Quote Originally Posted by Zen View Post
How did you all go about buying a surly? Are there shops near you wher you could test ride ofr did you just go on blind faith and order?
I wanted to look at them but there are no local shops that sell them so I am now awaiting arrival of a Jamis Aurora
It was only $500 + $75 shipping. I couldn't pass it by.
i had to go on blind faith. I went to the shop and got to see frames and spent some time standing over them while the guy from the bike shop held wheels in place to get an idea of the stand over. From that I figured the only one which fitted was the 42cm LHT, (I was also considering the cross-check).

I then explained what i wanted to another guy from the bike shop. I had a think and decided to go with all the suggestions (as i figured he knew more about this stuff than I do). A few weeks later it was built and i went and it was the lovely little bike pictured above. It's fitted really well from the start, but I think the fact i had got to play with the frames a bit meant I had a good idea that it would be ok.

nb. we can only get frames easily here, we can't get off-the peg full surly bikes.

ps. thank you for all the nice comments on the picture