Hallelujah

Hallelujah. A bike is born.

Long Haul TrFucker

Born December 24, 2010 at 9:27am

24 pounds 8 ounces

Designed by Tori Fahey and Craig Stappler

Built by Craig Stappler, Shawn Bunnin, Pat Doyle, Tori Fahey and Erik Bakke

About the bike:
While the mix of road and mountain as well as new and used components might make this machine appear to have been thrown together without thought, this may be one of the most thoughtfully built bikes that I own. Every piece was thoughtfully selected based on the task for which it was built. And, wherever possible, we used non-new parts. This bastard of a bike is actually a love child of many fathers; with parts from four different bikes and five builders contributing to its assembly. Adding to the love-in, I am in the process of decorating the bike with notes from friends and family.

I chose a touring frame over a suspension frame because I wanted something that I could service myself and that did not have specialized components that would be difficult to replace/repair in Africa. What I loose in comfort, I hope to make up in ease of use. The Surly Long Haul Trucker stood out as hands down the best frame option in the touring frame category. In my size (46cm) of frame, it fits 26 inch wheels, which I have found to be much more common outside of North America than the road standard 700c wheels. Further, the tire clearance is wide enough that I can run a cross or mountain tire (1.6-2.1 inch) on the wheels for the rougher sections of the tour. I'm using an Ultegra road crank (triple) and an XT mountain cassette, which should provide more gears than I can handle. Brakes are Tektro Oryx cantilevers. Wheels are DT swiss 240 hubs with Mavic 717 rims (hand built just for me by Pat Doyle). Handlebars are Salsa Woodchippers. This is new territory for me, but the bars look particularly well designed for this sort of touring.