Suggestions for new bits on older frame

[mike]

My 10 year old surly crosscheck has done a brilliant job at gravel type riding, touring, fast-ish winter rides and a lot of action around town and up and down the towpath.  I've put some new wheels on it but everything else is unchanged and is a bit worn out.

I'd quite like to nudge it gently towards the 21st century and get rid of the bar end shifters.  It'll mainly be used for brisk gravel and winter road rides, but also occasional long, loaded tours so would like to keep similar gear range - from 24 - 108" ish.

Help.. 2 x 11?  3 x 10?  1 x 12?   Mini v's ?  105 levers?   where would you start?   

[Brucey]

brakes that you want to use/keep constrain the brake levers and wheels that you might want to keep may constrain the number of sprockets you can have at the back.

Also you might like to mention what gear ratios/gear intervals you use most.

So unless these considerations are understood, 'tis all no better  than wild speculation.

cheers

[mike]

thanks Brucey, it's currently got some pretty wide canti's, not sure of the model - but I think they don't work with integrated shifters?  Happy to switch for mini Vs or shorty canti brakes if they'll work with integrated levers.

Gear ratios I use most depend on what the bike is being used for... Towpath riding is slow 8mph stuff while I shout at rowing crews, winter rides keeping up with the other 1/2 normally average 17/18mph..  I'm naturally a grinder rather than a spinner, but need the tiny gears to get me up hills when fully loaded touring!

[Brucey]

we're talking dropped bars, right?  IME if you ride much along a towpath/gravel the transmission will get dirty pretty quickly and will wear out rather more quickly than in (relatively) nice clean road use.

Possible changes might range from minimal to maximal.

Minimal changes might be

- new 7/8/9s wear parts, with revised shifters (or just mounts eg Kelly take-offs)  to suit. Same brakes etc.  Advantages would be prang-proofness, separation of brake and gear functions (allowing easier repairs/changes) and ongoing cost of consumables.

Maximal changes might be to change to 2x10 or 2x11 groupset eg GRX chainset and mechs, with Tiagra 4700 2x10 STI controls or Shimano 105 2x11 STI controls. You would need to fit mini-Vs with these brake levers.  Advantages are that it is 'more modern'. GRX mechs allow use of a wide range cassette so you can get lower gears with a 2x format. GRX chainset allows use of 46-30 chainrings (long favoured as an 'Alpine double'). Downsides are cost, crash proofness, and ongoing cost of consumables.

You can make any transmission last reasonably well if you are prepared to maintain it. However if you are a 'replace it all when it is worn out and as little maintenance in the meantime as possible' then it will turn out expensive; especially shimano 10/11s chainrings are an arm an a leg to buy, and so are cassettes, relatively speaking.

cheers

[mcshroom]

The stock 2010 had tiagra 4500 9sp kit, and Oryx 992A brakes - https://surlybikes.com/uploads/downloads/2010_Surly_Catalog.pdf

Your's doesn't sound like it's stock configuration though, as the broshucatalogre model has a tiagra double crank and an 11-25 cassette. What's currently on the bike, and are you happy with the gearing, spacing between gears?

[Jurek]

Mike, if you are after a good, no, excellent canti brake let me point you at the Avid Shorty Ultimate.
I've got these on the Pomp commuter, and I'd say that they are as good as the Ultegra side pulls I have on the Ti bike.
IIRC Bobb OTP has these on his touring bike, and has them in high regard.

[mike]

thanks both - those brakes sound great.

mine is a bit of a mess.. I put a MTB triple crankset on for lower gears for touring but as it only has a 2x front mech I have to tweak it to either use outside & middle for most stuff or middle & inner for touring - works fine

I'd like to set it up with integrated shifters without needing to go through that kind of faff! 

A gravel groupset like https://www.bike24.com/p2342416.html  would seem to deliver what I need, if it was for rim brakes. I dont really understand shimano compatibility, can I use any of their 10 speed shifters?

