Awhile ago I needed the fixed gear wheel I was running on my Surly Crosscheck for another bike project. Being winter I wasn't riding the Crosscheck much, and I was enjoying rolling around at -15f on my studded 29er. Puttering around in my bike shop one evening it occurred to me that I had all the parts I needed to throw gears on the Crosscheck.
I bought the bike a few years ago. It was set up as a single speed when I bought it, but it came with a full Shimano 105 setup in a plastic grocery bag. I ended up flipping the single speed for a fixed gear set up for a while and really enjoyed it, but in all the years I had owned this bike I'd never run it with a full set of gears.
Here she is with studs on.
Tonight I finally bought a new chain and finished the conversion. I am admittedly a little spooked after reading all the broken chain reviews on line, but I'm guessing it is a bunch of knuckleheads with computers and no concept of chain line underusing their front derailleurs and busting chains. She looks like a whole different animal with the extra set of cables and all. Don't think I'm about to turn my back on singlespeeding, I've still got a few in the basement. And this one will be going back to a fixie as soon as I get the time and money to build a new rear wheel. Until then this will be fun.
Now I'm thinking even more seriously about riding over the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park. How long until they get the road clear?
-bike wrider
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