Will Specialized Fast Trak 29 x 2.0 tires fit a Surly Cross Check?

The tires look meaty and tough on the bike, but neither wheel will roll without buzzing contact with the frame and fork.

Uhh... nope. Not quite. After his recent visit, Nick left me a pair of Specialized Fast Trak Sport 29 x 2.0 tires. Though a little worn, they're nice tires with plenty of rubber left and a fast looking tread pattern. It was the perfect opportunity to see if a skinny (by current standards) 29er tire would have a chance of fitting my 58 cm 2001 Surly Cross Check. I did a little preliminary research and found reports of some success in fitting 50 mm Schwalbe Big Apples, and a couple of random 1.95 inch 29er tires on Cross Checks, but couldn't find anyone on the whole internet who had tried Fast Trak 2.0s. So here I am to provide that public service.

The results: close, but no cigar. The tires mounted on 20 mm wide Mavic MA3 rims measured out to be almost exactly 50 mm to the outer profile of the knobs. Maybe if I shaved off all the side knobs and had perfectly true rims, there might be a millimeter or so of clearance on each side. I'm not willing to do that. Maybe. However, I've been wanting some fatter tires to replace the pair of nearly worn out Bontrager 38 mm tires (measures out to 34 mm mounted on my MA3s) that I've had on the Cross Check for a long time. Even though the experiment failed, it points to the likelihood that something in the 1.8" to 1.9" (approximately 46-48 mm) wide would be about the right amount of fatness. I could probably even fit fenders with the right tire. I know the 700 x 41 mm Surly Knard is a sure fit, and equates to about 1.6" wide. However, I'm convinced there's a skinny 29er tire out there that will have sufficient clearance, yet push the envelope just a bit more. We don't have a lot of mud here in Colorado, and I wouldn't be riding muddy trails on this bike anyway, so minimal clearance is fine in my book.

Fast Trak 29 x 2.0 on the front.

Mavic MA3, 20 mm wide, on both front and rear.

Plenty of top clearance, not enough side clearance in the fork.

Right fork leg.

Left fork leg. Tantalizingly close to clearing, if not for knobs.

Yep, still 2.0. No better luck in the rear.

Axle slammed rearward in the dropouts.

Close, but not quite clearing the chainstays. 

Seatstays close to clearing, but not. Less room below the brake bridge than below the fork crown, but still adequate.

Quick DIY top tube frame pack

The pack took about 90 minutes to make in total, from measuring the frame to strapping it on.

After finding out how convenient frame packs are for carrying things, I had been wanting to construct packs specifically sized to other bikes. To this end, I put together a simple top tube frame pack, using materials that I had on hand for this first tester example. The pack is made of about 1/2 yard of cordura pack cloth that's been in my sewing kit for 20+ years, an old steel YKK 19" zipper, various scraps of Velcro, and some 100% polyester upholstery thread. I didn't produce detailed instructions, but if you are interested in building a similar pack, it's a simple process if you have at least proficient sewing skills. The design is essentially a box, shaped to fit the inside of the frame, with a zipper installed on one side.

Cardboard template for the frame pack.

To begin, I took a piece of cardboard, a pen, and a utility knife, and constructed a template of the inside of the front triangle of my 2002 58 cm Surly Cross-Check. The cardboard template guides the shape for each side of the pack. I made sure to mark the locations of cable stops, housing, bottle mounts, etc. so that the Velcro straps cleared them. To connect the two sides of the pack, I used strips 3" wide. On each piece of fabric cut for the project, I added .25" all the way around to account for the seam edge. I also constructed a flap over the zipper, to help protect it from rain, etc., though this pack is by no means waterproof.

The pack easily holds my trusty Stanley cook pot with enclosed pop can alcohol stove and fuel, among other items.  It's big enough to be useful for a picnic, a camp outing, or a small grocery trip.