[Brucey]

thanks both - those brakes sound great.

IIRC those brakes  have (at vast cost) adjustable MA. This is arguably a waste of time if you intend to pair them with current shimano STIs, because the two settings will be 'tolerable' and 'pretty useless' respectively.

A gravel groupset like https://www.bike24.com/p2342416.html  would seem to deliver what I need, if it was for rim brakes. I dont really understand shimano compatibility, can I use any of their 10 speed shifters?

Any shimano 10s shifter? -no. As I mentioned above you can use GRX 10s shifters or Tiagra 4700 10s shifters. Other shimano 10s shifters use a different shift ratio and won't work with a GRX RD.

Tiagra 10s shifters are available in ST-4700 (2x10) and ST-4703 (3x10) types.

cheers

[zigzag]

.. or go for 11sp grx, then all 11sp shimano shifters will be compatible. also, more sprockets on wide ratio cassette is usually a good thing.

[mcshroom]

Getting the range might be easier with new Sora R3030 shifters and a triple front mech. It depends just how worn your chainset os

[mike]

Getting the range might be easier with new Sora R3030 shifters and a triple front mech. It depends just how worn your chainset os

very.  It was 2nd hand when it went on..

thanks all - 11spd grx as per Bruceys original suggestion looks like the best bet! shopping time..

[Brucey]

if you are going with 2x11 then there is a wrinkle concerning freehub bodies. You don't say what your new wheels are but they presumably either have an 11s freehub body or an 8/9/10s freehub body.

If the former then any cassette will fit but many will need an extra spacer behind the cassette. If the latter then

- shimano 11s MTB cassettes will fit. (36T or larger big sprocket )
- shimano 11s (11-34 only) CS-HG700-11 or CS-HG800-11 will fit
- other shimano 11s 'road' cassettes (32T or smaller big sprocket) will not fit.

BTW ST-5800 (2x11) shifters are being sold off cheap by Madison just now
https://www.freewheel.co.uk/shimano-105-st-5800-105-double-road-sti-levers-11-speed-silver-st5800dpas
and will work with a GRX 11s RD, which might make the whole refurb a bit cheaper, unless you can get a killer deal on a bundle.

Also if you wanted to stick with cantis rather than have mini-Vs then there are a handful of brakes that are suitable; BR-CX50 or BR-CX70 will work provided you set the straddle low enough.

cheers

[mike]

thanks Brucey!  They're 8/9/10spds, and I was looking at the XT cassette (11-34?) so should be fine!

I priced it up and when it got to nearly 500 quid I started thinking about selling the crosscheck and getting something new... It'll probably make 500 on ebay as is.  When does keeping an old friend become un-economic? [not yet, probably!}

[salar55]

I would pay good money for a decent triple, if they ever do another XT /Dura Ace triple groupset that would be ace. 1×10 / 11/ or 12? have big jumps and i feel going up it's never in the perfect gear and the rear mech is closer to the ground.

[Brucey]

FWIW my personal choice for this bike/use would probably be spa cycles triple chainset and sticking with 3x9 gearing.  You can make this work with modern STIs (eg ST-R3030 as mcshroom mentioned) but there are lots of other shifting options too.

 Cheaper to buy, cheaper to run too.

OTOH if you fit a 2x11 setup or similar, with the wheels you have just fitted you have basically bought a new bike (bar the frameset and a few other odds and ends).

cheers

[mike]

Done!  and isnt she pretty?





(combination of GRX bits from different sources online, plus some ultegra shifters a friend had in their shed and bartape chosen by the 13yr old, which is growing on me already)

[Brucey]

colours might take a bit of getting used to, but otherwise, nice!

cheers

[Cudzoziemiec]

Your 13 year old has taste! At the moment it's bad taste, but it's taste....

[Paul H]

Done!  and isnt she pretty?

That's nice 
I think Surly have bought that frame colour back for the latest Disk Trucker, so bang up to date as well.