far cheaper to order wheels than to build them yourself, but I ended up building a custom rear wheel for reasons I will explain in a minute.
HF08 hub w/ Dyad Rim $153 shipped (ebikestop)
REAR WHEEL and 7-SPEED FREE WHEEL HUB
Choosing 40 h in the rear was unnecessary. I wanted a stronger rear wheel, but in retrospect a 36 would have been more than enough and far easier to find parts for. That said, the options for a 40h rear touring hub are rather slim. I looked at the Shimano HF08 and a DT tandem hub which are both 145mm instead of 135mm, and, in the process of researching how to respace these hubs to fit the LHT, I came across a few mentions of building 7 speed rear wheels in order to have minimal (or essentially no) dish. This would make the wheel much stronger. Like I said, this is over kill. I briefly considered purchasing one of these hubs new in order to swap out the 9 speed freehub with a 7-speed from an older hub, and then respace it to 135mm. I would feel much more comfortable operating on the hub, and probably would have done this, if I could have found one used for cheap. As it stood, I could not, and I did not. I ended up purchasing a 7-speed Touring Freewheel hub from Phil Wood because 1) it is far cheaper than the cassette model (and would not require swapping the freehub), 2) it came spaced for 135mm, and 3) I felt more comfortable ordering a hub specifically designed for its intended use (a 135mm 7-speed touring hub).
Spokes, I went with DT Competition 2/1.8 - same as my front wheel. When I went to calculate the spoke length for a 4x wheel it came out to 290mm for both sides. I also put in the specs for my prebuilt front wheel and found that it was the exact same! This provides the advantage of being able to carry uniform extra spokes and being able to reconfigure existing spokes should I break several.
So, I ended up with 2 x 40 h Dyad Rims with identical spoke lengths and no dish in the rear wheel... again, over kill.
$50 shipped. Dyad Rim
$151 at LBS. Phil Wood Touring 7-speed Freewheel hub
$82+tax at LBS. Spokes on order. Box of 100 w/ nipples. Manager said they could buy some back from me, otherwise I will post them on Ebay.
DRIVE TRAIN
This was the trickiest part for me because I had previously only worked on vintage 10-speeds and fixed gear bicycles. The 7-speed design increases the complications as (while 7 speed is new to me!) these are older free wheels and difficult to find in gear ratios that are optimal for touring.
Sheldon Brown wrote an article on the 11-34T Mega7 Freewheel. I am assuming that this added attention to it and it is one of the reasons they are difficult to come by. You will not find one. Although, I did find a few Romanian websites and Japanese Yahoo! Auctions that had them... so it is possible that they are easier to come by outside the US.
I have a 13-34T and this will do fine for now. I also have a 13/28T from a new schwinn prelude but I will not ride it... I looked at the design and that thing is scary poor quality.
For cranks I decided to go with the Sugino XD300 which are the steel version of the XD600. The rings are 26-36-46. I will swap out the 46 with an aluminum 48 when I feel like it. Having a steel granny gear should be better for durability and strength.
UPDATE: I could not find the XD300 in 175mm because Sugino has discontinued these cranks. XD600s are still available. I found XD500's (older stock) at Calhoun Cycle and Velo Orange. They were slightly cheaper at Calhoun. These have a steel granny gear but aluminum middle and large chain ring with tooth count 24 - 36 - 48. This will put me slightly outside of the capacity restrictions on my front derailleur choice, but I have read that shimano's are conservatively speced anyways. I am not anticipating any problems.
I went with 175mm even though I am used to 170mm because many calculators tell me this is what I should prefer and because I am skeptical as to whether or not I will notice any difference at all.
I've got some cheap clipless pedals and shoes.
Bottom bracket I went with a Shimano UN26 because it comes in a size that matches the one that comes stock on the LHT and it is available. These Shimano bottom brackets seem to go in and out of stock and change model no.'s, but essentially all be the same sub-$25 bottom bracket.
I got the 772 "shadow" XT rear derailleur (long cage) which allows direct feed (no loop). This is about the same price as the regular model 771, but is sleeker.
UPDATE: This derailleur will still work with the change to 24-36-48. [rear: 34T-13] [front: 48T-24] = difference 45T. total capacity listed for this derailleur is 45T, so I should be good. I can probably move safely above this capacity if I find an 11-34T freewheel or if I decided to up the chain ring size to a 50T.
Tiagra Front derailleur... just because. The only thing I had to worry about was making sure it could handle triple and that it could handle 48T, other than that I just went with the cheapest I could get, which is the Tiagra, which is also stock on the LHT.
UPDATE: I am definitely exceeding the capacity on this derailleur. First, I think I purchased the wrong one because mine only has a 20T capacity rather than the 22T model that is stock on the LHT. Also, I am going to be running with a 24T difference. Still, there is a good chance this will work alright.
UPDATE 2: I decided to return the Tiagra and get an IRD Alpina FD on the recommendation from a post in this forum http://groups.google.mw/group/SurlyLHT/msg/462df861510bc4cb Also, after doing a little more research on front derailleur capacity limits, I became a little more worried about going 4T outside of the listed capacity. I ordered the Alpina from Harris Cyclery and based on their time chart it can be here on Weds which is still on schedule for the final build.
I went with Ultegra 8-speed bar end shifters because I wanted bar end shifters and 8-speeds will index fine with 7 speeds but will have a dead click. If it doesn't index correctly I can run it in friction mode.
I also bought a cheap pair of indexed 7 speed exage down tube shifters because they are light and I can toss them in my tool kit in case I find myself not liking the bar ends. (I have never used bar ends before)
Freewheel $freebies
Bar end shifters $50
spare shifters $20
RD $75
FD $55
Cranks $110
BRAKES AND LEVERS
I went with cheap Tekpro cantilever brakes and brake levers ~ $50 total. ebikestop
HEADSET
I had a cane creek I stripped from a new bike a while back, so I am going to use that and replace it when it pits (probably not too long). This is not a good head set. That bike did have good brakes and levers... too bad I gave them away. (Schwinn Prelude. The bike cost me $50 on sale at target last january).
STEM
From Prelude, will replace if I don't like it (too long or short, angle weird, etc). I still need to get a star nut and some more spacers and cut the fork down.
SADDLE AND SEAT POST
I have one already. Brooks B17. Decent seat post - not sure what brand.
$75 B17 from Licktons
BARS
I need to look through my friend's bar bin. I will probably buy some new ones, but this will be towards the end of my build.
$tbd
RACKS
Still looking... Surly makes very very nice Nice Racks. Way way too expensive. I am looking at some Jandd and they seem more reasonably priced. They are about half as strong though, but still plenty strong for when this is fully loaded (I hope).
$tbd, looking to spend 100 total for front and rear
PANNIERS
I want front and rear for proper load balancing. I strongly considered the Ortliebs on sale right now at REI but man... that's some expensive gear. I might make my own from old water proof back packs, or, I might get them used from ebay or local lists.
$tbd, looking to spend <100 if possible
DESTINATION
Washington D.C. from Metro Detroit with a couple day stop in Pittsburgh, hopefully. Presuming I can get this built before the end of the season (rapidly approaching).
Expected project completion: Thursday, October 16.
Pictures to follow.