March In Like a Lion Rides

[north woods gal]

Well, here's my new baby. It's a Surly ECR 29+ in medium. Spent most of the morning switching out to my Terry seat, adjusting all the brake and hand controls for proper reach, adding an excellent set of Shimano flat pedals and so on. Usual new bike fit and adjust stuff. The rear rack I had the shop add while they were assembling the bike. It's a Surly made for this bike. It's steel and spooky expensive, but I think everything Surly makes is steel. Even the new Surly version of the Jones loop bar on this bike is steel.


As for the ride, sweet, sweet, sweet. Did a short 10 mile run on pavement, stopping, here and there to make the usual adjustments. Don't let those big tires (120 tpi Surly Knards which we added before the bike left the shop) make you think this is a slow bike. NOT. Even with the same tires as the ECR's trail counterpart, my Krampus, the ECR is a better ride out on the road. It should be, of course, because the ECR is a touring bike, made for riding any kind of road, even a cowpath of a road, whereas the Krampus is a trail bike.

Both the ECR and Krampus run the same wheels and tires, but they're two very different bikes because they have different geometries. Without getting all techy, then, the ECR seems a touch easier to pedal out on the road, my position is more upright and it does seem to climb, easier. It feels just a bit stiffer than the Krampus, but, again, it should because it is designed to carry heavy loads.

Camping, anyone?


And this is just part of the carrying capacity on the bike. I can still add a front rack and even a couple of anything cages on the fork. It has braze ons all over the place. In fact, I could probably pack more gear on this bike than I could pedal.

Okay, enough gushing. Really, when buying a new bike you just never know, sometimes. One ride on the ECR, though, and I know I made as perfect a choice for what I want to do as any bike decision I've ever made.

Now If I could just get a little warmer weather than the 30s for a high.