I rode my Surly Long Haul Trucker to work today. The bike now has fenders, front and rear rack, and a computer installed.
I picked up the bike last night and was itching to ride it today. My panniers wouldn’t easily mount on the rear rack, so I put them on the front rack. My trunk bag would block my tail light, so I also put that on the front rack. The bike did handle differently with the weight on the front, but it was still very stable.
I stayed up entirely too late last night, but was excited enough to get up and ride to work today. Now I’m looking forward to the ride home this afternoon.
I’m still trying to come up with a name for the new bike.
And a fine new bike it is! Having had my hands on it briefly, I have to say it’s a dandy machine.
May it serve you well for as long as you enjoy its company.
The bike looks great! Congrats, I’m sure you’ll love it. It’ll be even better when you get all the gear on the back where it belongs, I think. Weird that you had trouble getting the panniers to go on the rear rack. I mounted a light beneath my rack, and have another one that clips to my saddle bag. You might be able to clip one to the back of your trunk rack.
1. call it “you mother trucker!”
2. looking forward to seeing it tomorrow
Tom,
It is a fine machine. Thank you for your assistance.
Apertome,
Thank you! I moved my Dinotte tail light under the rack tonight, so the trunk bag is back on the rear where it belongs. I have a Planet Bike mount on the rack (thanks to Tom above), but my primary tail light is the Dinotte.
As far as the panniers, they don’t have a hook on the bottom, but a ring. The rear rack doesn’t have a hook for a ring. I think I can buy a couple of small S-hooks and solve that though.
Tim,
1: Only when climbing steep hills!
2: The bike is ready to go. The hard part is me getting my lazy butt out of bed. See you in the morning.