Father's Day Surprise

When I was working at Petries I was working on a dream bike with Farzam. More dreaming than working really. We were searching for a frame that would accommodate the 14 speed Rohloff Speedhub. As reality returned and I went back to fulltime work elsewhere, the dream fizzled. Along came the Surly Troll frame in late 2010. It was Rohloff compatable but I saw just a great all round cromoly steel frame that almost any combination of drivetrain and brakes could be mounted, plus it fit with my remaining credit and was available in only one colour, Agent Orange. The Speedhub was no longer in the plans though I had thought of a Shimano Nexus 8 speed hub (like Mike's Felt X-City 'Rachel' has) which is much more inexpensive but nowhere near the rugged 14 speed German made unit from Rohloff, sorry Mike.

After supper on Sunday I was given a heavy box to unwrap in front of a few cameras, strange? I knew something was up but never imagined I'd be getting my father's day, birthday and Christmas presents (for a few years) all in one box. I ripped off the wrapping paper and must have looked pretty damn surprised as I revealed the Rohloff logo. Getting it on Lisbeth will take some time as a wheel needs to be built around it but as much as I'm anxious to get it rolling and try it out, this is a project that calls for expertise. Farzam expertise. I'll stick to taking pictures and trying to figure out what to do if something ever goes wrong. According to the website they simply don't break. Cyclists that have more than 70,000km of world wide travel swear by them so I don't think I can break it.

Here's a video of the assembly.