My LHT showing off its new components.
You know, aimlessly reading through the internet can be an expensive hobby. You find things that you didn't know existed and don't need, and then you start researching the stuff and then you find a really good price...well, to make a long story short, I found a great deal on Tektro CR720 cantilevers on Amazon, so I got 'em. Now, mind you, I had some decent brakes before, Shimano STX's. Nice looking units, but they were they are the mountain bike style "compact" brakes, which reduce the leverage of the arms a little.
Anyway, the Tektro's are the old-school style with the longer arms that stretch straight out. They can be a leg clearance problem if you have a short wheel base bike, and they may get in the way of panniers, but neither of those two issues are a concern for me.
Front canti installed!
They went on about as easy as a cantilever can. I still had a little trouble centering them. The cut rate discounter ships only the components, no packaging or even instructions, but you can easily install these without them. You can download them, but there are no great secrets. Just google them.
AN UNPLEASANT SUPRISE
As I began installing the rear Tektro, I found the wheel was out of true. I was testing the spoke tension and found that 2 were completely loose. They weren't broken! The hub flange had!
The old Shimano hub had finally given up the ghost. I guess I can't complain, I got over 10 years of hard service out of it! I had to come up with a replacement. I came up with a Nashbar sealed hub I had lying around. It was lying around because I don't have a huge amount of confidence in it. When I first bought it, about 10 years ago, the first one I bought broke a pawl spring after a few hundred miles! This was the replacement, which I never installed.
"New" Nashbar hub.
I rebuilt the wheel, but I retained the Shimano quick release. This is a road hub, so its spacing is only 130mm, not perfect for my Surly's 135mm, but it'll do for now.
So...after rebuilding the rear wheel, I was able to install the rear brake. No problems here. On both the front and rear, I chose to use the old Dia Comps "roller yokes". The Tektro's are pretty neat looking, but I had trouble centering the front brake with it, so I used the old ones. The Dia Compes are pretty neat anyway. My riding buddy, Todd, had them lying around and I think they're cool.
Thought I'd share a couple of other update to my LHT that were not in my original post about it. I originally built this bike with Shimano 8 spd bar end shifters, and used them for several years with no problems. Twice in the last couple of years. though, the bolt holding them together loosened and I lost the indexing alignment. Had to reassemble them to get them working properly. I was starting to long for the simplicity of down tube shifters. I like the clean look of a bike without all those wires hanging off the handlebars! So I took 'em off and stuck on a pair of Rivendell "Silver" shifters.
Silver down tube shifters.
I think they work fine, and look great. The final change was the pedals. I've decided to give Nashbar one more try; I got their "Gavia" SPD pedals on sale.
Nashbar Gavia SPDs
Not bad, a little trickier to get into than the mountain bike pedals I usually use. We'll see how they hold up!
So, here's an overall view of my LHT as of May, 2011:
Did I mention the VO aluminum fenders? Nice huh?
5/30/2011 - Thought I'd add a few comments after I put a few miles on these new components...so far so good. I found the new Tektro's to be wonderful brakes! Even with the original pads on them, I found their grip very good, and they were absolutely silent! Very happy with them
The rebuilt wheel held up fine, no hub failure yet! It's one loud freehub though, the ratchet clicks are quite loud in the garage...but I don't really notice it on the road.
7/23/2011 - Update; I'm starting to notice something weird going on in that rear Nashbar hub. Twice I've had the chain seem to jump off the cogs...I think the hub might be starting to go, the same problem I had with the original hub!! I just ordered a Tiagra from Universal Cycles, I think I'll try to swap the axle and spacer from the broken hub to the Tiagra, in order to have a 135mm width again. I'll post the mod here when it happens!
8/24/2011 - Maybe the Nashbar hub is not the culprit here. I was getting a lot on noise in my drivetrain lately, so I took a good long look at the chain and sprockets. The chain was beat, I can't remember how old it was! The chainwheel teeth were very worn and some were starting to hook. and the rear cassette's smaller sprockets didn't look too hot either. I removed all of that and replaced the chainwheel with a less worn one, plus I installed a virtually new cassette and chain I had lying around. The result is a much quieter drivetrain and no slipping gears, (yet!). So, I'll run this for a while and see how it goes. Meanwhile, I've got a Tiagra hub on the workbench, converted to 135mm. I'm going to get some new rims and spokes and build a new wheelset for the LHT soon.
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