I'm digging the black and orange color scheme. Now you just need to replace the head badge with this:

You can choose your color, as long as its orange. I never thought of the O's. I was thinking more Halloween. I like the color, but going from a black frame is quite a change.

Very nice. Such a cool frame....

Here are a couple pics before this morning's ride in full winter mode at one of the access points to the Capital Cresent Trail. Schwalbe Marathon Winters (26x1.75) on Mavic Crosstrails. Pretty slushy ride in, but no problems. We are expecting 4-8 inches of snow starting this afternoon, so the ride home will be a bit more challenging.

lookin good

As expected, the ride home was much harder with the snow coming down at around 2" per hour. Instead of a 50 minute ride, it took an hour and a half. As you can see from the pictures, the snow was really heavy and sticky, and I was pretty soaked by the time I was done. I lowered the tire pressure to around 40 psi, and was able to plow through 3-4 inches of snow on the ground without too much difficulty.

Had I driven my car to work instead, I would have been stuck in a 12-hour commute from hell on the GW Parkway. I probably passed about 30 bikes going the other way in a 12 mile stretch, so winter commuting is going strong in the DC area.

Great pics, thanks for the updates.

Awesome! And great pix.

You should look into 24" large marge rims, they could really spread out a 3" cruiser/downhill tire for some serious flotation...

Alan, that looks like a good candidate for an OMM Sherpa front rack. It was wet last night. I found Chota boots good for that stuff.

Here's the complete build list:

Frameset: Surly Troll 20”
Headset: Cane Creek S-3
Wheels: Mavic Speedcity 700c; Mavic Crosstrail 26”
Winter Tires: Continental Gatorskin 700x28 rear, Continental Grand Prix 4 Season 700x25 front; Schwalbe Marathon Winter 26x1.75
3-Season Tires: Continental Gatorskin 700x23; Vittoria Randonneur Cross 26x1.75; Continental Sport Contact 26x1.6
Handlebars: Titec Hellbent riser bars aluminum, 31.8mm
Stem: Ritchey 31.8x120mm
Grips: Lizard Skins Charger Lock-On
Bar Ends: Cane Creek Ergo Control II
Bell: Incredibell
Lights: Niterider Minewt 350, Cygolite Expilion 250 (bar and helmet mounts), Planet Bike Superflash (2)
Rack: Topeak Explorer Tubular Rack w/disc mounts
Fenders: Planet Bike Hardcore MTB 60mm w/Cascadia mud flap on front
Trunk Bag: Topeak MTX Trunkbag DX
Brakes: Shimano SLX hydraulic
Rotors: Shimano XT, 160mm
Crankset: Shimano SLX 44-32-22T, 175mm
Cassettes: Shimano Deore XT 11-34, 9-speed
Chain: Shimano XTR
Pedals: Shimano platform/SPD (PD-M324) (winter); Shimano Deore XT SPD (3-seasons)
Front Derailleur: Shimano Deore XT
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Deore XT
Shifters: SLX Rapidfire Plus Shifters
Shifter cables: Jagwire Ripcord
Seatpost: Ritchey Comp MTB 27.2mm
Seatpost Binder: Surly
Saddle: WTB Rocket V Pro SE
Water Bottle Cage: Bontrager Race X Lite Carbon

I like!!

Niiiice! I was waiting for someone to post their Troll build! I want this frame too. It'll be next after the Big Dummy, I hope. Although, I'll use fat tires on it. I'll probably keep my current commuter since it's aluminum, better for bad weather and make this my good weather commuter or perhaps an off-road rig. I'd like to go back to XC riding. I just wonder how it'll look like with a suspension fork!

Thanks for the pictures and enjoy the bike!

Adam

I'm already planning my next upgrades (never a day's rest), which at a minimum will be fat tires, but HardyWeinberg's suggestion of Large Marge rims is really tempting. Surly's website says 3" tires will fit on the 1x1 frame, so they should work on the Troll.

I'll probably add a front rack if I decide to doing a little touring. Tubus, OMM and Surly racks are likely candidates.

Look forward to seeing your Big Dummy build.

Alan, quite a tire collection, I've been using 26"x1.75 Panaracer T-Serv tires on my LHT for awhile. They may not be as tough or long lasting as the Randonneur Cross but they're a lot lighter and might work for the same purpose.

To me, tires are like shoes, and I don't mind changing them to suit the conditions. My fair weather 26" tires are the Conti Sport Contact slicks, which are light and fast. I haven't tried the T-Servs, but heard they are good tires.

The true winter studded tire conditions in DC are late December-early March, with cold and wet conditions before and after then. The Randonneur Cross tires go on in late fall and early spring, when a little more puncture protection and traction is desirable (before and after I use the studded tires).

Yeah, I like changing and trying out tires too! I have two sets of 26" wheels for my current commuter, which is my primary ride. One always has smooth 2.0 road tires and the other has studded tires in Winter and off-road tires otherwise, so I can swap the wheels at a moment's notice. Beats changing the tires once get over the additional expense (wheels, cassette, disk rotors). I'm thinking about getting a third set and keep narrow tires on it for longer road rides with a club, but now my BD build is the top priority.

that's tasty, surly did well with that frame and you did well with that build!

I like it allot! I'm trying to resist adding yet another Surly bike to my collection. You just made that more difficult.... Thanks for that!

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!

Looking good . . . nice to see someone taking a different approach on the drivetrain. Hope to see some closeups when you are done. Enjoy!

Yup. More pictures would be lovely. We dig pictures

I got the Alfine 11 hub on Friday, as well as the rest of the parts I was waiting on. Of course I installed everything right away and I took the new Troll on a 25 mile r/t ride from Hollywood to Marine Del Rey yesterday. Overall everything is great. I probably need to adjust the cable on the Alfine hub a little- it had a few hiccups like I've gotten on my Nexus 8 when the cable wasn't properly adjusted. I really like the nice linear gear spacing though- click click click- up and down as I stopped and started in traffic. The bike is certainly heavier now, but still feels about the same as my LHT that has a conventional drivetrain.

I'm doing a 20 mile loop up the hill in Griffith Park this afternoon, that should test the low end a little better. Currently I have a 36 front 18 rear gear setup with the Alfine- it might be top heavy for hill climbing. I could swap out the chainring for something a little smaller if it needs a little more low end grunt, maybe a 33 or 34. We'll see. I'm still considering getting a 2nd smaller chainring up front to swap down to if I really have a lot of hill climbing that day.

I used a Problem Solver Shimano Centerlock to 6 hole disk adaptor, but it doesn't stay true and the rear disk has a little wobble- more annoying than anything. So I ordered a proper Shimano brand adapter that attaches differently, hopefully that will be better. The fenders need to be sorted out too- they rattle too much. I was carrying all my sailing gear down to the marina in my Ortleib panniers and no heel strike at all- I think this is going to be a fine adventure touring bike!

Here are some pix of the first Troll in LA with an Alfine 11 (as far as I know!)

Pix didn't post properly- here they are again:

Looks great with the IGH! Had mine out this weekend on a very hilly 20 mile ride that I usually do on my road bike, and really liked how it performed. Topped out a couple times at 35 mph downhill, and the bike was very stable. Having fenders was a bonus with all of the runoff from melting snow. While it's not as fast as my road bike, my average speed was only around 2 mph slower using the 700c wheelset. The bike climbs really well and was truly a pleasure to ride.

I definitely have a rampant case of Surly envy now. Thanks a lot!