I have to be honest here, this is my first real touring bike. Originally I was all over the place and just couldn't get enough information to satisfy the old engineer in me. I finally realized that I don't have the cash to buy a custom bike and Surly seems to be the way to go.
This will be my main bike and most of the time will be ridden for pleasure/exercise on bike paths and roads across N. CA. I do plan on doing some credit card touring in the Fall of this year and would like to do Portland to Crescent City in the Spring and then Seattle to Portland in the early summer. Also would like to do some riding in the Sierras, if the drought would ever get over...Cascades also look really good. Big plan/dream is to do Anchorage to Seattle in early summer of 2017. I am an old ex military man and a minimalist when it comes to camping, so I expect that I will be buying racks and panniers in the very near future and really look forward to some light weight camping.
I realize that there is about 1 1/2 inch difference in the chainstays between the two frames...does that really cause a problem? Are you really hitting the fronts of the panniers when you pedal? Do they make special panniers for the Troll?
Last edited by cyber.snow; 07-28-15 at 03:48 PM.