Surly Pacer Cockpit Overhaul

 I was never completely satisfied with the stock cockpit on the Surly Pacer complete bike that I bought about 3 or 4 years ago. It came with some Salsa Short & Shallow bars that were immediately swapped out for my soon-to-be favorite Nitto Noodle bar. The stem always seemed a bit long for me, perhaps the frame is a size too big, but a slightly shorter stem (also from Nitto) solved that problem. My last issue was the levers. The Tiagra STI shifters just always felt really weird to me. The hoods were just really long, and the shape just never felt right in my hands. The shifter cables that ran out from the hinge of the lever always seemed to cast annoying shadows from my headlight and continuously snagged on things. To be honest, I don't even like the idea of STI shifters on a steel bike - the integrated shift levers just look too modern on a more traditional-looking bike. I rarely shift while riding in my area anyways, and so I didn't benefit from their convenience. I wanted something more simple and classic, and so I opted for some bar-end shifters and my current favorite pair of brake levers: the TRP RRL SR Retro Levers (why so many damn letters?)



I've been using these levers on my Nature Boy for about a year now, and I love them. They offer a really nice ergonomic feel, a spring loaded quick release button in case things get muddy, and the vintage-inspired gum rubber hoods and machined out holes are a great compliment to the aesthetic of a steel road bike. The levers just look cool as hell, and feel good in your hands. A benefit of the bar-end shifters that I've discovered is that they are actually much easier to operate than STI's in the winter while riding with big gloves. I might need to play around with the positioning of the levers a bit more, but I think I've finally found the perfect setup.



Since building the Nature Boy, I've forgotten how much I love my Surly Pacer. It's my "hill-climbing bike" - My only bike with gears. Riding in this area, gears are completely unnecessary in my opinion (unless you want to ride really fast), but any time I get out of northern Illinois, they are a luxury that I really appreciate. Surly did a great job with this bike, yet I feel like it's one of their most overlooked frames. Don't forget: They make more than just fatbikes!