[GTscoob]

If you want to fit the bike like a road bike, get the top tube that fits like a road bike. I really dug the Straggler geometry since I could get a top tube length closer to that of my mountain bikes and get by with a shorter stem to make up the reach. Longer top tube + shorter stem means more weight centered between the wheels. Think about a lot of the modern all-mountain and trail bike geometry, looooong top tubes and short stems paired with wide bars to make up the reach. Wide bars arent an option really beyond 46cm Woodchippers or Luxy bars so Surly extended the top tube out.

If you want the bike to feel like your Troll, get a similar length top tube to the Troll (looks like the 56 or 58 might even be a better fit). Measure from the center of the steertube to the inside edge of the grip on your Troll. Make a triangle with one side being half the width of your handlebar, the next side being the effective stem length (not necessarily the printed stem length if your stem has rise), and the hypotenuse being the distance from the steertube to the inside grip of the handlebar. You'll want this hypotenuse to stay the same in order to keep your overall posture on the bike the same. Now make another triangle using half of your desired drop bar width as one side, the known hypotenuse, and stem length + bar reach as the third side. You'll need to use the Pythagorean theorem to solve for the stem length given that you know the other values (bar reach is fixed, bar width is fixed, hypotenuse length is known based on your current bike). a^2 + b^2 = c^2. If you're not good with math, feel free to post up the numbers and I'll run them for you to find the stem length that should fit best.

If you want the bike to feel like a road bike, go test ride some road bikes and make a note of what top tube and stem lengths work for you.

 

[swimmer0725]

Run Over A Hippie

AGWAN...............
You need to charge across the the famed town square and run over some hippies. Get some blood on those amazing white wall tires....... Thanks for letting take your rig for a spin. Im in bike envy........... Putting the money aside and working towards my own steel steed to run over hippies with............

 

[Agwan]

YES, WE MUST BATHE IN THE BLOOD OF HIPPIES, TRUSTAFARIANS AND TRANSIENTS.
HAHAHAHA!!!

...inside joke.

We live in the same county and it's a terrible county and we are not from that county.

But the mountain biking here is excellent.

 

[GTscoob]

Y'all realize how much marijuana influenced this sport at the outset right?

 

[Bikenanigans]

THEY'VE LANDED!

Assembling today for a New Years ride tomorrow!

 

[Agwan]

Y'all realize how much marijuana influenced this sport at the outset right?

Yes, and marijuana is not that big a concern... the scum that is infecting Humboldt is.

But anyways, back to Stragglers.

My drop outs refuse to hold my wheel straight. and I've got bolt in skewers. it still slips. I'm concerned how this will effect installing an alfine.

 

[Finnyct90]

The straggler is designed with 135 rear spacing, are you using a 135 spacing on the rear hub? if you use a good old school skewer you should not have any wheel slip. If you are single speed, are you running the stop screws forward mounted? They should force the wheel from slipping forward.

 

[Agwan]

Yes it is a 135, I'm using a bolt in skewer over the low quality, no cam skewers the wheels came with. what is even weirder is that it's sliding forward on the braking side (there is no tensioning screw hole facing rearward on that side.) I've appropriately tensioned the drive side and I see no evidence of any slippage there. it is causing my tire to ever so slightly buzz the chainstay, I carry a 5 mil on me so it never hits. but it's odd none the less. had the left side drop out been threaded in both directions like the right side is, this would never have happened.

 

[Finnyct90]

Oh...geeze. Well I suspect that it is not related to the fact that you are single speed and you are causing a wheel shift by the massive amount of power that you are laying down
I do think that the amount of shift you are getting is very slight, almost like the wheel is Just getting comfortable, however, you are running those cool balloon tires that are very sensitive to being exactly centered so as not to rub the chain stays. I mean if it really got wacky, it would make the brake rotor jam. If it is a force being acted on by the rear brake or just that you haven't hit on the best combo of serrated lock nuts, I don't know.
I also suspect that my rear could move slightly and I would never notice as I am running 35c tires, so lots of space for a little shift. Maybe some type of monkey nutty / tug nutty fix could work.

 

[Agwan]

I'm a big fat guy with giant leg muscles. simply standing on the bike places 260 pounds of force on it. not even counting what happens with my pedals I'd consider that relatively massive. the tires are centered (Which I like, as my Big apples would never center) on the rim. It can't be braking force as I've noticed it can happen without braking (though if ignored I noticed it will cause the rotor to drag) there is no combo of serrated lock nuts for cheap wtb wheels with a cheap bolt on skewer.

when I go to alfine, I think I will put a tug nut on that side just to be safe, I'll be throwing an XT derailleur on it for a while, so I wont have to worry about this issue till then.

