KMC Chain power link broken

Cleaning the bike today (well, the chain anyway, couldn't be bothered doing the rest of it) and whilst I was using the Park Tool cyclone thingamabob / chain cleaner I noticed the chain had got stuck.  On closer inspection it turned out the KMC 'power link' had snapped!

Not very impressed really, only done about 500 miles on the bike so far so for it to snap like that so soon is a disappointment.  Thankfully I have loads of old SRAM powerlinks knocking around so I just used one of those, seems to be fine (although not ridden on it as yet, should be fine I think).

Generally re the bike... well, very very happy with the bike generally, as above, must have done a few hundred miles on it now and it's very solid/sturdy/stable and surprisingly agile if you want to put your foot down.

Really need to sort out some tires though for winter, the ones I've got on at the moment were originally only meant for summer and with this winter weather it's getting a bit tricky at times with sliding around - already had a couple of near falls with wet leaves and mud, let alone snow/ice which is bound to arrive at some point soon. Need to research some decent winter tires.

The mudguards have been a godsend though in the last few weeks with all the rain/mud knocking about.  The only minor quibble maybe is that the guards are a bit too big and so mud / water can sometimes spray outwards off the inside of the mudguard... but really it's nothing much.  But then again they do look the business and don't exactly look too big.

Have tested the panniers out quite a few times now with shopping, done a couple of quite large shops as well with 10-20kg loaded up.  Was quite surprised actually to read on the rack that the max weight is 35kg... despite having the rack for years and the 35kg thing being visible for years, I never really thought about it too much... but having done some concrete work and having had to buy big bags of sand, I know each big bag of sand is 20kg... not quite sure I'd want to lug ~two of those on the rack, that's quite a large load!  Nice to know it can take it though.

Adjusted riser bar

Adjusted the riser bar today.  As it was it was awkward when getting up out of the saddle when climbing because the handlebar grips were kind of in an odd position - closer to your waist than chest which isn't comfortable for climbing out of the saddle.

Anyway, I undid the stem and flipped the riser bar over 180° and readjusted all the shifters etc.  Felt slightly odd at first but actually seems to be a bit better like that, especially when climbing, so will probably keep it like that for a while.

Managed to get a chunky twig/stick stuck in the chainrings today though, not had that happen before.  Was a bit dodgy because it was when I was going uphill and putting a lot of pressure on the pedals, nearly snapped the chain!  Don't think there's too much damage done though, the stick came out easily enough and rings didn't seem too bent out of shape.

Lezyne Alloy Drive Bracket Mount / Jagwire Non Crimp Cable Ferrules

Got a couple of items today:

Lezyne Bracket Mount for Alloy Drive Pump

I bought the Lezyne alloy drive pump about ... 2-3 years ago now(?) and it's been absolutely brilliant.  It originally came with a bracket to fit the pump to the water bottle bosses/lugs, so I fit it to the CX bike I have and it's been great on that.

Rather than buy a brand new pump for the new Surly LHT bike, I thought I'd just buy a spare bracket so I could use the same pump on both bikes.

Have to say Lezyne are great in terms of the spares you can buy for their products - whilst I was looking for this bracket (which was available everywhere by the way), I also noticed they even have a seal replacement kit for the alloy drive pump.  I don't actually need one of these right now but it's good to know they do exist.

Compare this to Crank Brothers... I have numerous complaints about Crank Brothers products that I could mention but don't really want to get started here... but just relating to the pumps that Crank Bros sell - I had a couple of problems with a Crank Bros pump I bought - a. the bracket broke due to a design fault and b. the pump itself broke (again, mainly down to the poor design of the pump).  Crank Bros don't sell any spares at all for their products (or at least they didn't do at that time 2-3 yrs ago and I'd be surprised if they sell them now) so you either have to try and complain to the manufacturer / distributor to get a spare part outside of warranty (which was useless in my experience), or stump up for a new pump (when the pump actually would work fine if you could just get the one replacement seal for it which probably costs pennies to produce)... a great deal of style over content I'm afraid with Crank Brothers.

Anyway... yes Lezyne are a preferred alternative in my opinion to Crank Brothers particularly for pumps(!)... great build quality / usability, plus great after sales support in terms of spare components available.

The bracket cost a fiver or so... which isn't totally cheap but at the same time saves having to fork out at least as much for a cheapo alternative that would probably last 5 minutes:

Fits perfectly to the side of the water bottle:

My only issue is I would have preferred to fit it to the seat tube so that it's out of the way of my feet as I'm cycling (I can just see the pump getting caught in the leg of my shorts in summer time!).  Unfortunately I couldn't fit it there because I'd already fitted the Abus lock case, and the pump bracket wouldn't fit alongside the lock case.  It'll probably be fine though.

