Hybrid Bicycles - My Surly Travelers Check Hybrid Cyclocross Travel Do-Everything Bike with Pics

I just built up my first bike from scratch. I found a used Surly Travelers Check in great shape, and took it from there. The whole process was a lot of fun. This will be a do everything bike. I built it hoping it could cope with various types of riding, including pulling my kids on the trailer, some offroading, and just general around-town riding. Feel free to chime in on your thoughts :) Enjoy (I certainly have)!

New Build (on used frame)
Frame: 2009 Surly Travelers Check 58cm
Fork: Alpha Q Carbon for Cyclocross
Handlebar: Ritchey Classic Silver
Hoods: Hudz Vintage Champagne
Bar Tape: Adarga Leather Honey
Bar Ends: Brooks Cork
Stem: Dimension Threadless 80mm 107 degrees
Headset: Cane Creek
Bell: Crane Copper Headset Mount Vintage Bell
Brakes: Tektro CR720 Cantilever Silver
Cross Brake Levers: Soma Silver all metal
Brake Pads: Kool-Stop Eagle Claw 2 Salmon
Shifters: 2012 Campagnolo Veloce Silver
RD/FD: 2012 Campagnolo Veloce
Cableset: Campagnolo 600s
Cassette/Chain: 2012 Campagnolo Veloce
Crankset: 2012 Campagnolo CX 175mm
BB: 2012 Campagnolo CX with sealed bearings
Seat Post: Generic to be swapped out with Velo Orange 302 setback silver
Saddle: Brooks Imperial Standard Honey
Saddlebag: Zimbale Leather Honey
Wheelset: Vuelta Corsa Lite (stickers removed) 1578g
Skewers: Campagnolo Vintage Super Record
Tires: Challenge Grifo XS 33mm Cross tires
Bottle Cages: Origin 8 leather/silver
Bottles: Kleen Kanteen polished stainless steel with Bamboo/metal top
Light: Soma Silver Bullet Retro Light

http://i46.tinypic.com/30m8y0i.jpg

http://i49.tinypic.com/2lsg0ao.jpg

http://i45.tinypic.com/x3xyj6.jpg

http://i45.tinypic.com/i1i9g9.jpg


Bar, Bar Tape, Vintage Hoods from Hudz, Crane Copper Headset Mount
http://i46.tinypic.com/21aeiwy.jpg

Cross Levers, etc.
http://i49.tinypic.com/9gc7r9.jpg

Campy Veloce FD/RD, Campy CX Cranks, Tektro Canti Brakes
http://i45.tinypic.com/nl4h80.jpg

Vuelta Wheels and Vintage Campy Super Record Skewers
http://i48.tinypic.com/2mwt5bd.jpg

Brooks Saddle and Zimbale Leather Saddle Bag

http://i46.tinypic.com/141pqg0.jpg

Photos broken?

Photos broken?

they work here.

Stunning! Absolutely stunning! Great vintage style and quite an eye for performance!

Very nice!!:thumb:

Awesome retro looking well built bike, love the Challenge tires too. :thumb:

Nice build, you have fine taste.
If it were mine, I'd just stare at in my living room and only ride it on sunny days.

I just built up my first bike from scratch. I found a used Surly Travelers Check in great shape, and took it from there. The whole process was a lot of fun. This will be a do everything bike. I built it hoping it could cope with various types of riding, including pulling my kids on the trailer, some offroading, and just general around-town riding. Feel free to chime in on your thoughts :) Enjoy (I certainly have)!

New Build (on used frame)
Frame: 2009 Surly Travelers Check 58cm
Fork: Alpha Q Carbon for Cyclocross
Handlebar: Ritchey Classic Silver
Hoods: Hudz Vintage Champagne
Bar Tape: Adarga Leather Honey
Bar Ends: Brooks Cork
Stem: Dimension Threadless 80mm 107 degrees
Headset: Cane Creek
Brakes: Tektro CR720 Cantilever Silver
Cross Brake Levers: Soma Silver all metal
Brake Pads: Kool-Stop Eagle Claw 2 Salmon
Shifters: 2012 Campagnolo Veloce Silver
RD/FD: 2012 Campagnolo Veloce
Cableset: Campagnolo 600s
Cassette/Chain: 2012 Campagnolo Veloce
Crankset: 2012 Campagnolo CX 175mm
BB: 2012 Campagnolo CX with sealed bearings
Seat Post: Generic to be swapped out with Velo Orange 302 setback silver
Saddle: Brooks Imperial Standard Honey
Saddlebag: Zimbale Leather Honey
Wheelset: Vuelta Corsa Lite (stickers removed) 1578g
Skewers: Campagnolo Vintage Super Record
Tires: Challenge Grifo XS 33mm Cross tires
Bottle Cages: Origin 8 leather/silver
Bottles: Kleen Kanteen polished stainless steel with Bamboo/metal top

http://i50.tinypic.com/33nf1nc.jpg

http://i49.tinypic.com/2lsg0ao.jpg

http://i45.tinypic.com/x3xyj6.jpg

http://i45.tinypic.com/2rqg1oy.jpg


Bar, Bar Tape, Vintage Hoods from Hudz
http://i49.tinypic.com/dxzbeq.jpg

Cross Levers, etc.
http://i49.tinypic.com/9gc7r9.jpg

Campy Veloce FD/RD, Campy CX Cranks, Tektro Canti Brakes
http://i45.tinypic.com/nl4h80.jpg