 

[Finnyct90]

Oh shoot, your size should not have an effect...lots of big guys ride but it does sound like you could really put a stomping on the bike, running single speed, out of the saddle, climbing.
Well, wish I had the solution, how about using some sort of tug nut on the non drive side before you add a derailleur....it would be nice to solve this for future reference.
It will be kind of interesting to see if the wheel slips when run with a derailleur....I suspect it might.
Just so I can visualize this...
You find the tire brushing on the drive side. So it is not the more common situation on a single speed where the wheel slips and contacts the non drive side.
I am hoping that someone else can shed some light on it for you.

 

[Agwan]

yeah, it brushes against the drive side. so unusual. I'd go the tugnut route right now. but I've already ordered all the bits I need to adapt my derailleur. If my LBS had a tugnut in shop I'd try it. but it gets tiring ordering things at a premium price and waiting two weeks to get them. not faulting my shop. it's just how the world works.

what I am saying is if I order a tuggnut, it will get here in a month. and I will hopefully have installed my derailleur in a few days.

 

[Finnyct90]

Yup, I understand. With a derailleur, hopefully you can slam the axle all the way forward and those big ole tires will clear. That would be the best solution for now.
I'm afraid that unless you can solve this, the axel is still gonna slip, I am not convinced it is an issue that is happening because the bike is set up single speed.
Anyways, good luck, I hope it works out ok

 

[Agwan]

I don't think it has to do with being singlespeed specifically. I think it's a combination of a lot of things. My weight and pedal mashing tendencies combined with a very cheap wheelset. combined with an axle placement that is less than Ideal.

Even though I trust the Alfine is much higher quality product, I may just install a non drive side tuggnut as a preventative measure. just to cover bases.

I do wonder, when I set up that alfine, what combo of half links and cogs I will have to use to tuck the wheel a little closer to the seat tube.

 

[H.Seaward]

After review I'm not that thrilled about the way they did the drop outs. They could have easily drilled a hole on the non-drive side for SS set up. It is also going to be a pain to remove the bolt when the tire flats. I think I'll replace the hex bolt with a winged bolt so it can be hand tightened/loosened.

 

[Agwan]

^agreed. though I do imagine the tuggnut will work, and I dig the bottle opener. I feel a frame like this should have come with what it needed. thread the drop out or pack a tensioner. Most of my BMX bikes growing up had dual tensioners. it had a lot less to do with whether or not the bike needed them, and more to do with the convenience of setting it up.

I'm still trying to figure out how to mount a Nice Rack on this thing without having it sit up really high, too.

 

[globecanvas]

After review I'm not that thrilled about the way they did the drop outs. They could have easily drilled a hole on the non-drive side for SS set up. It is also going to be a pain to remove the bolt when the tire flats. I think I'll replace the hex bolt with a winged bolt so it can be hand tightened/loosened.

I find the dropout adjuster bolts easy to turn by hand. Are yours more difficult?

I have my bike set up single speed with two cogs, and I have no trouble changing cogs in the middle of a ride without tools. I have the drive side bolt threaded in from the front and the non drive side threaded in from the rear. I do agree it's odd they didn't drill out the front of the non drive side so you could make pseudo track ends.

No troubles with the hub slipping so far, even under some max torque hill climbing efforts, though I am not a heavyweight. I have a knurled washer under the QR so it's very grippy.

 

[H.Seaward]

No, it's not hard to turn now, but it's new. Once dirt and grime make its way in who knows.

I'm thinking about going with bolt ons though (it's a lot cleaner look) so I'll always have to have a multi-tool on me anyways.

 

[shrouded]

I had a nice ride with Rock and Roads today. Some pavement, some gravel, and light MTB trails. Very happy.

For reference, here's clearance on the stock wheelset.

 

[GTscoob]

^I'm still trying to figure out how to mount a Nice Rack on this thing without having it sit up really high, too.

I'm thinking to go with the Tubus Logo Evo rack for this exact reason. It puts the rear panniers a little lower and farther back on a normal bike so it should be just right on this bike with the rack positioning moved up and forward to clear the disc brake.

Currently collecting touring gear for myself and my gf so we can start doing a few overnighters once weather permits and schedule allows.