The Long Haul Trucker (Luisa's Bike)

This project turned out to be one of my favorites. Not only did I put a bike together but my part specs were all done for for specific purposes, which all played out in the end. This bike is for my daughter Luisa. Lusia is tall, 5’10” and weighs over 200lbs. Most bikes are made for riders 180lbs or less. I wanted a bike that would be user friendly, comfortable and strong.

The first choice was the frame. I decided on the Surly, Long Haul Trucker. The LHT is a very strong steel frame. The frame/fork weighs 1/2 to 1 pound more than other Surly frames; that’s should equate to more steel. Due to female proportions I decided to go big, 60 cm. The stand over might be a snug tall, but top tube needs to be extra long for the sweep back handle bars I’m going to use; using a long stem with these handle bars would be unstable.

Next the wheels. My first choice from the beginning where 48 spoke tandem wheels. I initially ordered some Shimano XT 48 spoke tandem hubs and 700 Sun Rhino Lite rims. For some reason these never arrived. Back to this later.

I recently changed the cockpit on my Burly tandem to a mustache bar with bar ends shifters. The bike originally was set up as a mountain bike with 9 speed grip shifters and while it has 26” wheels, so do Burly tandems set up for road. This left me with the 9 speed shifters and Shimano LX Brake levers for the Surly. I then decided to go ahead and switch out the brakes also, and found some NOS Avid Arch Rivals for the Burly.

The road triple crankset and bottom bracket, both Truvativ affairs came to me in a trade as did the front Shimano Sora triple derailleur. My decision here however was to reduce the crank to a single chainring to keep things simple. TruVativ bottom brackest come with a 5 mm spacer. This allows you to use the same bottom bracket on either a 68 or 73mm bottom bracket housing. The Surly is 68 mm, but I installed it without the spacer anyway. The reason was I wanted to mount the single chainring on the outside of the crank for aesthetic reasons. However this would move the chainline to far outboard, as the middle position is the proper place. By installing the bottom bracket without the spacer, it positioned the crank 5mm more inboard, making the chainline perfect. After that I simply put the spacer on the other side to take up the extra space. I installed the Sora front derailleur just to keep the chain on the chainring and will also be able to upgrade to a front shifter (I kept the original chainrings) if the need should arise later.

Back to the wheels. Since my LBS was unable to come through with the wheels I looked elsewhere. Ebay turned out to be the answer. There I found a set of NOS Shimano (XT/ Sun RhinoLite) 48 spoke 700c Tandem wheels for $200. There were two easily solved problems with these wheels. #1 the hubs were 140mm while the LHT frame was 135mm; but it was nothing a little cold setting couldn't solve. 2) the hubs were 7 speed and I had planned for a 9speed drivetrain. After considering the possibilities for a while I decided to go for the wheels and switch the shifter to a 7 speed. I checked a nearby LBS who has a lot of used parts and he came up with an old 7 speed SRAM shifter for $10. I then order the tires, tubes, new brake pads and a 7 speed cassette. While I already had a cassette and grips, I wanted the cassette to be as wide as possible and found one 32/12. I also found these cool Celtic braid grips and I had to buy them. Other parts came out of the parts bin; an early Ritchey cartridge headset with steel cups, a short 90 deg Salsa stem, and a cushy Avenir gel seat.

While waiting for the rest of the parts to arrive, I started putting the rest of the bike together. No real problems, until I came to the rear derailleur. This derailleur has a strange history. My mom inherited a child’s bike and she wanted to know if it could be fixed so the kids in the neighborhood could use it. I discovered that someone had put a 2000 XT derailleur on the bike, but the main spring had sprung. I switched out the derailleur with one that was working and rebuilt the XT. Unfortunately, when I tried to stretch out the derailleur, the spring popped out again. What followed was an hour of trying to get the thing to work. Finally I decided that something had to be wrong, as these things usually go together and work flawlessly. It was at this time I realized one of the tabs on the spring was bent less then 90 deg. This of course meant that any tension on the spring would cause the tab to pull out. I took a ball peen and pounded the tab to 90 deg. After that the derailleur went together without any more problems; I love it when I figure out stuff like that.

By Friday all the parts had come in, the wheels being the last to arrive. With the exception of the rear derailleur problem I just spoke of, the bike went together beautifully. This was quite fortuitous, as Luisa is visiting from LA, I would be able to let her take it back home with her. The finishing touches were a basket for her little dog, a kickstand, and a speedometer. I liked this bike because everything I wanted to do worked. It should be bullet proof and give her years of riding without problems.

And heres a little movie of Luisa on her new Bike!

The Nishiki conversion; it lives!

This is part 2 of the  The Nishiki Conversion

A more intelligent person probably would have kept the frame and thrown the rest away. I still think that would have been easier. There are also some badly rusted chrome parts that did not clean up well. Still I really like the old Dia Comp parts. As usual as the build took shape some of my plans changed.

I discussed the wheels earlier, which are the original Araya 27” hoops and one Shimano 333 hub (front). The rear is a Formula loose ball fixed/fixed hub. Further I bought a Surly 22T cog and lockring. I also replaced all the spokes; the front spokes were extras from another build and the rear spokes came (along with some extra long nipples).

