The final decision

After a long thoughtout debate (with myself) I've decided to buy the complete LHT and repalce a few things on it. The thought of building a bike from scratch was getting overwhelming. Too many things that are out of my skill level. Someday...I will build a bike from scratch. I want to be able to take my time and do it right. I'll have had time to research everything and buy all the tools I need.
The LHT as it comes is a solid bike. I'm just not a fan of the handlebar setup though. I want to remove the bar end shifter and put shifter/brakes on it and possibly cross brakes as well. I'd also wrap the bars with the Aztec Vibewrap system since I like the feel of it on my other bike now. I've heard complaints about the brake pads so I'll replace those as well.

The consideration of a build

One of my ongoing projects is complete strip down of an old Schwinn Varsity. I'm in the ready for paint stage but due to the cold weather (ie. cold garage) I'm at a stand still. I recently thought about modernizing it and putting a lot of new parts on it. After doing some research I realized that the expense was not worth it. Plus I liked the idea of reusing all the old parts and keeping it original. The researching of components got me thinging about my new Surly LHT. What if I bought the frame and did a custom build? I could have a one off custom bike like no other. I could have all the pieces and parts that I wanted, not what Surly gave me on a complete bike. This is a bike I want for multiple uses, why not make it the best bike I can. At roughtly $1100 the LHT is bargain. There is some definite room for improvement on the components. SO why not spend $430 for the frame and maybe $1000 on the compoments. The frame is the main reason people buy a LHT anyway, not the components that come on it.
The decision to want to do a custom build is two fold. The first part I just explained, the bonus of better components. The second part is actually doing the build. That is where I an on the fence. It's easy to get the credit card out and go on a spending spree online buying pieces and parts. The hard part is actually installing the parts and making sure you buy the right parts. I addition to all the parts I'll buy some specialty tools that not everyone has in their tool box. Now grated I could pay more money and have a local bike shop help me pick everything out and put it all together. But what's the fun in that. I do most of the work on my bike anyway, so why not know how it all works. My plan would be to go into my LBS (local bike shop) and have them help me with the questions I have and maybe ever order some parts for me, but I'll do all the work myself. I may bring the bike back in to have my work looked over.
That is the decision I'm facing. We'll see where my research leads me.

Truckin

As mentioned before I am buying a new bike this year. I've decided on the Surly Long Haul Trucker. It's steel frame, gearing, mounting points for racks and fenders, owner reviews, and color scheme all played a part in my decision to go with the Surly. The one thing keeping me from pullng the trigger is the color. Surly is releasing two new colors this year, blue and black. The blue is starting to hit the bike shops now, but the black will not be relased until mid year (June/July). The look of the bike is so important to me that I am willing to wait 4 to 5 more months. I'm going to miss having it now and riding most of my 2010 miles on it, but to get what I want I'll wait. I plan to use it as my primary bike. My Trek Pilot will be a training type bike used for speed work and other short distance type riding. The Surly will be my road bike, my rail trail bike, and my commuter bike. I bought a new wheel set for my Trek last year to try to make it my all around bike but the carbon front fork and alluminium frame just really concern me with my weight and carrying a load. It did perform well on my Wabash Tour last year, but from what I've heard about the ride quality of a steel frame I just have to try it. I'm planning on repeating the Wabash Tour this year and adding a tour to Lincoln via the MoPac Trail. I'll have the Surly by then to really get a feel for it as a loaded touring bike.

The Motherload

For xmas I went with a theme again this year. Bike accessories! I am going to buy a new bike this year so I decided to use xmas to pre accessorize it. Truly putting the cart before the horse. I'm getting a touring bike (more on that later) so I asked for and received the following:
Ortlieb Bike Packer Plus
Ortlieb Front Roller Plus
Tubus Logo Rear Rack
Surly Front Nice Rack
Planet Bike Hardcore Hybrid Fenders
Planet Bike 1W Headlight
Park Tool Dial Adjust Frame Pump

Not having the bike yet to put all this stuff on and test out I can't really give a review at this time. I'll do that once I am able to give a comprehensive review from a loaded tour. Stay tuned...

Back in the saddle

In an effort to get back to blogging I'm going to start blogging about my cycling miles. One of my goals is to complete BRAN (Bike Ride Across Nebraska) in June. My goal is to have at least 1000 miles by June 1st. I started training Feb 1 inside on my trainer. Winter here in Nebraska has been brutal this year so getting outside to ride has been impossible. Hopefully by March it will start to warm up and melt all this snow off. We had two blizzards roll through here in Dec and haven't had many days over freezing. My other goal is to get over 2000 miles on my bike this year. I'm sure I can get more, but 2000 is where I will start. Once I reach that, I'll bump it up. I think 3000 is attainable. So far I have set small goals of 50 miles a week on the trainer. 10 miles a day M-F. Although I got my 50 miles in last week I skipped a couple days and made up for it by doing a couple 15 mile rides. Although I didn't follow my plan (I rarely do) I did realize that 10 miles is too easy. So this week I'm doing 15 miles for a weekly goal of 75 miles. i can do 15 miles in under an hour so it doesn't take a huge amount of time and for now it's a good distance.