This is my favourite bike. It’s the longest serving of my current stable and has been built to many different guises. The present incarnation is the best and most practical by far.. My friend Tim has helped me greatly with creating this ride, welding on front and rear pannier mounts to which I added a front end ‘Surly Nice Rack’ (Cheers Timmy and big thanks to Elvis for the rack hookup). Tim totally inspired the practical nature of this bike and to finish a beautiful build I’d dearly love to purchase a scmidt dynamo, but that will have to wait..
The bike has evolved greatly from ‘Emo’ to ‘Ugly’ to ‘Track-attack’ to ‘Desert crosser’ and now ‘Mr Practical’. A carton of beer will nicely fit between the 44cm wide bars and the Ortliebs will happily accept another two 6-packs each.. and thanks to the front and rear Cane Creek brakes, I can stop the Steamroller with all this beer weighted on the front end.. another great aspect is the wheelset, it’s over-built as fk. Surly hubs, champion spokes and deep-v’s, totally capable of taking the weight of 2 cartons and a 82kg Benny. No gears or a freewheel to worry about, fixed all the way. Geometery is somewhere between ‘road’ and ‘track’ which is perfect as I need to race home asap to ensure the beer remains cold.
Fk I love this bike.
How far will the carton on the front take you Ben? Does it alter the handling as you lighten the load on the way?
Ride on Bro…
It’s hard too say what mileage I get out of a carton.. The first 6-pack carries the furthest but I get significantly less distance with each subsequent 6-pack. The handling does not improve as the load gets lighter as the pilots technique tends to suffer further into the ride..
I’d love to see it on the high banks of the Silverdome.
Next addition should be some kind of cooling system for that precious cargo, methinks. Good use of those nice racks bro. Industrious. Inspiring. Thirst-quenching. I like it.