Sunday 13 February 2011

Bike is 99% there

Here is the first look at the final bike now named Edna in honour of my wife's nan. The first ride ended in mild disaster as the chain seperated (hey we were working on this at 12 last night :) so it'll be off the road again until tomorrow.

I'll take so more pictures when it's all operational but here she is.

Dead excited.

Typical that the rain kicked off just as I wanted to go for a ride.

Here with the bastard to fit Surly Nice Front rack.

9 comments:

Scott Loveless said...

Good looking build! What rear rack is that?

Unknown said...

Bike looking great , been following your build with great interest having just completed my own , went for my first ride last week and loved it so more comfortable than my Cannondale touring lite. Cant wait to go travelling now just need to persuade the wife that a 6 mth tour is essential for my personal wellbeing.

TRAINHITSBOY said...

Scott, it's a Tortec Expedition. It's aluminium and was about £60 cheaper than the Surly. However, it's not the same 'silver' as the Surly Front. And may change it. I have other things to get yet so it work and I'll have to save my OCD colour matching for another day.

Henry, would love to see the colour of your bike. Your pictures didn't really show it off much :)
I'm afraid my wife likes cycling and love camping but finding it hard to marry the two together.

Must try harder.

Cliff Batson said...

She's beautiful. Congrats!

Unknown said...

Nice bike, congrats! I was lucky to meet a gal who loves riding more than I! I can see lots of tours in our future. I want an LHT like yours!

TRAINHITSBOY said...

I did my first 10 miles on it this morning. Apart from a few squeaks from some misaligned brakes and mudguards it was cool (well, except the fact my phone leapt out of my pocket and smashed everywhere).

Compared to my Steamroller it weighs in like a small car, but she tanks along at a good pace. I loaded up some front panniers to see whether I get any 'wash' and happy to say I didn't even notice they were there.

All in all I was stoked. I'm sure they'll be upgraded parts as I tweak stuff but not a bad first effort.

l' homme au velo said...

Hi I like the Bike very much .Love the Surly front Carrier,I am wishing for them or Tubus. I also have a Tortec Carrier on the rear of my LHT and also on a Dawes Audax.

The Tortec Carriers are pretty much standard on most Bikes here in Dublin and you would have to Order a Surly Rack or Tubus. It works fine,no problems but as to the Longevity of it is another thing. I would like to get a Dynamo eventually as well as Surly Racks or Tubus.

TRAINHITSBOY said...

The Surly rack looks lovely. It is bloody heavy though and had I known how hard it'd be to fit I may have reconsidered :)

I also had to order the Nice rack in. Not cheap.

I have the SON hub on the front. Not got to test it out yet, but I have my e-werk coming. There does appear to be some drag, but I've nothing to gauge it against and to be honest I've got high hopes for this dynamo hub representing the future of powering thing via pedal power.

Anonymous said...

these look like really great options, gonna trade in my road bike soon to go on a long haul trucking adventure soon!

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