Jagwire Pro Non-Crimp Ferrules

Hah well not a lot to say about these really (but I'm sure I'll end up waffling on anyway!).  I didn't have any ferrules to finish off the cabling (the little 'end caps' you cover the ends of the brake and gear gables once they've been fitted to stop them fraying).  I was going to go for the pennies option of buying regular ferrules, but then saw these snazzy red anodized ferrules from Jagwire and just couldn't resist.

They were a relatively eye watering £3.50 (compared to normal ferrules where you can probably buy 100 for the same price!)... although in my defence, they are re-usable... so if I manage to not lose them by catching them with a foot then they should last a while.

They have little rubber 'grommets' around the ends which you poke the cable end through and are meant to hold the ferrules in place without you having to 'crimp' them on with pliers:

All of which is fine in theory but like I say above I can just imagine them getting snagged on something and lost forever... time will tell.

SKS Chromoplastic Mudguards

Fitted some SKS Chromoplastic Mudguards to the bike today.  I'd ordered/received these quite a few weeks ago but decided to just leave them off for a while just to try the bike out as it was without guards whilst it wasn't raining.

Fitting them wasn't as bad as the last time (I have the same guards on the CX bike I have) thanks to the more relaxed touring frame design on the Surly and the touring specific lugs available for mudguards.  That said, I had forgotten how fiddly fitting mudguards can be and only left an hour or so to do the job yesterday before it got dark, so gave up half way through and waited until today to finish them off.

The SKS Chromoplastic guards are excellent though, high quality guards that feel pretty bulletproof thanks to the design of (what I presume based on the name 'Chromoplastic' is) the metallic guard shrouded in plastic.  They're not that heavy though, very light indeed.

The mudguard 'stays' are solid both in terms of materials and fittings - at the front they have a secure clip system that allows the stays to 'snap' into the clip, which in turn is then attached to the front fork lugs with a hex bolt (I think the main point of this system is if the front guard gets knocked hard or 'trapped' by a foot or something, the mudguard just unclips and is left loose of the forks, thus avoiding any further damage or accident that could otherwise have happened - can just imagine if you got your laces trapped in the mudguard stays you'd be in trouble!):

The stays are attached to the mudguard at the top with some quality little bolts, and the stays slide into plastic top 'caps' to keep things neat and tidy and avoid the stays getting snagged on clothes etc:

The only downside of that is you need to really cut the stays to length with a hacksaw to make the top caps worthwhile fitting, but it doesn't take a lot to cut them so it's no bother really and worth it to make the thing look neat.

I went for the largest set of mudguards that SKS do in the Chromoplastic model - 65mm:

Chromoplastics P 65 then.  According to Chainreaction these are suitable for 26 x 2.10 - 2.35 wheels:

SKS Chromoplastic Mudguards Sizing Information: 

Section	Rim	Tyre
35 mm	28	700x20-28
45 mm	28	700x28-37
50 mm	28	700x38-45
55 mm	26	26 x 1.6 - 2.10
65 mm	26	26 x 2.10 - 2.35 (suitable for Big Apple)

I though the tires I've got on were only 26 x 2.00, but looking at the lack of clearance between the tires and the guards I'm not so sure now, maybe they're at least 2.10...  mmm just checked Wiggle who seem to have them in and they look like they're probably 2.00... very wide then for 2.00.  Will be interesting to see how larger tires actually fit in these guards then.

Anyway the foot/pedal clearance at the front seems OK (see photo below), certainly a lot better than on the CX bike (where my foot regularly hits the mudguard quite dangerously sometimes!) - the way the frame/fork is designed, your front foot passes right in between the two guard stays and just misses hitting the guard itself, so just about perfect as far as I can see so far.  Haven't used them in anger much yet though so time will tell, so far they seem just right though:

Generally the frame lugs for attaching the mudguard 'bridges' (if that's the right term, the bits that bolt onto the frame) are excellent.  The lugs are threaded, which means at a pinch you don't actually need a nut to attach them at all, just a threaded bolt.  I added washers and nuts on anyway though just to be on the safe side.

The clearance between the seat post tube and the rear wheel is huge as well thanks to the touring designation (the extended chainstays for increased pannier space mean the rear wheel is about 2 inches from the seat post tube).  As a result, attaching the rear mudguard to the chainstay bridge was very easy and still left a lot of room between the guard and rear wheel:

Have to say though these mudguards really are an excellent combination with the Surly LHT frame.  I remember after fitting the rear guard, I had the wheel out of the frame and was adjusting the tightness of the bolts and I just though 'these are rock solid' - there's not much movement at all on the rear mudguard once it's adjusted properly, it feels like it could easily just stay attached to the bike forever without needing too much attention, would be ideal for long distance touring I think.

SKS Chromoplastics - highly recommended mudguards. :)

First Mud!