Vuelta Wheels and Vintage Campy Super Record Skewers
http://i48.tinypic.com/2mwt5bd.jpg

Brooks Saddle and Zimbale Leather Saddle Bag

http://i46.tinypic.com/141pqg0.jpg
That is stunning!

Nice build, you have fine taste.
If it were mine, I'd just stare at in my living room and only ride it on sunny days.

I find myself staring at it quite a bit myself :)

I've updated pictures to reflect the new Crane Copper Headset Mount Bell and the Soma Silver Bullet rear light I just received and put on.

that campy crankset alone is a work of art. gorgeous. I was wondering what you'd used, and when I saw campy, was... OH! oh well, not in my budget for my hybrid (I want to replace the urgly tourney/acera crankset with something lighter and nicer, but with 48-36-26 gearing, probably a Deore or something)

Strange. Everyone of those links is broken for me. Maybe something to do with the company firewall - will try again when I get home.

Strange. Everyone of those links is broken for me. Maybe something to do with the company firewall - will try again when I get home.

the pictures are all on tinypic, thats probably blocked as it often gets used for porn and such.

that campy crankset alone is a work of art. gorgeous. I was wondering what you'd used, and when I saw campy, was... OH! oh well, not in my budget for my hybrid (I want to replace the urgly tourney/acera crankset with something lighter and nicer, but with 48-36-26 gearing, probably a Deore or something)

To the OP: That is a beautiful bike. Certainly one to be proud of.

Pierce: Isn't it funny how that works? My 1995 Trek has an Alivio triple crankset that is perfectly functional and doesn't even look that bad but I find myself obsessing about replacing it with something nicer. Peter White has some TA cranksets that are just drop dead gorgeous, right up there with the Campy stuff I've seen.

Love all that leather! ..the klean kanteens...definitely Smokin! I've been thinking of getting a crane copper bell and making it turn black.

whoaaah! that is a piece of art. Nice Job! I'm not sure If Icould bring myself to get that bike dirty though, else have a polish rag in the saddle bag.

Did you have any problems using Shimano derailleur cables in the Campy shifters? Campy specs are for a smaller head on their cables. OTT, it is a great looking bike.

Did you have any problems using Shimano derailleur cables in the Campy shifters? Campy specs are for a smaller head on their cables. OTT, it is a great looking bike.

The cables are Campy 600s which came with the shifters.

The cables are Campy 600s which came with the shifters.

How do you like the new Campy? I have some of the older 10 sp in the parts bin waiting for a project.

heh. my last campy bike is from when 10 speed meant 2x5 :-p

good ol' Nuevo Record circa mid 1970s. still got that bike, but its been beat to death.

Dude, that beast is fantastic - your attention to detail and parts selection make it one of the very few bikes I have seen where I say "That's the bike I'd like to build" and can leave off the "except for...". On a scale of 1 to 10, I think you have just built yourself an 11!

Dude, that beast is fantastic - your attention to detail and parts selection make it one of the very few bikes I have seen where I say "That's the bike I'd like to build" and can leave off the "except for...". On a scale of 1 to 10, I think you have just built yourself an 11!

Thanks. That's the best complement I've gotten on the bike. I derive a lot of joy on the process of designing and then seeing it come to fruition during the build.

Hybrids dont have drop bars,.. you have a cross/touring bike.. gloat on the nice ride..

racks and mudguards next?

Really nice build, but I agree with fletsbob, nothing about this bike is a hybrid. It's built basically as Surly designed it to be built.

Really nice build, but I agree with fletsbob, nothing about this bike is a hybrid. It's built basically as Surly designed it to be built.

Not to really start a debate, but according to Wikipedia, the definition of a hybrid bike is:

A hybrid bicycle is a bicycle designed for general-purpose utility and commuting on a wide variety of surfaces, including paved and unpaved roads, paths and trails. It combines features from the road bike and the mountain bike, and includes variants such as the city bike, cross bike and commuter.

and from about.com

A hybrid bike is one that blends the best characteristics of both road and mountain bikes into a bike that is sturdy, comfortable and fast, and ideal for riding on streets and bike paths.

Which makes me think, my Surly fits the bill pretty well no?

I ride it in a similar way that I ride my Trek 7.7 FX, though the Surly has drop bars, but with the Cross brakes. Both are more relaxed than my race bike...

There is nothing mountain bike about you're build. It's a cross bike with some nice retro touches. A cross bike is road bike with some limited off road abilities. That is what you have built.

very nice build sir!