My Trolls Had …

My Trolls Had Surgery
As you may of seen a little further down this blog im off on a bike packing adventure in Australia in about 6 weeks now. Over the last few months ive been planning collecting kit ready for this trip. I decided for weight and off road cycling ability that Im going to pack light and try to carry all my kit on the bike without the use of racks and panniers. The main bonus with this approach is the amount of weight it saves. All the bike packing bags weigh in about the same as a pair of front panniers. So you save all the weight of front and rear racks plus rear panniers. Also it eliminates the magic ability everyone has to always fill pannier bags no matter what.
I had a few problems to get over. The main being as i have a frame bag i cannot fit bottles to the main frame triangle and as the troll frame didnt come with a cage mount on the underside i would be missing a lot of water carrying capacity that i would need when cycling down under in the run up to peak summer. Also getting 3 months worth of gear and all my camping kit into this space was going to be tight so i also wanted some cage mounts on the forks for anything cages. These allow me to carry bulky things strapped to the front forks.
To solve these problems i spoke to the guys at Argos cycles in Bristol who added the extra bottle mount and the cage mounts onto the forks ( i actually think the 2012/13 trolls now come with these). I also got the frame repainted at the same time. I kinda miss the bright orange colour now though.
For the luggage carrying part ive been in contact with scott at porcelain rocket. This guy can create anything. The bags are made by hand to order. They are perfect. Just cant wait to spend some time living out of them and then i will do a write up. But if you need custom storage solutions on any bike look up his website.
And that’s about it the rest of the build has remained the same as before. But obviously back to a rigid fork now. The only other change is ive now got the new XT touring dual side SPD pedal.

5000 Miles On My Surly Long Haul Trucker

Welcome to my Surly Long Haul Trucker Review
Ive ridden about 5000 miles now on my Lht but at the moment i am neglecting it a bit as ive got hooked on Surlys bike because of this one and have built many more.
Why this bike came about!
I built my trucker after getting hooked on cycle touring after reading Josie Dews books. I done a couple of small tours on a converted mountain bike and thought i wanted to build the ultimate touring bike that had the strength to make it all the way around the world and would last a lifetime. I done a lot of research read tons of reviews and assessed build options and prices. I wanted a bike that i could build myself for the purpose of being my ultimate bombproof bike.
For the money the Lht frameset seemed the perfect choice both price wise and i havenet seen a bad review. I admit mine is a bit of a tank but its so smooth, comfy and probably could destroy a tank its that awesome.
The frameset comes with all the braze ons you could ever need 3 bottle cage mounts, spoke holder, pump peg, rack and fender mounts and i have filled almost all of them with accessorys. You also have the choice of 700c or 26″ wheels (700c from 56cm up). I opted for the 26″ as ive always rode 26″ wheels so a lot of parts from my old bike could be used in the initial build and like i said i wanted this bike to be bombproof.

Bits added!

Like i just said ive added a lot of extra bits to get this bike to the point that i would have complete faith if i ever complete my goal of a circum navigation.
The rack are surly nice racks front and rear. They are tubular steel and both rated in the region of 32kgs which should see me through even the most remote places with all i could carry. The front rack also has a platform which is handy just for strapping odds and sods to. For example extra bottles or damp waterproofs. This also gives you the option of mounting the bags at a higher levels if the roads rutted, paths overgrown or crossing small streams this allows your bags to stay out of the water.
The wheels are hand built items from SPA cycles a renound touring bike specialist. They are ridgida sputnik 36h rims laced to a deore hud at the rear and a shimano N80 dynamo hub at the front. I chose the deore hub again as value and longevity are paramount. They are easy to service and parts are easily avaliable. The N80 again for the same reasons. The N80s cones and bearings are servicable by normal people and use standard parts. The schmidt that i was eyeing up was a sealed unit and a third more expensive. The hub powers a B&M cyo iq senso plus ( or something along those lines) Basically its awesome. Really bright and the fact it turns itself on when it gets dark or you enter a tunnel always produces a smile. Its also linked to a B&M rear LED light which again i cant fault. These all roll on a pair of schwalbes famous marathon XR 26 x 2.00 after about 4500 on these tyres there still doesn’t seem to be much wear and i cant even remember the last puncture  They have rereleased these tyres as the new marathon mondial.
The drive system again which is chosen for reliability and ease of replacement. For this reason i went for th biggest name in the world shimano. With a combination of LX and XT mechs and shifters. This set up has never caused me any problems and i know that i could get a shimano compatible product in the most out of the way country’s and all bike shops carry the basics needed to get my bike going if it ever fails.
Comfort is taken care of through Thorns comfort riser bar and a set of ergon GR2 grips with barends at the front and a brooks B17 narrow at the rear. Cant rate any of these products highly enough they are spot on. Oh and a horn everyone needs a horn (cheers linds for that).
So you can pro bally tell. I love this bike (though id never admit to anyone quite how much).
Its exactly the bike i dreamed it would be not just in a aesthetic and practical way. But the fact that you can just ride it forever. Its so comfy, controllable and if you build your own it has its own personality. You know ever inch of it. It just becomes a part of you.
I will never part with it and would recommend this bike to anyone whether as a touring bike, commuter or a bike for the rest of your life.
What can i say i love it!
So much so i now own a disc trucker and a surly troll
This company and its products are just plain awesome. They even make chuck Norris look lame.