I've been using a black Surly Cross Check from ca 2003 for year-round-commuting and light touring. Because it is flat where I live, the bike is usually in fixed-gear mode, but for touring I've swapped the rear wheel with an internally geared hub. Last summer I built up a dedicated touring bike for a longer tour and, accordingly, I'm ready to dedicate this bike to commuting. After seven Midwestern winters the bike was in pretty bad shape, so I made some modifications.
Here's a photo from a couple of years ago at the start of a tour around Lake Michigan:
Here's a complete list of this winter's mods (framework done by my LBS):
- Paint stripped
- Removed rear brake bosses, derailleur hanger, and all cable stops
- Fork vent holes expanded slightly on right side to route dynamo wiring internally in the fork blade
- Hole drilled on bottom side of down tube, near the steerer tube, to internally route tail light wiring (exit through hole at bottom of bottom bracket)
- New powder coat
- New front brake (Avid Single Digit 5, linear pull)
- New brake levers (Tektro RL520, linear pull-specific; both mounted, but only the left is used.. the right one is just for hand position).
- New rear rack: Tubus Vega, with B&M 4D Toplight (battery operated tail light to augment the fender-mounted Seculite Plus dynamo tail light)
- New Velo Orange (VO) aluminum fenders
- Added VO leather mudflap for front fender
- Added VO aluminum chain guard
- Added Salsa Crossing Guard to outer chainring position and moved chainring to inner position
- New VO brass bell
- New MKS steel toe clips and VO leather straps
Finally, here's the end result:
