Tuning up the Bike

I bought my bike from a dealer in Florida, off the floor.  It is a large frame, size 58cm. It has always been just a little too large for me, but I have tried to make it work by customizing it with a shorter stem on the handlebars and smaller crank arms. Unfortunately, none of this fixes the problem of the stand over height, which means if I stop and put my feet on the ground the top bar presses me in the crotch. Since I have grown rather fond of my attachments, I wanted to remedy this situation.

I like the rest of the bike, a Surly Long Haul Trucker, but I don't want to buy another one in my size (56cm), so I chose to replace the frame with the correct size.

I ordered the frame online for $430 delivered, and started the process of stripping everything off the "old" bike". Meanwhile, I took the new frame to a bike shop here in NY to have a new headset installed, since this is beyond my capabilities and requires some specialized and expensive tools and preparation. Everything else on the bike will carry over from the original bike, including the bottom bracket, which was the hardest item to remove. I only had to buy one special tool.

The Donor Frame - Too Big!

The headset will be upgraded slightly, but the bike shop will need to keep the bike over the weekend until the part arrives. In the meantime, I have bags of parts all over the bedroom. I am a little worried about how everything goes back together, especially the derailleurs and getting the brakes adjusted, but the rest looks easy.

Once the old frame was stripped, I photographed it and put it up for sale online, using the CGOAB (Crazy Guy On A Bike) website and it sold in 12 hours for $380, so sizing down will not be too expensive. The frame is off via UPS to a new owner in New Hampshire. The net cost of the frame was $50, shipping the old one out was $40 and headset parts and labor will be about $100, so a total cost to me of under $200. 

New Frame - Pretty Blue

One observation is just how light the steel frame is alone, maybe 5 lbs - which is heavy in this world of carbon fiber race frames, but this is a touring bike, designed to carry a heavy load of gear for long distances without collapsing.