Back on a bike again...again.

Well it only took 6 weeks this time. My most recent chest surgery didn't involve nearly as much dissection, so getting back to riding didn't take nearly as long. Both yesterday and today I was able to get out for small rides on my Surly that's not currently in a box in pieces (read lower). I spent some time pedaling through my neighborhood tonight, and yesterday I was down in the Fork Snelling/Minnehaha areas. Man I miss biking when I can't do it, so getting out again was great.

The Surly that's in pieces is this one- my coupled Long Haul Trucker. I spent a good chunk of the weekend building it and cutting all it's packing pads, just to try taking it apart again.

Built up without racks and fenders:

Couplers split:

I'm trying my best to figure out the most ideal packing order for everything to go in my new hard-case, but so far I haven't come up with a solution that gets everything in. I keep ending up with the front wheel sitting high. In the picture below, I hadn't gotten everything in yet, but I have been able to get really close. I'm thinking as of now that I may have to put my front wheel in another piece of luggage with my camping gear and panniers around it to cushion it from damage. I've heard of others doing this with success.

I went with the S and S hard-case to have the most damage resistant set up I could. The drawback to this, as opposed to the soft-case they offer is that it will not "bulge" to let you off the hook for anything less than perfectly arranging everything. It also needs to be left somewhere during your tour if it's an out and back, or shipped to your destination for one-ways. The soft-case can be carried with you, and gives a bit for imperfect packing. I may drop the cash and pick up a soft-case in addition to my hard-case, because it could be my one-way tour case, and when I use the hard case it can carry my front wheel and all my other panniers/gear. I haven't decided yet. This stuff is always expensive up front and then I end up being glad I own the gear. We'll see what happens...