I got my new Troll last week, and though I'm still waiting on a few parts to complete it, I have borrowed some parts off another bike so I can at least ride around and have fun. I have a Long Haul Trucker for touring, but I wanted a commuter/utility/on-off road touring/travel bike and while I'd considered the Karate Monkey I wanted horizontal dropouts so I could install an internal gear hub. Once I saw the Troll I knew it was my next bike. I visited my friends at Topanga Creek Bikes in L.A. told them as soon as they came into the system to order one for me. Here it is so far:
I'd originally planned on just swapping everything off an older mountain bike I had, but a few upgrades here and there ended up as a 100% brand new bike- funny how that always seems to happen! Here's a summary of the parts so far:
18" Troll frame, Soma Sparrow handlebars- we'll see if I like 'em but so far they seem pretty nice, Avid BB7 mechanical disk brakes and Speed 7 levers, Brooks B-17 Saddle, TruVativ Stylo crank and bottom bracket, Shimano PD-A530 pedals- SPD on one side and flat pedals on the other- very nice, Continental Travel Contact 26x1.75 tires- smooth but a little knobby on the edges- they'll spend most of the time on roads but have the capability to do some trails. I just put some fenders on and my older Topeak touring rack on to see how it feels.
I have some parts on order that should arrive soon- the centerpiece being the Alfine 11 internal gear hub. I have a Nexus 8 in my folding bike and I really like it, so we'll how the new 11 speed hub fares. I'm having it built up on heavy duty Mavic XM719 rims with a Shimano XT hub up front as well. It's on borrowed wheels right now so I'm using it as a single speed for short rides around the neighborhood.
The Troll is really cool so far. Of course I'm comparing it to my LHT- and I was surprised that it's as long and tall as the LHT, I guess I was expecting it to be shorter wheelbase, etc. It almost seems like it is a bit lighter at the moment- I'm sure the Alfine will put it up there. I can't wait to get some miles on it!