Frame wise, I ended up stripping off the my rattle can copper paint, which was an awful looking color for the frame anyway. I entertained trying the rattle can approach again with a different color and then came to my senses and took the frame to the powder coater. Okay, $100 is a bit much for this project, but I won't have to deal with it again and it will look really nice. My first choice was a burnished brass, but gold metallics require a clear coat and that’s another $60. Turns out my son got his first choice, with a dark green metallic (my other green bike is an emerald green).

Second there were these pedals. I actually threw away these OEM pedals (twice!) before I took a wire wheel to them and knocked off all the rust. Mechanically they work as a well as new, but the rust really did a job on the chrome. I was left obsessing over a set of Kyokuto pedals. I have seen them in several incarnations. The first is the all steel version I was dealing with, which include a strap guide on the outer edge of the cage. I tried using theses guides but they did not put strap in a postion that seemed shoe friendly. There is also NJS style, which have an abreviated aluminum cages. The NJS style also have rivets that hold on the cage on the body, all the other versions use a tab on the body through a slit in the cage. There is an aluminum caged version with no flip tab and another that does. I checked eaby for a better set, but had trouble finding a pair for less than $50. Then lo and behold I finally managed to find the above pair for $16.50. These have an aluminum cage with a flip tap.

The Nishiki also has a Suntour Sakae steel chromed headset. While in better condition than the pedals, the chrome on top lockring took the brunt of the corrosion. The lockring is also made for a 21.1 stem? The stem steps down from 22.1. After a little investigation I discovered this the use of a 21.1 stem is common on BMX and crusier. If I wanted a replacement, I would best look for a Crusier style headset. In the mena time I bought a similar style JIS Bottom bracket that tuned out to be mismarked (this was before I realized the need for a 21.1 top lock ring. I was able to send that back, but I replaced it with a much cheaper BMX headset, where the top lockring fit, but was a might puny. I may just stay with what I have (it's not THAT bad). The bottom bracket was in questionable condition with the spindle races being pretty shot, but the cups were pretty smooth. The owner of one of the LBS(s) in town, is a friend who lets me rummage around through most his old parts bins. He used to charge me a nominal fee, now he just lets me have them gratis. The original spindle had threaded studs at the ends and was asymmetrical. I found a replacement spindle and the short side fit pretty close, but I was hoping for perfection.

The Maxy crank has a pressed on 52 tooth chain ring and is therefore flat on the mounting side. To get a perfect chain line, I needed a spindle a few millimeters smaller. I poked around in the LBS and after trying about 8 spindles, I finally found one that gave me a 1mm gap. The Bottom Bracket itself was Tange, but there was something I didn’t like how the bearings (or the bearing cage) fit into the cups. I had some Sakae cups that seemed to like the bearing cages much better so I used them.

The chain was just an NOS Parts bin 3/32 KMC. The handle bar was a chromed Champion drop bar (this bike originally had a much narrower aluminum bar; but I happened upon this bar as a replacement) that is OEM on Nishiki(s) along with the Dia Compe center pull (770) brake caliper and the classic Dia Compe lever with the "safety" bar. The 770 brakes are still available and a good compromise for those who want cantilevers but don't have the bosses. The OEM seat was shot and I temporarily replaced it from the old parts bin seat.

I really like the look of the Dia Compe brake hanger and release. Rust really hurt the aesthetics of these parts, but I managed to find similar replacements on Ebay. OEM Replacements. The difference may not seem like much, but in real life it was worth the $20 extra dollars. The original budget was estimated @ $100. The was pretty much dashed when it turned out both hubs need to be replaced; fortunately a friend supplied me with a front hub gratis. Also the original paint job was supposed to be rattle can. When that didn't work out the budget was blown out of the water when I deceided to powder coat the frame.

Rear hub- $ 40
spokes/nipples $ 20
cog and lockring $ 50
Powder coat $100
Brake hanger $20
Pedals $25

So we're looking @ $235.

Still not done. Nope. Since these photos were taken I have already added a grip to the handle bars and will soon add the new pedals. Also the old tires are trash. Fortunately 27" tires are dirt cheap. Finally I took the bike by an LBS that has helped me with some parts. After much appreciated praise, he had a question of criticism; where's the leather saddle? And of course he's right. A true hipster bike needs a leather (aka brooks/ ) saddle. For a while I have had my eye on a brooks B-17 Special; green w/copper rivets in mind. While you may see them for $80, they are back ordered. A search found the best one in stock for about $100. So;

Brooks seat- $100.00
Tires-$16

All the above items are on order. So I am probably looking at about $370 after tax and license. I will add more photos when it's together.


And here they are! As finished as it's likely to get.





My first ride on these tires show this bike to be a pig. That's right, at only 63 gear inches (52/22) it's like riding through the mud on smooth pavement. Of course, that doesn't really matter, it's all about the joy of riding it. OTOH the Brooks saddle is surprizingly comfortable. I didn't really expect much, so I am quite pleased.