The pack turned out fairly well, and fits the frame exactly as intended. The design worked well for fabrication, though I won't use the same materials for the next one. The cordura material is quite sturdy, though it's not nearly as light or water resistent as similarly sturdy modern materials, such as Dimension Polyant X-Pac. The steel zipper works well enough, but it's heavy, and its action is not as smooth as plastic. A modern water resistant plastic zipper will be part of the next pack I make. In the end, I learned a bit about how I'll make subsequent packs.

The pack is not wide enough to get in the way of riding.

The right side has no zipper.

The left side has a zipper. Why the left? I'm left handed. Make your own pack how you like.

With the pack installed, there's still plenty of room for water bottles below.

First day of school

Riding to school.

Today was the first day of school. We had a nice ride along the trail on a perfect morning. It's hard to believe that summer vacation is already over, but it is good to remember that summer itself still has more than a month left.

Locking up. There were three other bikes at the rack.

For whatever reason, the first day of school is only a half day, so I picked her up for a picnic lunch on the way home. We ate our sandwiches while talking about the cell structure of plants, among other potential science fair ideas. Afterwards, we rode the trail home. Here's to another great school year!

Road trip

Just one of the thousands of pristine gravel roads of North Dakota.

In the early part of the month, we took a little over a week to go on a road trip. We ventured northward through Colorado, across Wyoming and southeastern Montana, western South Dakota and sliced through North Dakota diagonally from southwest to northeast. The objectives were alternately to visit relatives and sightsee along the way. Of course, I brought some wheels; my single-speed Surly Cross-Check serving as my do-it-all machine. As of today, I'm up to 238 consecutive days of riding a bike.

The iconic bronze tyrannosaur in front of the University of Wyoming's Geological Museum in Laramie.

Helping Grandpa feed a calf at his ranch.

Riding in the buddy seat on one of Grandpa's tractors.

This was as close as we got to Devil's Tower, as the day we came through it was swamped with motorcycle riders from the nearby Sturgis rally.

Examining an archaeological artifact on the Wyoming prairie. 

Scout loved running along on rides without the need for a harness.

Quarter-sized hail fell one afternoon.

Practicing cowgirl skills by roping the fence with her new lariat while sporting boots and spurs.

For much of our trip, the weather was uncharacteristically cool and damp. I can't remember an August that's been so green and rainy in this part of the world. Although an aberration, the weather generally made for pleasant days outside, though we found that we didn't pack enough warmer clothes.

Exploring in Makoshika State Park, Montana.

Posing with Salem Sue, the world's largest Holstein cow, New Salem, ND.

On a pedestrian bridge across the Yellowstone River.

I always found time to fit in a daily ride.

With two kids, one of whom is definitely still in the pre reasoning and/or bargaining phase, we took things slow and made lots of stops. We rarely passed places where ice cream was obviously being sold without stopping. Not a bad travel philosophy, actually.

Bull riding at King Ropes, Sheridan, WY.

A late afternoon meltdown at the Fort McKeen blockhouses, Fort Lincoln State Park, Mandan, ND.

Railroad bridge across the Missouri River, Bismark, ND.

Splashing in the Missouri River.

Once we were approaching the family reunion destination in northeastern North Dakota, the girls dropped me off and I rode the rest of the way. For years, I'd been hoping to ride some of the gravel roads in the area, and I thought my single-speed Cross-Check would be a good choice. As it turns out, it did fairly well on the gravel with 38 mm tires, but I wasn't entirely satisfied with its suitability.

The Cross-Check has always been a good semi-rough conditions, semi-road-ish bike; in fact its capacity to serve these purposes were why I first bought it. Of my many bikes, I've generally thought of the CC as being my best general purpose all-rounder. However, my tastes may have changed in the decade plus since I've had the bike. Though it rode well on many sections of the gravel roads I encountered, there were times when I would have liked to have had some wider tread. In turns where the gravel was deep, the CC's footing felt less than confidence inspiring. At other times, when the gravel was comprised of larger pieces, the front tire popped back and forth between rocks like a pinball.

