Bike setup advice

[martmorg]

Hi there,

After completing a 800 mile tour to Munich Germany last year and few weekend tours on a Marin Belvedere hybrid iv got the bug for touring more and since by Marin has recently been stolen iv decided to look into building a tourer from the frame up.

I think i have decided to go for the Surly Long Haul Trucker frame in black but iv no idea where to start with the components set-up. Iv been looking at the Sun Rhyno Rims as posts on here and other sites seem to recommend them highly. Is it best to get these specially made or buy the parts myself an attempt to build it at home?

Also any suggestions on on the rest of the set-up? id like to go for shimano set-up mainly because of the pure dominance of the market and readily parts available if something goes wrong?

Im looking at setting myself a budget of around £400 (not including frame) maybe £500 at a stretch but if i can get a decent setup under this would me amazing! A good gear ratio for steep hills would be an advantage as i did struggle up some of the hills in la roche in south belgium on the marin and am ashamed to say i did have to get of and push!

Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated

Martin

 

[rich p]

I'm sure some more knowledgeable folk will be along soon but it always seems to me that buying a bike complete is a hell of a lot cheaper than a build. Components have gone up in price in the last few years but I believe you have to build Surly's anyway so that may not be an option.

My lowest gear on the Galaxy is 28 x 32 which is sufficient for me even in the mountains but you could go even lower. The highest gears might as well not be there!

 

[willem]

Complete Surly's are a real bargain. No weak parts, and at a price you could not possibly beat. Just imagine Surly's buying power as part of the largest parts wholesaler in the US....
Willem

 

[hubbike]

there are several different versions of Shimano components for touring Deore XT or LX are fine.

A Deore XT groupset will cost about £500 if you buy it in one go or bit more if you spread it out. Think you'll struggle for under 400 quid unless you buy things off ebay. One way to cut costs is to buy second hand stuff which you can get away with except with things that wear out like cassette. Another tip, do you have a bike recycling centre in your town? in edinburgh there is Bike Station in Newcastle there is Recyke yer Bike. they offer recycled parts and a workstand, and tools plus know-how on hand. well worth looking out for.

Assembling a bike is actually quite easy except two or three things. building wheels is the trickiest bit and it'd be best to get an experienced wheel builder to do this for you. Hand built wheels are bombproof. sun rhinos are supposed to be good or maybe any over engineered downhill mtb rim...I would suggest you avoid mavic rims as I had some which cracked and know several other people have had the same problem on long distance trips.

gear ratios: 22-32-44 at front and 11-34 at back is a good benchmark for loaded touring in hills.

are you going for disc brakes? You should!

if you go down this route, good luck.

 

[upsidedown]

My LHT cost £1000. It came with XT rear mech and XT hubs. Alex Adventurer rims which have been brilliant and Continentl Contact tyres, again brilliant.
If i was going to buld one i would probably use 90% of the components that came with it, only difference would be an SLX chainset that i now have on it.

 

[snorri]

id like to go for shimano set-up mainly because of the pure dominance of the market and readily parts available if something goes wrong?

And something will almost certainly go wrong unless you are prepared to replace components before a tour and keep up preventive maintenance on tour.
After several tour interuptions due to waiting for replacement Shimano parts to arrive, I have opted for Rohloff and am happier to live with the low possibility of catastrophic failure rather than the inevitable adjustment and replacement of Shimano components on tour.

 

[martmorg]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the responses so far they have all been a good help.

-Hubbike
i don't think id be going for disk brakes but im not completely ruling it out at the moment. The bike recylcing sounds a really good idea. ill be looking around for one close to me for sure

-Upsidedown
Where did you get your complete surly from? just so i can compare the ready made cost to the build cost once i had worked out what components id want to go for.

-Snorri
I would like to have the rohloff on the bike to but i think the cost is a bit out of my price range at the moment but i would upgrade as soon as i could.

Thanks again for all your input

 

[willem]

You cannot fit disc brakes to a LHT. Upgrading to a Rohloff later does not make much sense financially. Technically it is not very elegant either.
Willem

 

[middleagecyclist]

Bite the bullet and get a Rohloff! ;-)