Pistard

Hi, I am kinda interested in the steel Surly, a bike that can go most places, anyone with info or insight, I would appreciate it, Looked at the Salsa warbird also, but 2K for an alu bike , don't know about that, I just wanted to hear some opinions, I like to ride backroads, some gravel dirt, and a good amount of asphalt also.

techsensei

FWIW, both Surly and Salsa are from the same parent company, QBP. I personally don't see many Salsa bikes, but I do see a lot of Surlys, especially the LHT's. They're quality bikes, no pun intended.

martianone

Before my son abscounded for college commuting with my CrossCheck, I rode it on back roads (live in a very rural area- 10 km to paved road), gravel, dirt & asphalt. An adaptive bike, set it up as a 1x9 with various chain rings overtime and tires - currently with a 12-36 cassette, 44 t chainring and 32 mm Marathon tire. Nice bike, top tube a little long for optimal fit for me. Some day, I'll get it back- I hope. He keeps calling it his bike.

Velocivixen

I have a 2015 50cm Surly Straggler with 650b wheels. I like it a lot. I bought it at Universal Cycles Portland showroom, so had a ton of opportunities to test ride about anything I wanted. I rode my first metric century (67.5 miles) actually with no training prep AND with the stock Surly Knard tires on asphalt the entire way and did alright. I don't ride dirt, so can't say how they'd handle that, from a technical standpoint.

I got fitted, so slightly shorter stem, different saddle, and upgraded to Shimano 105 brake/shifters because I wanted under bar tape shifter cables vs the Tiagra levers it came with.

corrado33

I love my Surly Cross check. It's a very similar bike to the straggler. I mostly commute with it, but I'll often take it on the smooth pea gravel park trails and what not. It does as well as you'd expect a rigid bike with 30mm tires on it to do on bumpy dirt. I'm planning on doing some mountain biking with it this summer (for... **its and giggles ) With slightly wider tires of course. Probably 35s or 38s. I set it up with a Shimano internal hub in the back, so no derailleurs for me.

It's a great bike, surlys generally run a bit large, so you may have to go down a size to get a comfortable bike. My 54 surly, 56 motobecane USA and 58 felt Z85 (compact frame) are all roughly the same size.

PS, almost any bike shop can order surly bikes from their parts distributor.

indyfabz

IIRC, on its website Surly once described the Straggler as a "Crosscheck on steroids" and perhaps still does.

I would avoid the LHT for your intended purposes. It's really built for fully loaded touring and actually handles better loaded.

corrado33

While most people will tell you that the straggler is a crosscheck with disk brake mounts, it's not 100% true. There are some (slight) geometry differences between the two bikes.

Hiro11

Surly frames are carefully designed and well made for a reasonable price.

I'm not a fan of the Straggler but only because disc brakes + QR dropouts = not ideal to me. Lining up the discs without rubbing can be a pain. Also, IMO discs are just a hair harder to maintain and not entirely necessary. I'd stick with the Cross Check, personally.

corrado33

Seems odd. Most lower end, quality mountain bikes have disk brakes and quick releases and they work fine. (Both of mine included.) As long as your wheel is fully seated you shouldn't have a problem with rubbing. Now if you were trying to run a SS or IGH with a disk, that'd be a different story. Are you saying you'd only have a disk brake bike with a thru-axle?

Hiro11

Not a deal killer, just a preference.

Stucky

I thought this thread was going to be about a guy with an attitude problem who couldn't keep up with the group.....