The Surly Disk Trucker Stacks Up

 

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.