531phile 

After careful thought, I've decided to build a long haul trucker bit by bit rather than get the complete due out in July.

My biggest concern is making sure the bicycle handles properly by using the right length stem and angle and the only way to do this is for be to get the fork uncut so that I can determine that myself.

Besides, there's too many things that I would change out from the surly's complete long haul trucker build for it to be economical.

Here's what I have in mind:

$450(shipped) 46cm Surly Long Haul Trucker (still can decide on the color?)
$50 165mm Sugino triple cranks w/steel chainrings
$25 wipperman chain 8sp
$0 NOS old school XT derailleur(already have)
$25 tiagra front derailleur
$30 inline brakes
$30 cane Creek SCR-5c compact levers
$65 Paul thumbies
$0 suntour downtube shifters from schwinn(I think it would be neat to have one old component from the bike that this surly will replace, a schwinn prelude)
$100 brooks spring seat
$40 spaces galore to dial in stem height
$20 Kool Stop Salmon cantilever brake pads
$50 Tektro Onyx brakes
$150 (includes installation) Phil wood bottom bracket
$65 (includes installation) cane creek headset
$0 Specialized armadillos 26x1.5(already have)
$0 Araya RM-20 rear w/Phil Wood Hub and Araya RX-7 front
$60 salsa poco bar
$25 cables housing
$30 Powergrip pedals
$50 buffer

Total about $1300 for a custom build.

what do you think? One of my concerns is the toe overlap. I hear the smaller frames have toe overlap. Can someone with a 46cm frame confirm this?

thanks

531phile 

I forgot stem $30 and cables/housing $25

tacomee

That's a lot of money, but it's your bike. You could go to REI and buy a Randonee cheaper-- and it has better parts for the most part. For $1300 you could buy a Randonee and change out a lot of parts you don't like. Building a custom bike never saves any money-- even if you have spare parts and you work in a bike shop and can get parts a wholesale prices. Believe me....I've been down this road more than once.

On the other hand-- building custom bikes is really fun! Your build will work fine.


I always look at at the price of a bike spead out over the time you plan to ride the bike. You think you will get your $1300 out of riding the bike? If that's the case, get started as soon as possible!

NoReg

$450(shipped) 46cm Surly Long Haul Trucker (still can decide on the color?)

The big issue is whether this frame fits you. If you cut out the Phil stuff you would be close to where you could get a custom frame

$50 165mm Sugino triple cranks w/steel chainrings

I would go to spicer and get the alloy ones and the exact rings I wanted.
$25 wipperman chain 8sp
$0 NOS old school XT derailleur(already have)
$25 tiagra front derailleur
$30 inline brakes
$30 cane Creek SCR-5c compact levers
$65 Paul thumbies
$0 suntour downtube shifters from schwinn(I think it would be neat to have one old component from the bike that this surly will replace, a schwinn prelude)
Are these just for back-up, what are the Thumbies for?
$100 brooks spring seat
$40 spaces galore to dial in stem height
$20 Kool Stop Salmon cantilever brake pads
$50 Tektro Onyx brakes
$150 (includes installation) Phil wood bottom bracket

This seems like overkill, It is supposed to last for ever, which is good. I don't really believe the seals are that waterproof, isn't there some story about how the sealed bearing is really designed to resist blower pressure, not water pressure?. for the average tourist, you are never going to see the miles that will give this an advantage, and for the world traveler, I think it is a problem that it can't be as easily serviced.

$65 (includes installation) cane creek headset
$0 Specialized armadillos 26x1.5(already have)
$0 Araya RM-20 rear w/Phil Wood Hub and Araya RX-7 front
$60 salsa poco bar
$25 cables housing
$30 Powergrip pedals


$50 buffer

Total about $1300 for a custom build.

Not what I would choose but it seems like a good sellection of products

531phile 

what bottom bracket would you recommend? I'd love to get a UN-72 in 110mm, but finding it is difficult. Right now, the choices are slim. I can either get cheap UN-53 or high end Phil? There isn't a middle end anymore in square tapered.

