Carlos’ Surly Crosscheck sparrow commuter
This Surly crosscheck is Carlos’ first bike after a hiatus of 15 years. Based around Surly’s popular “cyclocross” frameset, it is build as a commuter aiming for simplicity, functionality as well as performance when needed.
We chose to run the bike on single ring on the crankset and Sram Force 10 speed long cage with a 11-34 cassette and a straight forward Sram GX shifter. The crankset is Suginos’ famous RDII 38teeth. For wheelset we laced Mavic wide rims A119 on Ambrosio hubs (3x) and matched that up with Paul Components Minimoto beautiful brakes.
Details that we like is surely the Portland Design Works bird cage bottle holder, the Ritchey Logic CX Spedd MAx 35 tyres and the sparrow cockpit. Using a handlebar like that (that turns inward) is a nice way to keep the upright position on the rider (ideal for city use) with a 80+ ahead stem so the bike wont loose its stability in descending and turning in high speed. In that way a bike is stable, smooth and comfortable (for example with a backpack) and fast and responsive when the rider puts the power on the pedal.
Huge bike for us, nice one Carlos!