New year - new commuter
 

Just wanted to share my new commuter. Most of the parts are reused from a previous bike but the frame is new. Surly is discontinuing this Disc Trucker color for 2018, so I grabbed one on sale.

Is is equipped with disc brakes and dynamo lightning. Gearing is a Shimergo setup.

Things to do:

• Shorten steerer
• Come up with idea for nice dynamo wire routing on fork leg
• Change saddle to something comfier

Looks nice. That’s the color i would have got.

Whats the deal with the things on the seat stays? Mini mortar launchers?

Yes, the Bituminous Gray and Hi-Viz Black look boring compared to this one, IMO.

The thing mounted on the seat stays is a frame lock - easy to use and makes sure that theft is covered by insurance (here in Denmark you need an insurance company approved lock for that).

Ahh gotcha...the dealie shoots through the wheel.

I nearly got a Surly back in 2011 when my previous commuter was stolen. Ended up with a Marin 4 Corners on clearance which is basically the same thing...long chainstay steel tourer. It has disc brake mounts...have never bothered upgrading though.

Exactly!

really nice! jealous!

you wanna knock off that stem extension in case it's an impalement risk?

Thanks. I'm going to cut down that steerer as soon as I have ridden it a couple of times to find the right handlebar height.

Greetings fellow Shimergoer. What’s the FD?

Greetings! It is an XT FD-M773-3.

I had to hunt down a 28.6mm adapter for it today - the bike shop owners I visited couldn't remember when they last needed such an old thing, but eventually we found one that had come with an Altus FD.

I would take advantage of those threaded mounting bosses on the fork. I'd get some small washers and wrap the wire around them to string a fairly straight and taut wire from one to the other, or even just use the washer (perhaps in conjunction with a soft rubber grommet, or just a grommet) to gently hold the wire against the fork, being careful not to crush the wire. If you were to find some blue-insulated wire that may even look less obtrusive. Or if you found replacement bolts with slightly larger heads, you may not need the washers. Or of you just used some sort of looped hanger that could be secured with the bolts.

I’ve found using a MTB FD that the inner-middle shift works great because it relies on the stop screw but the pull isn’t quite enough for middle-outer. It hasn’t been much of an issue since I don’t use the outer much, but I have a big road crankset and not a medium trekking crankset.

Thanks for the ideas. Using to threaded mounting boss on the inside of the fork might turn out good!

The current wire is integrated into the light (no connectors at that end) so I prefer not to introduce an extra connection. Otherwise blue wire could be nice, if I could find it. Maybe I'll wrap it in blue electrical tape:)

Maybe is it because of the crankset, I don't know. But I have no issues. My FD and crankset are made for each other and I can run small-big and big-small without any rubbing. I haven't modified the shift ratio in any way. The shifter is a 2009 PowerShift mechanism.

Electrical tape won't hold well in the wet and cold and end up a gooey mess (trust me, I know).

Fantastic setup. Wishing you many happy miles!

Thank you!