Got out in the mud for the first time today, those tires on the bike are real mud clingers, need to sort that out because it was like riding on ice rather than mud:

 Took some absolutely stunning sunset photos as well, absolutely awesome sunset, hard to believe these photos are actually not manipulated in any way (they're not!) - click them for the full version:

Fitted rear pannier rack / Abus Granit Bordo X-Plus Lock

Spent today adjusting stuff and adding on a few bits to make it easier carrying stuff.

Pannier rack

Fitted the rear pannier rack to the bike today.  Went on like a dream, no faffing around like with the previous two bikes I've tried to fit pannier racks to - must have taken about 15 minutes to fit (compared to literally hours with the other bikes).

The rack braze-on on the Surly LHT frame is perfectly positioned and a rack can be attached in either of two ways to them which is handy.  You can kind of make this out in the image below - the two 'struts' with those stoppers on can be attached either on the outside or on the inside, so in theory you have an extra set of 'lugs' to attach something to (not quite sure what that might be though, maybe a ... trailer or something? No idea.

(Incidentally on the image above you can see the damage I had to do to the 'struts' to make them fit on my old Marin bike!  That was a major PITA, took literally hours to get them to fit properly and I remember having to even take a file to the frame to file off back one of the cable stops... quite odd really, why did they (Marin) bother putting lugs on a bike for a rack if the frame clearly isn't designed for a standard rack?!)

Here's a better picture of the 'two way' braze on (bottom left of the picture):

There's tons of clearance between the rack and the wheels on this Surly build though - I can remember having issues on old bikes where the rack was dangerously close to the wheels and occasionally you could hear the rack rubbing on the tire which was less than comforting when you had a couple of fully loaded panniers flying down a hill at 30mph!  But on this frame that's not going to be an issue at all.

Strikes me in the picture above you can't actually tell what the clearance is like 'laterally' (ie from the rear) between the tires and the rack.  Trust me, it is HUGE!  Probably 1-2" at least, absolutely zero chance of the rack rubbing on the tire unless the wheel fell off or something. ;)


Another nice thing about having the rack on the bike is that I can use the rear light adapter on the pannier rack to attach the light to, saves having the rear light attached to the seatpost - which is always awkward when using a saddlebag as well and can end up hiding the light completely if you're not careful.

Seatpost

Still having issues with the damn seat post clamp (the Hope one).  I removed all the anti-seize grease that was on the shim/seatpost thinking that might have been what was causing the post to slip, but it doesn't seem to have made any difference and after an hour or so of riding the seatpost has slid right back down again into the seatpost tube. :(

I'll probably replace this Hope clamp with a more substantial steel version and give it some proper tightening, up to 20-25Nm or so.  Which is probably less than I used to do on the aluminium frame and it was fine on there, so with a steel frame it should be equally fine.

(EDIT: in the end it turns out I managed to get enough torque on the clamp to secure it without the clamp bolt snapping - from memory this was about 16Nm, maybe a touch more)

Brake Toe-in

Had some brake screeching at the front yesterday so I adjusted the toe-in on the brake pads today.  Tied a rubber band around the back end of the pad before aligning it to the rim to give a bit of 'toe' (ie so the front of the pad hits the rim before the back, supposedly that stops the screeching... though it's debatable I think and possibly bordering on old wives tale!).

That said though... the screeching did seem to disappear so it seems to have done the trick.

Abus Bordo Granit X-Plus lock

Attached this beast to the frame today as well - used the water bottle attachments on the seatpost tube just above the front derailleur to attach the carrying case.  Bit fiddly getting the bolts in place but not that much so, used a couple of washers as well to stop it coming loose hopefully.

Here's a picture of the carrying 'case' attached directly to the frame, sans lock (I have a ton of pictures of the lock which I will add at some point along with a review hopefully):

Seemed fine on a 5 mile test ride, adds some bloody weight to the bike though!!!

Out for a test ride 

I was supposed to go up and meet a friend which would have involved a 10-15 mile ride, which I was quite up for actually as a test ride but unfortunately that didn't happen.  Instead I just went on a local run, maybe 5 miles or so, with panniers fully loaded (albeit with lightish stuff) just to see how the rack held up.

Generally seemed excellent, very pleased with it indeed and clearly the frame / bike seems to almost cope better when loaded up than not loaded up, which is possibly to be expected with it having touring roots.

I'm no speed freak on a bike, but one thing I am finding with this new bike is that the gearing is VERY low (ie suited more to hills).  I think it's maybe due to my expectation that because it's almost a road based bike, the gearing should be a lot higher - or perhaps it's because my CX bike has much higher gearing - but in fact the gearing is very low and I'm finding I'm running out of high gears quite quickly - managing to get into the highest gears when doing only maybe 20mph or so.

