Surly Bridge Club Franken Thingo WTF

[Ben-e]

Frame - Surly Bridge Club M
Front shock/fork - Rigid
Handlebars - Ritchie Butano Bars 48cm
Stem - Hope, 50mm
Headset - FSA Orbit MX
Grips - Planet Bike
Saddle - Bonty
Seatpost - Funn 27.2mm
Front brake - Hayes CX Expert
Rear brake - Hayes CX Expert
Cranks - Shimano XT, old shitty ones I powder coated.
Chain - XT 11 speed.
Pedals - Shimano Saint
Rear derailleur - Shimano RX 11 speed, long cage.
Shifters - Shimano Ultegra Mechanical 11sp
Cassette - 11-48
Front hub - Hope Pro 2 Evo
Rear hub - Hope Pro 2 Evo
Front rim - Race Face AR24 27.5
Rear rim - Race Face AR24 27.5
Spokes - DT Swiss Revolution
Nipples - DT Swiss
Tyres - Panaracer Gravel King, 2.1
Total weight - tba

It's a mtb frame, but feck knows how to classify this rig. It's built purely for bikepacking on paved and gravel surfaces, hence the dropbars. The biggest surprise is the Hayes CX Expert brakes, incredible stopping power, that seem to improve with each ride.

I had some issues with the Surly fork dropout, it's 10mm. Thankfully Hope does a 15mm conversion, and some legends in here helped out with advice, providing an alloy sleeve taking it down to 10mm, the axle is a M10 bolt likely to survive the end of the world.

Next upgrades include a dropper post, carbon fork and wider range cassette.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[beeb]

Tidy.

Is really that a 11-48t cassette in the pics? Looks tiny if so!

Would be interested to try mechanical brakes one day just for a point of comparison. The simplicity appeals.

 

[rangersac]

That's a sweet rig. I'd be avoiding the carbon forks though if you are planning on loading up the forks with stuff for your adventures.

 

[PJO]

Looks great! Glad that front hub solution worked out for you.

I have a mate who took the Surly Bridge Club touring around Europe last year, he said it was fantastic, now serving as a daily commuter.

Why is the seat so far back? Looks like you are in danger of bending the rails.

 

[Ben-e]

Tidy.

Is really that a 11-48t cassette in the pics? Looks tiny if so!

Would be interested to try mechanical brakes one day just for a point of comparison. The simplicity appeals.

Yep, Sunrace MX8.

The mechanical disc brakes are definitely worth a try for bikepacking, should you need to disassemble with drop bars.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Ben-e]

That's a sweet rig. I'd be avoiding the carbon forks though if you are planning on loading up the forks with stuff for your adventures.

Yeah for sure. The good thing about the Bridge Club is that you're not reliant on fork mounted packs.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Ben-e]

Looks great! Glad that front hub solution worked out for you.

I have a mate who took the Surly Bridge Club touring around Europe last year, he said it was fantastic, now serving as a daily commuter.

Why is the seat so far back? Looks like you are in danger of bending the rails.

Good catch! Yes, I'm trying different positions with stem/saddle combos. I'll have to wack on a longer stem.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Daniel Hale]

Why is the seat so far back? Looks like you are in danger of bending the rails.

rode with a guy in bendigo who mis-timed hopping one of the little water channels, back wheel hit -no damage to rim but snapped his seat in half, it was a difficult ride home sitting on the nose, he had the seat back as far as it would go

 

[droenn]

Looks sweet as, but I'd also be looking at longer stem and bringing that seat forward is it quite twitchy at 50mm?

Sweet that GravelKing comes in that size too, looks great.

and you need some matching bags on it, like a handlebar burrito!

 

[PJO]

Good catch! Yes, I'm trying different positions with stem/saddle combos. I'll have to wack on a longer stem.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Try raising the saddle too. Can bring the seat forward if you raise the saddle.

 

[Ben-e]

rode with a guy in bendigo who mis-timed hopping one of the little water channels, back wheel hit -no damage to rim but snapped his seat in half, it was a difficult ride home sitting on the nose, he had the seat back as far as it would go

Hahaha

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Ben-e]

Looks sweet as, but I'd also be looking at longer stem and bringing that seat forward is it quite twitchy at 50mm?

Sweet that GravelKing comes in that size too, looks great.

and you need some matching bags on it, like a handlebar burrito!
View attachment 367984

Cheers. With the drop bars and the 50mm stem, it's definitely steering precision. I reckon I'll go a 75mm and some riser drop bars.

Gravel king's are the bee's knees. Imo possibly the best mixed terrain tyre. Actually mine are 1.9", I made an error. Still nice n wide though.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Ben-e]

Try raising the saddle too. Can bring the seat forward if you raise the saddle.

Actually that's a great idea, thanks for that!! I was going to raise it by 2cm.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[beeb]

...and some riser drop bars.

So.... flat bars?

Jokes aside, would a riser stem allow you to re-use the bars you have? (Feel free to say no if you just want an excuse to buy new bars, there is no judgement here!)

 

[dirtdad]

Nice rig!

Gravel king's are the bee's knees. Imo possibly the best mixed terrain tyre. Actually mine are 1.9", I made an error. Still nice n wide though.

Agree. I had the SK on my Kona Rove come stock and ran them till they went bald. Nice tyre. Realised when replacing them that I was riding more road/path than gravel on my commute and switched to the gravelking slick in 40mm. Still handle some dirt/gravel when need be due to their width, but better rolling on the road. Not great puncture protection, but tubeless helps with everything but a slash.

 

[cammas]

I run the a carbon Salsa Firestarter fork which I highly recommend and has some mounting points, which is great for carrying an extra bottle or two when running a frame bag or if doing a longer ride and you’re unsure of any points. This reminds me I really should pull my finger out and do a PYR of my Salsa.

 

[kbekus]

Yell out if you want to off-load that Thomson 50mm stem, it would look good on my Surly Karate Monkey

 

[Ben-e]

So.... flat bars?

Jokes aside, would a riser stem allow you to re-use the bars you have? (Feel free to say no if you just want an excuse to buy new bars, there is no judgement here!)

Hahaha, no reason why a raised stem can't work, but I like a more slammed position on my bikes, generally speaking, so I tend to get zero rise stems.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Ben-e]

Nice rig!



Agree. I had the SK on my Kona Rove come stock and ran them till they went bald. Nice tyre. Realised when replacing them that I was riding more road/path than gravel on my commute and switched to the gravelking slick in 40mm. Still handle some dirt/gravel when need be due to their width, but better rolling on the road. Not great puncture protection, but tubeless helps with everything but a slash.

For sure, the slicks are rad too. Totally dependent on what riding you're doing. I was on some sand the other day and the tyres gripped like crap to a sheeps arse, and I was happy I had some tread!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Ben-e]

I run the a carbon Salsa Firestarter fork which I highly recommend and has some mounting points, which is great for carrying an extra bottle or two when running a frame bag or if doing a longer ride and you’re unsure of any points. This reminds me I really should pull my finger out and do a PYR of my Salsa.

Thanks, yeah they're great forks. I've been looking at a few, I stand to shed about 1kg of weight, so it's well worth it.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk