UBER SURLY COMMUTER FROM AN OLD BIRDY

• Posted on 22 April 2016
• By Stuart Armstrong
• Posted in Custom Builds
• 0

Marcus came into us with a Birdy folding bike – it wasn’t quite running but it wasn’t far off it.  However, having decided that it didn’t quite work for him as a ride, he had a vision – how about moving components over to a Surly Long Haul Trucker (LHT)?

His Birdy was sporting a SON dynohub on the front, powering Busch & Muller lights at each end, and a Rohloff 14 speed internally geared hub on the rear – certainly well worth holding onto. After discussing what he wanted in the resulting bike, we agreed with him the good ol’ 26″ LHT would create quite a bulletproof commuter.  Unfortunately his front dynohub didn’t match the fork spacing, so with keeping budget in mind we swapped in an SP-PV8.  It’s very difficult to beat a SON, but the SP is smaller, lighter and cheaper so that was the smilier option. Silver with black spokes was the theme, to offset black handlebar and seatpost.  Handlebar was a standard 5degree rise 5degree rake – the ability to just chill but if the effort was required, easy to put in. We also chose the popular Ergon GP1 grips, which have an option perfectly matched to the spacing on a Rohloff’s twist shift.

The bike was finished off with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres (26×1.50 to provide the combination of comfort but also decent urban rolling) and an ABUS Bordo lock to ensure only he can get to ride it.

A Rohloff has a truly astounding 519% range – that’s the same as a common 3 x 10 setup, but with everything internal and a clean, low maintenance chainline you end up with a bike that will go almost anywhere at any speed.  Simple, but very rewarding.  We wish you many years of commuting, Marcus.

Surly LHT with Rohloff IHG and SP dynohub

Rohloff Grip shift with Ergon GP1 grips

Shutter Precision (SP) PV-8 dynohub

Rohloff 14 speed hub – an amazing

Rear B&M light – heatshrink to neaten the cabling