When it comes to changing the rings next I'll probably think about stepping it up a little bit, maybe go for something like a 26-38-48 perhaps or 24-36-46, not quite sure just yet and can't remember off the top of my head what the 'recommended' jumps are between the various ring sizes (22 seems to come to mind as being the maximum you should ideally go between smallest and largest rings and 12 between smallest and middle... but I might be wrong, have to look it up).

First ride out on the Surly

Took the first extended ride out on the new bike today, albeit doing about an average of 5-10 miles an hour whilst I was constantly looking down here and there to see what was creaking, how the leg clearance was, how the saddle was for height, how the stem was for height, etc etc...

But generally I'm very pleased with the way the bike handles.

Initial Impressions

Key words I think I'd use to describe it from my experience so far are:

• Upright
  The 'virtual' top tube length seems to be a lot shorter than the old Marin bike, let alone my current 'main' racing/cyclocross bike.  Which isn't a bad thing in and of itself - it means you have more control over the bike and can turn on a smaller circle for one thing... but it does also mean the following:
• Cramped
  The bike does feel slightly cramped at the moment because of the apparently smaller top tube distance.  I think I might try and look into some kind of riser bar solution or even some kind of touring bike handlebar solution (butterfly bars are they called?) to some how extend 'forwards' the reach.  OR even just play around with the existing riser bar and turn it around so that it extends as far 'forwards' as possible, that might give me an extra inch or two.
• Stable
  The bike does feel very stable when you're riding it, and I imagine that that feeling will only increase once it's loaded with a rack and full panniers.  Which is obviously a very good thing for touring which is the purpose of the frame after all (and in my case for doing the shopping with!!!).
• Sturdy
  Same as above really, the bike feels very sturdy out and about and you don't feel like you'll come off easily.
• Climbable
  For want of a better word, by 'climbable' I mean the gearing on the bike is very low.  The combination of 22/32/44 on the front and 11-34 at the back is very much an MTB setup and I made a concious decision to go with that to make it easier when hauling bigger loads.  So that's OK... I think it's just a bit of a surprise how low the gearing is after not having ridden a 26" MTB for a few months!

Issues I've had today on the ride then:

Saddle / Seatpost

Had a bit of an issue with the saddle slipping back in the seat post clamp, literally as soon as I sat down on the saddle!  The USE XCR Alien Shokpost clamp is really terrible - or rather the two long bolts that bolt the clamp into place are terrible - they're about 3mm wide, with the smallest possible hex head, and the hex head is only about what seems like 3mm deep... so it's an absolute nightmare getting it tightened without stripping the hex head... grrr.  Might have to try and find a couple of new bolts to fit it I think.

Also the seatpost clamp is also causing problems - the seatpost keeps slipping either side to side, or down into the seatpost tube, which is something I've never had an issue with before.  I think it's a combination of the fact I have to use a shim with the Alien XCR Shokpost/seatpost, and the fact that I used anti-seize grease on the shim and the seatpost, AND the fact that I don't want to crank on the Hope seatpost clamp too much for fear that it will shear the bolt - it's one of those annoying Swiss cheese type bolts that I can tell will snap if I look at it the wrong way, let alone crank the torque up on it!

I'll probably remove all the grease from the seatpost itself (it is aluminium AND there's an aluminium shim as well anyway so they probably won't stick to the steel frame / seatpost tube anyway).  Also I'll probably crank the torque up a bit on the seatpost clamp as well - at the moment I@m up to about 14Nm, which is reasonably tight but not overly tight, I think on the old Marin I would have had it at at least 25-30Nm, but that was a solid steel bolt with a sturdy steel clamp so there was no worry with shearing the thing.

Gear Thrubbing(!)

Not sure what to make of this but there was a constant 'thrubbing' noise from the rear derailleur when I put any pressure on it in the middle chainring at the front.  Mysteriously the noise disappears when you're not on the middle chainring (it doesn't seem to be a rubbing on the front derailleur either which that fact would suggest).

It almost seems like an issue with the rear derailleur 'line' from the rear mech dropout down through the guide wheel to the bottom jockey wheel / pulley wheel.  But then again it could even just be these new Hope jockey wheels and the noise they make being 'odd' - they're aluminium, so make a different noise to the normal solid plastic wheels, almost like a ringing sound (?!) when they're put under pressure.

The other thing I wonder is if the new wheels have the right number of teeth, they have 11 teeth so have to check that's right, I know you can get wheels with different numbers of teeth...

Could try switching back to the old jockey wheels just to see if the noise goes maybe.  And to count the teeth. ;)

Top Tube Distance

The top tube seems very short as I said above, thinking about adjusting the handlebar / riser so it 'extends' forward a little bit to give a bit of extra 'reach'.  That or change the riser bar for a butterfly bar or a riser with more reach somehow.  Not sure yet.  Not the end of the world though, it's fine really and would probably get used to it to be honest.