Braking Boundaries

Jared and I undertook the task of assembling the 3 Surlys last night; a fun, if time-consuming, job.

Our first surprise was learning that the third bike (which we’d neglected to remove from its box on Sunday) was not olive like its siblings but cherry red. A quick size comparison confirmed that this was indeed the smallest frame and therefore Katie’s by default. [Cue envious thoughts from yours truly.]

There’s something to be said for taking pride in your work, and we were certainly proud enough when we finished the first one. Here’s Jared giving it a final check:

Jared was kind enough to photograph the spare parts that were supplied with the bikes for easier recollection and cataloguing at a later time.

Nothing quite says “I enjoy my work” like a half-crazed grin.

Jared’s machine, the largest, sports a 21″ frame and humongous 700mm tires. He may get vertigo up there.

I’m sure the various adjustable parts - seat height, handlebar angle etc -will be tinkered with more than few times before the trip, but for now, we have three fully-functioning bikes. All that’s needed now is panniers and we’re pretty much ready to rock and roll. Scary biscuits, indeed.

The thought of a slow, frostbitten death on the Kazakh Steppes may be the only thing stopping us from going earlier than planned.

Footnote: I took my Surly out for a quick run this afternoon to see if everything was properly affixed. It took about 10 minutes before deciding that on the pedestrian-filled bike paths of Bundang, without a bell or lights, and with darkness approaching, I might as well just run the bike into a wall. A quick visit to the bike store has now made the bike street-legal (if Korea even has legal requirements for bike safety), but methinks I need to be less scared of a few little scratches…tomorrow…or maybe Thursday…

“How would you like a quick run over to the airport?.”

It was the call I’d been waiting for all weekend. After weeks of anticipation and delivery status updates, our 3 brand-new Surlys were finally at Incheon, awaiting collection. They could have been delivered direct to our doors, but we saved over $200 by picking them up ourselves, even after deducting gas and tolls, and it’s not like we had anything better to do on a Sunday.

The trip to the airport was a familiar one and mercifully traffic-free. We soon arrived at the offices of Korean Air Cargo. The building was pretty deserted, minus the clerks themselves, who seemed rather puzzled to see two foreigners at their desks on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

Thus ensued two and a half hours of shuttling back and forth between shipping clerks, officials, and a kindly old customs offer who invited us to join his photography club and admonished us for not going to church often enough.

Here they come!

If you look closely you can see the (well-earned) smugness radiating from Jared’s face.

In our haste and excitement to see what the roughly assembled bits would look like, we put the front wheel on, forgetting that we’d have to take it off again to get the bike on the roof rack. Schoolboy error, as my mate English Thomas would say. Dumbassed-ness aside, it wasn’t long before there were two bikes on the rack; a third, still boxed, on the back seat; and two grinning cyclists-in-waiting in the front.

Time to return to sunny Bundang…

Here is a list of the parts that make up my Grasshopper HP Velotechnik Recumbent that I will be riding next year for the trip :

HP Velotechnik Specific Parts:
Grasshopper Frameset with bodyLink seat
Underseat Steering with Wide bars for Ergomesh
DT Swiss XM180 Rear Shock
Saso Carbon AC Suspension fork

Front Wheel
SON20 Disk Hub, silver, 32h
Velocity Aeroheat Rim, 32h
DT Swiss Champion spokes, laced 1x, brass nipples

Rear Wheel
Rohloff Speedhub, Silver, External Gear Box, OEM2 plate, grip shifter
Rohloff Speedbone (for use with disk brakes and OEM2 mounting plate)
Rohloff Chain Tensioner
Velocity Aeroheat Rim, 32h
DT Swiss Champion spokes, laced 1x, brass nipples

Drivetrain
Rotor Cranks, Steel version, length TBD, 39/53t chainrings
Shimano 105 5600 Front Derailleur, clamp on
SRAM PC850 Chain x3

Brakes
Avid BB7 mechanical disk brakes, front and rear
Avid SD7 Brake levers
Rohloff Specific Disk Brake Rotor
Lights – B&M D Lumotec Topal Oval Senso Plus
B&M DToplight XS Plus mounted on rack

Accessories
ErgoMesh Seat
Airflow Cushion
Grasshopper Kickstand
Fastback Double Century Pack
Arkel Rt-60 Pannier

Finally after more than a years talk and the last months preparations our (Katie, Tom & Jared) Surly long-haul trucker touring bikes and Crosso panniers are on their way.

The bikes left New Zealand today bound for us here in South Korea and should arrive in about a weeks time.

Stay tuned…….

A couple of days ago the first of our custom panniers made by Crosso arrived. They are a lot bigger than I thought they would be, although I guess they need to be in order to fit all the camping gear, such as tents, sleeping mats and bags etc. I’m looking forward to trying it out this weekend when I go on my weeks ride around Korea.

Here is a pic of the bag with my camping gear that it will carry