My Surly Years

A few years back, while surfing the web considering a replacement for my Mercian Audax, which I had sold due to sizing issues, I came across references about these bikes being designed in the States and TIG welded in China. The company, Surly was a quirky little outfit that made a few interesting bikes, all in steel!

They first created the "1X1", a single speed mountain bike, then the Steamroller, a single speed street bike. They now have a whole line of really unusual and imaginative bike designs. The first to grab my attention was an honest-to-god touring frame for 400 bucks! The Long Haul Trucker. It was also in a lovely, (to me anyway), shade of sage green. I ordered a big one, (60cm)so I wouldn't get stuck with too small a frame.

Long Haul Trucker

Compared to the bikes of the 70s and early 80s, the LHT has some remarkable features. Double eyelets for rack and fenders, 3 sets of water bottle braze-ons, low rider eyelets, completely set up for cantilever brakes, threading in the bottom bracket bridge for bolting on the fender, even spoke holders on the left chainstay! The bikes geometry is excellent for touring, plenty of clearance for fenders and for a stable ride. I really couldn't think of much more they could have put on this bike. Maybe a bracket for a bottle generator(dynamo), like I saw on practically every bicycle in Germany last year! Only thing I would change, the spoke holders were not really useful for my length of spokes. I've never been able to use them.  Also, it would have been cool to have them on the chain side, that way, if you could fit spokes into them, they would make a chain guard for the stay as well!

Initial set up of my LHT. Stem height and length would eventually change.

For what it is intended for, the LHT is a remarkable bargain. I've used it on several tours through the Northern Sierra, and its been a comfortable and reliable machine. 

On the Sunrise Highway, San Diego County, just north of Mt. Laguna.

At the summit of Monitor Pass. Fall, 2008. This shot shows my current

configuration of stem length and height.

Well, I guess you can figure out where this is. Fall, 2008.

*  *  *
For my next bike project, I needed a purpose built commuter. I had been commuting with a fixed gear for several years, so I looked at what was available in single speed bikes. There were beginning to be a lot of choices available in this field sine single speeds were becoming very fashionable. Out of several candidates I finally decided on the Surly for a couple of reasons: one, I was happy with the quality of my LHT, and two, I got a really good deal on this from Universal Cycles. I can't really remember the price now but it was pretty reasonable, less then even the LHT. Of course, there less stuff on a SS, so it should be cheaper I guess.

Surly Steamroller Commuter

Anyway, when the frame showed up, it was missing a fork! But the guys at Universal were very good about taking care of that little mistake. Well, I'm not going to gush over the Steamroller too much. It's a very simple bike, really no frills at all. But the geometry is nice, it was a nice riding bicycle. The one downside on this bike was the placement of the water bottle bosses. If you're going to go through the bother of installing them, why put the only ones on the bike on the seat tube as opposed to the down tube? I don't get it, if you use a frame pump, either you have to strap a bottle on the down tube, or you go without a bottle. I even wrote Surly about this but they are sticking with that design. I think it just make the bosses useless! Eventually, the lack of eyelets for fenders also became a hassle.

After about 2 1/2 years of riding, I started to notice a bit of flex in the frame. A close examination uncovers a large crack had developed at the weld and down tube near the bottom bracket! I suppose this was just a fluke, not a normal problem with TIG frames, I hope so, anyway. Surly and Universal bikes were very good about backing their warranty, they gave me a generous credit, for which I am grateful. 

I guess my overall impressions of the Steamroller are mixed. If it's just about the ride, no problems. But since I wanted a few more features for my commuting bike, it fell a little short.

*  *  *

My next Surly proved to be a real sleeper. I was checking out the Universal Cycles webpage one day and came across a clearance sale, they were blowing out Pacer frames for something like $250!!

Pacer

It so happened that I was thinking about a somewhat sportier ride than my LHT, so what the heck! In a week I had a nice shiny frameset in the garage, and started to assemble parts for it. Mostly I used stuff I had from previous bikes. I did some research and discovered the perfect brakeset for this bike is the Campagnolo Centaur. Their reach is just a bit longer than Shimano shorties, they are reasonably priced, plus it was a chance to get some new Campy stuff! I also got some of the Tektro "Ergo" rip-off levers, Shimano 105 derailleurs, and some 7 spd indexed levers which you can force into 8 spd mode.

Near Lake Cuyamaca, San Diego County

I have to say, that while this bike is not the most exciting, it has become a favorite ride for me. Riding position is as good as it gets for me. It has all the right features for this type of bike. I'm even beginning to like the idea of black bikes!

Outside Mt. Laguna.

Look familiar? Same place as the LHT picture a few years earlier.

