New Bike!

I'm pretty excited about acquiring a new Surly Cross-check (new to me anyway). It makes riding up hills soo much easier than my previous bike which was a Raleigh Detour 4.5 women's frame. The Raleigh was a present so I didn't get to pick it out, but I don't know how much difference that would have made. I pretty much didn't know anything about bikes at that point. I didn't even know how to ride back then!

I'm going overseas to Europe in a few months so I've been on the lookout for something well suited for touring. I kept looking at different touring bikes to see which on seemed best for me. Then I realized that it would be much easier to make a list of all the features I wanted from a bike and then look for something that came the closest to my dream bike. Some of the features I wanted were a double butted chromoly frame, cantilever brakes, shifters that can change from indexing to friction, rack mounts (of course), preferably a cassette for the cogset,

The previous owner of the Surly had used custom components which helped out in getting more of what I wanted. The only thing I want to change is the handlebars and pedals. Currently they are dove bars (I think that what they're called??) and platform pedals, whereas I would prefer to have drop bars and clipless pedals. I'm also thinking about adding fenders and I definitely need a front rack. Once I get new handlebars I'm going to make my very first handlebar bag.

[I could keep writing and finish this post, but I rather go ride my new bike so you'll just have to wait for the finished project. Now stop reading this and go ride!]