I know that my perceptions are colored by the many miles I've ridden recently on fatter tires, primarily on a Big Dummy with 26 x 2.2 knobbies and a Pugsley with 26 x 3.8 fatties, and that I've never really been a road bike rider. Yet, I kept thinking about how a 29er with fatter tires would have done anything the CC did at least as well, and would have been more enjoyable for most of the riding I did during the trip, especially on gravel. I suppose I like the concept of sorta-fat tires on a road bike, but in practice, I like the practicality of actually fat tires on an all-terrain bike. For anything other than pavement riding, I think 2.0+ 29er tires trump pseudo fat tires, no matter how much wider they appear to be compared to standard skinny road tires. This is not to disparage the CC or tires narrower than 50 mm, just an observation of my evolving perceptions and lifelong gravitation toward meatier tread. It all amounts to more evidence to support a 29er (or 29+) in my future.

Much of North Dakota looks basically like this in any direction.

Verdant crops are omnipresent. 

The bean green Cross-Check blends into the landscape.

Though I didn't really do any bikepacking, I did get to do a little bike camping during the trip. I was able to strap everything I needed for a S8O (sub 8-hour overnight) to the CC, and Scout and I were off.  A town park, with the permission of a city council member, made for a pleasant camp spot. Across much of northern North Dakota and Minnesota, small towns are usually at 10 to 20 mile intervals. The geography of the area and the copious, lightly traveled roads make for endless possibilities to cross this part of the country by bike.

As with most road trips, near the end, we were ready to be home. The girls did well and had fun, and we learned how to improve our procedures along the way. Next time around, I hope to be able to take a little more time for a solo bike trip to explore a bit and meet up with the family along the way.

Playing along the banks of Spearfish Creek.

Fun with static electricity.

183 days and counting: Bike to Work Day

A little ride with Scout following the Bike to Work Day ride home.

Those of you who live outside the Denver area know that national Bike to Work Day occurred last month. However, for some reason the City of Denver traditionally conducts its Bike to Work Day in June, ostensibly because the weather is better in June than in May. Whatever the reason, today was Bike to Work Day in Denver. As is usually the case on this special day, there were a lot more people on bikes on the streets and trails around here. Curiously, bike to work day is one of the few days that many of the bike-y people I know are somewhat less likely to ride to work, mostly because many are working at bike-related events and may be required to drive vans or other motorized vehicles to haul tables and supplies. I, on the other hand, did no such thing. I rode my bike and talked with lots of bike-y people as they worked.

Activity at Civic Center Park just after Mayor Hancock spoke.  

Many snacks, stickers and other free goodies were to be had.

Coincidentally, today marked 183 consecutive days of me riding a bike. That means that I've officially hit half a year in my current streak that began late last year with the TSBC challenge. Today, like every day during the past six months, I rode in part for transportation, in part for convenience, and in part for fun. Early in the morning I was out the door with my single-speed Bean Green Surly Cross-Check, that I recently equipped with a new-to-me 16-tooth Surly cog to replace a 20-tooth antecedent. The new 16 seems to be well matched to work with the CC's 34-tooth Surly chainring. This gear combo returns a nice gain ratio to facilitate regular around-the-town riding.

Later, I went out with two of my girls; the babbling one and the fuzzy one. Along the trail we made a couple of discoveries. First, we found that people who use chainsaws can exhibit a sense of humor:

Happy stump.

Second, we made a trailside find of the canned liquid beverage variety:

These three survivors were rescued.

While making our way along a well-traveled trail, I spotted a tall Stella Artois can in the weeds along the side of the trail. I thought that the can looked like a good candidate for a new stove design featured on Vik's blog, which, as it turns out, was retired today. I picked it up, and to my surprise it was full and apparently untampered. A little farther along, I discovered another can, then another, and another. The cans looked as if they may have been either accidentally dropped or hastily ditched, as they had a few impact dents and scratches and one had been punctured. Considering the volume of traffic on the trail, it's unlikely they could have been there for too long. In any case, I'm chalking the three survivors up as a decent trailside find and will be enjoying them at some point in the future, once they have been properly chilled. Intact trailside found beer is free beer, and free beer is a cornerstone of our culture, after all. Not a bad conclusion to the day.