The beginning of my project on turning my Surly 1×1 from a cruiser to a 69er.

I’m going to start this project with the wheels. I love wheels. They can make or break how a good or bad bike rides. A light stiff wheel will make any bike feel faster but can cause a light stiff bike to feel brain shattering. A strong wheel laced with traditional cross patterns are durable and normally cheaper, depending on the rim and spoke choice you can also have a squishy slow spinning wheel.

Front 29″ wheel - Maverick hub laced up to an Open Pro 32 Hole. (Read edit at bottom!)

Rear 26″ wheel - decisions… I have a large array of 26″ rear wheels. Disc, rim brake, high end, single speed, etc etc. I decided on a single speed wheel I had from a friend with a Paul rear hub laced to a DT XR 4.1d. The hub needs new bearings, and the freewheel is shot but the ease of knowing it is a trusty well built wheel is worth it.

I’ve had the Maverick hub laced to the Open Pro for about a year. It has taken a few good whacks and needed to be re trued with the dish of the wheel checked.

Checking dish with a tool. If you don’t have a tool learn how to dish wheels without from Brad.

The dish was out a bit and a small hop was in the rim. With half turns this way and that I finally had a true wheel. (Refer to Sheldon Brown about wheel dish, truing, and tensioning. The man is a wizard and has explained it in depth.)

The Maverick hub sitting in a truing stand with out the adapter.

Next up will be picking out tires, installing the wheels on the bike, and aligning the chain line with chain ring washers.

Late in the ball game batting change :
While playing with my fork air settings I learned that the left leg is leaking. Crap. Instead of holding up the build process I pulled my Rock Shox Reba into the game. With this switch came a Bontrager Race X Lite 29″ front wheel. I’ll put the seals on order and rebuild the Maverick fork one day.