AdamK's Touring Bike - Surly Disc Trucker
& Conversion to Pedal-Assist Surl-E!

 What happened to the previous touring bike you may ask? Well, I felt that the K2 touring bike that I cobbled together for a touring bike was showing its age and with it being an aluminium frame, I was wondering how many more trouble free years it would last without showing any weld fatigue etc. It had been knocked about quite a bit over the years travelling on several flights abroad plus some other minor mishaps. So that's my reasoning, but to be brutally honest, I just wanted a new bike!!!

 So time to switch to a little less stiff steel frame for a change as both my previous touring bikes were aluminium. I didn't want to buy a complete Disc Trucker as I preferred to customise my component choices and beside the K2 had some good components on it which I stripped off and kept for the new build-up of the frame and fork that I bought new. One big advantage in just buying a frame and fork is that I get to decide how high I would like my steerer to be cut off instead it being cut off to the bike manufacturer's/builder's standard; for touring, I prefer my handlebar higher so I didn't shorten the steerer at all on this build. The K2 frame and fork were donated to a bicycle recycler.

 Surly's Long Haul Trucker (LHT) bikes have been around for awhile and are a well proven touring bike ridden by many adventurers to near and far away destinations. The disc version evolved around a similar frame geometry as the LHT but this has changed for 2020 with a new model that has the geometry modified somewhat plus some other changes. You can read about the full revamp of the Surly Disc Trucker (SDT) on the Surly website. I purchased a 2019 frame and fork without knowledge of the newer model coming out the following year, but ultimately I'm not disappointed with my 2019 rendition.

Handlebar, stem racks, Brooks saddle, crank, chainrings, derailleurs, pedals, fenders, bottle racks etc. from the K2 were salvaged and reused on the SDT.
Reusing the drivetrain from the K2 was an easy choice to accomplish the same gearing that I prefer for loaded touring (gearing chart below). Yes, I still use an eight speed cassette but find no need to change from easy to find and inexpensive drivetrain components. I had to build new wheels with the appropriate hubs to accommodate the, new to me, disc brake rotors.

What did I have to buy to complete the build? Well I could have salvaged the rims from the previous non-disc wheels, but it made more sense to sell those and recoup some of the cost of the new wheel components. So, new cassette, rims, spokes, hubs (I prefer to build my own wheels), hydraulic disc brake levers, rotors, calipers and hoses.
I tried to use my Paul's Thumbie shifters but with the new brake levers and my butterfly handlebar setup it was just not possible which brought a little more expense for some new thumb-shifters. A new seat post was also required due the different seat tube diameter of the SDT compared to the K2. And that's about it I believe.

Gearing

As my legs get older the granny gears needed to get lower! And I played with the gearing a few times on the K2 to accommodate that fact. Below is the gearing configuration that is similar to what the K2 was –
 I say "similar" because using the Shimano 11-32 cassette gives a better ratio between gears as opposed
to a SRAM 11-32 cassette that I had on the K2.
Notice that I have two very low gears – granny and “super granny!”
The 16.1″ low is about as slow as I can go and keep the bike in a straight-ish line without falling over 😳

The gearing calculations below are in "gear inches" which is basically
how far the bike wheel will travel in one revolution of the pedal crank.

Original Build Components

 It was 2019 when I built up the Disc Trucker and I loved the way it handled, loaded and unloaded. All in all a great choice as a replacement for the K2 Break-Apart bike and my previous touring bike, a Connondale T2000.
But... As I aged I knew that without some help, some of my favourite haunts and camping venues and associated steep hills, were becoming a real challenge to me.

So, read on as I ventured into adding a pedal-assist e-kit to the Surly...

Start of a New Year & Another year older...

 Last year's (2020) "Covid-style adventures" where I limited myself to short bicycle tours to the local Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia made me realise that I am getting older and those "bloody hills" on the islands are getting tougher year by year, especially when fully equipped with a touring/camping load on the bike! I also noticed that year by year, more stops on the longer hills were required to catch my breath and to bring my heart rate down from the stratosphere! So with a little research I discovered that I'm not the only septuagenarian cycle-tourist that may need a little boost up those "bloody hills!"

Read on...