Review: Surly Long Haul Trucker

[TxDoc]

I love the bar end shifters, and the brake levers on the CC are just so incredibly comfortable.

Does that mean bar end shifter on the Surly? So on a bike that is not a time trial bike? I only have bar end shifter on the TT bike and I did not even know that they were normally used elsewhere...

Where do you put your bar end shifters then - at the end of regular road handlebars? And if so, what is the advantage over integrated brake levers/shifters or downtube shifters? Do you have a picture so I can see how they work?
Thanks!

[KnottedYet]

Does that mean bar end shifter on the Surly? So on a bike that is not a time trial bike? I only have bar end shifter on the TT bike and I did not even know that they were normally used elsewhere...

Where do you put your bar end shifters then - at the end of regular road handlebars? And if so, what is the advantage over integrated brake levers/shifters or downtube shifters? Do you have a picture so I can see how they work?
Thanks!

Isn't it cool the way technology for one style of bike can so easily swoop over onto another style of bike? That's one of the things I love about bikes; you can mix and match to your heart's content!

Bar-end shifters were a great advance after crotch-skewering stem mounted shifters came along, but they really got swept under the rug by brifters. The advantage over downtube shifters is that the lever is right there at the end of the bar and you don't have to let go of the bar to shift. I like them more than brifters because they are friendlier to my weak hands. They also mesh nicely with any brand of derailleur, and they are a gazillion dollars cheaper than brifters. And very easy to fix yourself.

I keep mine on friction mode on my Surly, I like the finesse given by friction. She now has a Campy front der and a Shimano rear der, no compatibility issues. My Giant with downtube shifters is kept on index mode, cuz there ain't NO finesse in Knot flailing around with one hand. My Waterford has Campy brifters, which I like quite a lot, but even though they are smallish Athenas they can be a bit awkward for my weenie hands. (She has two different brands of derailleur, too... I like to mix and match, and the Campy Athenas let me do that just fine.)

If you look at the Surly website you can see the barcons pretty well on some of the bike pictures. http://surlybikes.com/crosscheck_comp.html and http://surlybikes.com/lht_comp.html are pretty good pictures. My CC has moustache bars now, and the brake levers and barcons switched over seamlessly. I don't have a picture of that, sorry.

[TxDoc]

If you look at the Surly website you can see the barcons pretty well on some of the bike pictures. http://surlybikes.com/crosscheck_comp.html and http://surlybikes.com/lht_comp.html are pretty good pictures.

They look cool - although I'm quite sure that if I were to try those I'd fall on my face right away...

[KnottedYet]

They look cool - although I'm quite sure that if I were to try those I'd fall on my face right away...

Nahhhh, you'd have no problem! Your first 3 fingers and thumb maintain their grip on the drop, and you shift with the heel of your hand and pinky.