Saturday 20 October 2012

Long Haul Trucker


The Trucker finally rolled out on Saturday morning! 

First impressions are that this is an armchair of a bike. Big comfy frame sitting a lot more upright than I'm used to. The geometry all feels natural and the gears are spot on. The Schwalbe cyclo cross 700x40 tyres roll well whilst giving enough grip to climb grassy slopes. The saddle from the Falcon is temporary until I make a final decision on the Brooks question.


But there is terrible, and possibly terminal, brake judder. I've tried adjusting the back of the pads to touch the rim first ( I know this is 'wrong' but sometimes it is the only way to stop a harmonic) but the problem is still there. Basically it looks to me as if the exposed inner cable from hanger to canti is too long. As the forks flex the cable tightens and slackens causing judder. V brakes would cure it but that means new levers, cables and re-taping the bars. A simpler option would be to fit a fork crown hanger. I could avoid having to re-tape the bars by joining the cable outer with a cable oiler.

Its these little tweaks and modifications that make the bike mine. Setting it up just how I want it and sorting out problems with my own solutions. Great stuff!

3 comments:

  1. Nice to see the LHT! It looks like a promising exploration bike. Best wishes on sorting out that brake issue. I guess my headtubes are short enough to avoid that problem.

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  2. The bike looks great, i'm sure you will get to the bottom of the problem, looking forward to the next ride report.

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  3. ` The geometry all feels natural ` welcome to the Surly club -:)

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