A long – awaited day came with the delivery of my new Surly Disk Trucker. Having ridden the Salsa Vaya and taken a peek at two other bikes including the Marin Tour and a Novara Randonee the decision was clear for me. Two main factors for me were top tube length and the stock Avid BB7 disk brakes on the Disk Trucker. A Marin Tour can be easily adapted for disk brakes, but has a shorter top tube. My torso and chest are long enough to make the case for the .
In case you want one, any bike shop with a QBP account can order a Surly bicycle. Although I took a look at a Disk Trucker downtown, my trusty nearby bike shop is also quite the competitor and will not lose a sale based on price. One of my first rules is; take care of your local area bike shop for the best service. You can’t go wrong buying locally. Another guidepost for gear is; “buy the best you can afford”. This has always worked for me.
The good proprietor at AJs Cyclery also did me a little better turn by matching the best bike price, and discounted accessories to beat the competition downtown. That said, it was a matter of getting the bike order in along with the accessories I still needed to complete the touring bike. These included the Garmin 500 and a Surly back Nice Rack as I already have the front rack as seen on my first blog entry. You might remember how I loaded up the old Bridgestone RB2 and decided the whole idea warranted purchase of a real touring bike.
Delivery day came, and I took the virgin out for a ride as soon as possible. The Disk Trucker shifts smoothly and takes long hills with speed I found difficult to keep with my road bike. The Disk Trucker’s gearing has been well engineered to take the steepest climbs. I love it!
When the time came to install the Surly Nice racks it was a matter of making good use of their instructions and a nice supply of stainless steel hardware.
While installing the Surly Nice racks on my Disk Trucker was rather easy,
I will agree with the Surly instructions regarding the front rack, as it is not a fast installation.
It takes a little while to select your angles and decide which of the hardware you want to use. Once mated, the bike and racks look like a perfect match. Leaving room for the front wheel to come off required the addition of a spacer not accounted for in the parts provided, so I adapted by using several small stainless nuts and everything worked perfectly well.
Adventure Bikepacking and Touring 