Gear Notes: The Surly Long Haul Trucker

I've been mulling over an initial review of my Surly Long Haul Trucker after a month of serious touring with it. I wanted to get down my current thoughts and then do a follow-up at the end of the trip.

My current feelings about the bike are that it is an extremely comfortable and well-built piece of machinery that has some components that I either should have replaced or were improperly added by myself.

Before I get to the details, I'll just say that when it comes to a bicycle, the most important items for me are:

• Is it dependable?
• Is it comfortable?

To both of these questions, the answer is a resounding "Yes".  The bike has performed really well in some fairly strenuous terrain.  Also, the steel-frame and the general feel of the bike fits my body nicely, and I can pull a 7-hour day (my current limit) with almost no creaks and pains around my body, like I used to get with my old bike.

However, there are a few things I would change right now if I could:

The Racks - I put a high-mounted Old Man Mountain rack on the front, and this was my biggest mistake.

This causes extreme floppiness of the front wheel and gives the bike a pretty bad shimmy if I don't pack it "just so".  In the rear, I've got a Jandd basic rack, which has been servicable, but for some reason feels flimsy to me.  Don't get me wrong, they do the trick, but I would just do something different if I had the time and parts right now.

The Seat - I would've broken in a nice leather riding saddle if I had to do it over again.  Around mile 40, I start needing to give my butt a rest and find myself riding for stretches standing up.  Not terrible, just enough of an annoyance that it would be nice to have something a little more comfortable.

The Tires - The tires that came with the bike are great, but for the route I chose (the Danube, the Czech Greenways then Poland) some slightly thicker tires with bigger treads would've been a plus.  There's been stretches of riding that have been hairier than they need to be because my tires were too skinny.  Again, they're servicable and have obviously done the job so far; it just would've been nice to have something a little different.

The gearing on it is perfect for the kind of riding that I'm doing, so that's a big plus.  The granny gear is great for some of the steeper ascents, but mostly I just keep it right on the second chainwheel, even on 3-4% inclines.  All in all, it's a relaxed enjoyable piece of machinery to ride, and it's been a joy to share the trip with it so far.