531phile 

Yeah. I the thumbies may or may not work with the downtube shifters I have. I think I will just go for barends and go for thumbies if I don't like the positioning.

531phile 

I'm still debating now. Going the custom route sounds interesting. I'd most likely be out an extra $500 making the total $1800 if I go custom so I got some reservations. Looks like I will have to think this over some more.

Mr. Fly

I built up my LHT by buying close-out or used (esp. eBay), and using some of the parts I already have. It took about 2 or 3 months total, and a few hours of my time, but I got the LHT I wanted. I'll list my stuff to give you an example of what can be done:

LHT, used

seeker333

You can't get the un53 anymore. Get the un54, reduce overall cost of your build by 10%. I believe sugino XDs spec a 113mm spindle...

https://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30...ils&sku=CR5368

If you choose to get the phil wood bb, you better get the bb tool and carry it with you because no one is gonna have those things out in BFE, USA. Add $15 to budget.

I agree, get the sugino xd300, but change the steel 46t to an aluminum 46t (or better yet 42t or 44t). This will save you ~100g and you don't need the durability of steel in the big ring. Also consider changing the 26t to a 24t (smallest avail for a 74bcd) for the 8% lower gear capability. The xd300 combined with these 2 rings will cost you 12 bucks more than the xd600 but you'll end up with steel granny and middle rings and a better gear ratio for touring. Plus, you'll have a spare granny and big ring for unloaded riding during off season.

https://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30...ils&sku=CR1162

If you can use a 170mm crank, then take a look at a shimano deore crankset instead of the sugino. Its a sq taper crank with hollow crank arms and the std 22 34 44 teeth. So, lighter arms, steel granny/middle. alum big gear, more common 64/104mm ring size, 22t granny.

https://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30...ils&sku=CR8130

Finally, if you buy from aebike, nashbar and ebikestop, you can reduce cost ~$100 below what you've listed for parts. Which is a good thing, since you neglected to budget for racks and bags, which will set you back somewhere between $200-500.

531phile 

Those are some great tips seeker333. Especially the chainring tip. In regards to the cranks, after riding for about 10 years, I have to say that 170mm is just too big for me. I'm much more comfortable with 165mm. I got some 155mm sinz cranks that I can't wait to try, but that's another project.

How's ebikeshop??? I had good experience shopping at aebike and nashbar, but never ebikeshop? They have the cane creek brake levers for $27 which is the lowest that I've seen them.

531phile 

My only reservation with the shimano UN-54 is that it uses plastic cups to fasten the bottom bracket on the non drivetrain side. I'm sure there are durability issues becuase of this.

seeker333

Ah, too bad. The deore sq taper is a bargain in a crank.

I've been considering those xd cranks for a while. They look nice, fair price. Actually, I thought about using an adapter in the granny position to mount an 18t - make it an 18/36/42. With 13-32 cassette on a 26" bike, thats gives you 15-84 gear inches. I only use 80+ gear inches on downhills, or more frequently just coast.
https://mountaintamer.com/mt_triple.html

The plastic on the un54 does look chintzy, but it'll probably work just fine - just don't torque it in too much. It's worth it for 16 bucks. You can buy 3 un54s for the cost of the rings and field tool alone for the phil wood. My un73 bottom brackets work great, and there's very little difference between the 50 series and 70 series.

I haven't bought from ebikestop yet. They look ok, prices obviously great. Their QBP listings are a little spotty - like their 3rd party shopping cart software isn't syncing up with the QBP database regularly. They sell regularly on ebay too. I'm gonna order from them soon.

I got 2 cane creek scr5 levers (pairs) from nashbar - one for 23, one for 27. Also 2 cane creek c2 headsets with 30mm of interlocking spacers for 13 and 18. You can get some deals from nashbar if you're patient and wait for the occasional sale + 20% off. I haven't seen any 20% off in a long time, though.

Edit: you know what would go good with cane creek levers? cane creek cantis <--- they look a lot like tektro oryx to me