1982/83 Colnago Specialissimo

1982/83 Colnago after refurbishing by Joe Bell and co.

In the late summer of 1983, I got a real job, working for the U.S. Army as a civilian weather observer at Dugway Proving Grounds, in the western Utah Desert. Shelly, my future wife, came out to be with me, and in the winter, she gave the go-ahead for me to buy a nice bike before our wedding in the Spring. I found a very quaint little shop in Centerville, (north of Salt Lake City), that I wanted to give my business. The shop had a very nice Fuji Opus on display, and I actually put a deposit on it. But after some thought, decided I should take this one time opportunity and buy European. I still had my Mercian, and had already owned a Peugeot, so I decided I wanted Italian. So the shop owner was happy to look around for a good deal on an Italian frame. He found a nice blue Colnago Specialissimo for me, so we made the deal. I got the headset, bottom bracket and seatpost, (Campagnolo of course), ordered at the same time. Shelly ordered the rest of the components I needed from mail order and they all arrived in time for what was probably the best Christmas presents I ever got!. All Campy Nouvo Record, with a Super Record rear derailleur. It was a thrill just to look at the boxes!

In Winnemucca, in the mid 80s. Original paint with some hand done details,

(head and seat tube painted by me).

When I moved to Winnemucca, my road bike riding was somewhat curtailed by the number of available roads. This wasn't a bike you could slap fat tires on. In fact, it was a chore to install the rear wheel with a 28C tire!! 28 is my favorite road tire size. It gives a comfortable ride yet still offers a nice lively feel. 28C tires are also easier to patch, since the standard REMA patch will fit nicely on the tube. With thinner tubes, you have to fold the patch around the fold of the tube when it's laid flat, making it difficult to stick. So a 28C tire is a must for me. To make the tires fit easier, I finally had to file off a bit of the lower "jaw" of the rear dropout. That helped but didn't completely solve the problem.

Anyway, I rode all around WMC with my Colnago. My favorite pastime was to ride up Winnemucca Mountain on the old road up to the radio tower, then come back down for a high speed descent! Really fun. My annual century consisted of riding down I-80 25 miles east, then back and the 25 miles west! It could get really boring.

The road riding was better in Great Falls, MT. When I moved up there in the late 80s, I found a bunch of interesting rides. My favorite summer ride was out to around Holter Dam and back.

Coming back to California in 1994, I still had the Colnago, but was tired of it's small size and other limitations. I finally replaced it with a used Eddy Merckx, (7/11 edition!), and later with my Mercian Audax. I tried the Colnago as a fixed gear for a while but finally, needing to make room in the garage, I finally put it on EBay. 

Road Bikes: 1982 Mercian Olympic

"1983" Mercian Olympic

My Mercian is the oldest bike in my stable. I purchased the frame set new at La Mesa Cyclery back in 1983. The serial stamped to the bottom bracket revealed that this is an '82, not an '81 as I had originally believed.

The model is "Olympic", and it was a pretty modest frame for those days; a 531, lugged steel frame with fairly simple braze-ons. The one feature that really sets it apart was the lovely paint. A beautiful shade of metallic green with white lining along the lugs. Really pretty.

Set up for touring, note the Mafac "Racer" Brakes.

The one down side was that the frame was designed for 27 inch wheels, and it doesn't always work with what are now called "long reach" brakes, (57mm), and 700c wheels. Over the years I've experimented with various brakes and found that Mafac Racers worked quite well, except for the fact that they're Mafac Racers! I had a lot of squeal from those guys. I finally solved the problem by converting the bike to a fixed gear and eliminating the rear brake! (the front brake reach was never a problem).

Me and my Mercian on a ride from San Diego to Phoenix, 1982!

This bike has seen many different formats over the years. At first it was a touring bike with a triple crank (and a Campy Rally rear derailleur!) It became my only road bike,( with a double crank), when I left California for work through the mid 80s. It was somewhat neglected in the late 80s before becoming my commuting bike in Montana and then Sacramento in the late 80s to early 90s. I returned it to touring bike style for a couple of years and now, it is a fixed gear single speed.

The Mercian as a fixed gear road bike.

 The riding position on this bike is so comfortable, that the Mercian ergonomics have become the standard for all my other bikes. The fit of this bike is very nice for me, I feel comfortable on it instantly. I adjust all my other bikes to approximate my riding position on this one. Even then, there is something that sets this bike apart. It just feels right.

Here's a link to my latest rebuild of this bike:
http://georgebike.blogspot.com/2012/05/mercian-olympic-redux.html

"Motobecane" Jury

                                          Motobecane Jury eBay Frame

My next fixed gear is not shown! I owned a Surly Steamroller for about 3 years, but never seemed to get a picture of it! It was a pretty nice riding bike, but Surly had some strange ideas for braze-ons...it was not the ideal commuter bike, but not bad. Unfortunately the frame broke after about 2 and 3/4 years. I must say, Surly was good about giving me some reimbursement for that. Good company, with interesting designs.

UPDATE: Well, I found a shot of my Steamroller set up for commuting, here it is:

Steamroller commuter.

With the refund in hand, I went shopping for a new commuting/ fixed gear frame. I wanted another purposely designed for single speed riding. I was inspired by an internet article about the Jury in "Bicycle Fixation", see the link below...

http://www.bicyclefixation.com/silkpurse.html

The picture above shows my Jury before the final addition of Velo Orange Stainless Steel fenders and my Carradice Nelson Saddlebag.

This is a $200 dollar frame, you can't really expect to much of it. However, having said that, I must say that I was pretty happy with the quality of it's construction, and overall finish. It's a TIG welded frame, nothing fancy, but the welds were nice and clean, and the frame was straight and true. The braze-ons were just what I wanted for my commuter frame, one set of water-bottle eyelets and threaded eyelets for front and rear fenders, perfect.

The one odd thing about this bike is the crazy amount of clearance for the brakes. You must use extra-long reach brake, and even then, if you want a rear brake, you need a drop bolt, (which is supplied), to even reach the rear rim! For a fixed gear, a rear brake is not needed, so this is not a problem for me. I think the reason this frame was so cheap was because of this clearance issue. I'm pretty sure it had to be a mistake in the specs.

Anyway, this is now my main commuter, so it gets plenty of mileage. It gives a good ride, I'm very happy with it.

Here's the Motobecane with commuting gear mounted. That's a Carradice Nelson on back. Also installed are: Velo-Orange SS fenders, and a Sigma Pro LED headlight.

UPDATE: In the above posting, I neglected to mention one problem I have found with this bike; there is a fair amount of "toe clip" overhang with the front wheel. It's really apparent with the combination of my big, (US size 11) feet and the fenders. It's something I've got accustomed to, but it can cause problems for the unwary, some might find it unacceptable.

UPDATED: Link to my latest post regarding the frame failure on this bike.

1979 Raleigh Competition GS

1979(?) Raleigh Competition GS

My next fixed gear bike was not really intended to be a fixed gear. I had bought this Comp. GS with the intention of building it up as a nice old fashioned Retro-road bike. Unfortunately, the local frame builder who did the brazing work for me had some strange ideas about routing gear shift cables, and didn't bother to ask me about any of them. He was also really really slow....I'm not naming names, but if I ever have a custom frame built, let's just say it won't be done in Sacramento.

Anyway, since I decided that I could not run derailleurs, this would make a great fixed gear project! So it did. It was a nice riding bike. But I was disappointed in not having it as a multi geared bike, so I sold it.

Raliegh Super Course

ca 1972-4 Raleigh Super Course

I've had a number of fixed gear bikes. dating back to the
late 70's when I would strip down my Puegeot Super-comp
during the winter.

I also dabbled in track racing while in San Diego county, riding
a Bianchi "Eco-Pista", a really nice little entry-level track bike.

Sadly, I've no pictures of those two. I started to get interested
in Fixed gear again in Sacramento in the 90's. I bought this old
Raleigh Super Course and converted it to a fixed gear commuter.

The bike had a bent fork, so I got a replacement Raleigh International's
fork, which was probably worth more than the rest of the bike put
together...

My Mercians: 1980 Olympic, 1982 Olympic, 1999 Audax Special, 2012 King of Mercia.

1982 Mercian Olympic

The oldest bike in my stable is my Mercian Olympic, purchased from La Mesa Cyclery in late '82 or early '83. This was the only bike I brought with me to my new life in Utah in late 1983. It has been a sport bike, a long distance tourer, dirt road semi mountain bike,and now, it's serving as a fixed gear fun bike.

My 1999 Mercian Audax Special

My next Mercian was an Audax Special. I found Mercian on the web back then and was able to order this frame via email. A nice sporty geometry. and another beautiful bike, in Anquetil Blue, (Mercian Flamboyant #6). Unfortunately a tad small due to my ignorance in Mercian sizing. I also decided that I wanted more tire clearance than the short-reach version offered. I eventually sold it.

February 2013 update! - -Link to my latest Mercian!

Update- 2017! One more! I picked up a used Olympic, a 1980, and modernized it to become a workhorse go-fast bike:

Reworked 1980 Olympic.

And here's a link to the story of this bike: 1980 Mercian Olympic