# Which bike stable would you choose?



## Skorp (Jul 20, 2009)

Hi! 

I want some change, and i would like you to tell me what you think. 
I have a frontrack, rearrack and four Ortlieb panniers. 

The planned trips this year: 
300km road trip
5 days touring on sandy trails
2 week road touring included a gravel mountain pass
Weekend road tour included a gravel mountain pass


I have two choices: 

1. 
- Surly Troll touring setup. 26x2" and 26x3" tires. This is the best option for my 5 day touring on sandy trails and the best for the 2 week trip. 
- Genesis Equilibrium road bike with no possibilities to mount my racks. 23mm tubular tires. This is the best for the 300km road trip.
- Surly Wednesday fatbike, all racks and bags fit..No need for this bike except on snowy trails.

2.
- Surly Midnight Special, 650b gravel, all racks fit. This bike will work for all trips except the sandy trails. Perfect bike for the weekend road/gravel tour. 
- Surly Wednesday fatbike, all racks and bags fit. Will work on sandy trails, but will be alot slower than the Troll with 26x3" tires. 

What would you choose?


----------



## Co-opski (Oct 24, 2013)

#2. but go with a new wheelset of 29+ knards on the Wednesday or skinny 65mm rims and 3.8 Husker Du or Jumbo Jims and the Midnight Special.

Or #3 just get the Surly Ogre with 29+ wheelset and 29 1.9 skinny wheels and drop bars.


----------



## fotooutdoors (Jul 8, 2010)

Any particular reason you are looking at a 26" tire bike? In general, larger wheels are the way to go unless you are exceptionally short or expect to need replacement tires in rural Asia/Africa/South or Central America.

If these are all new bikes for you and you don't otherwise need a fat bike, I would look at a 27.5+ bike with a 29er wheelset, and a light touring, cyclocross, rando, or gravel bike as my second bike. Having owned both a drop-bar-specific mountain bike (Fargo) and a 29er converted to dirt drops (on one inbred), I would really suggest going with the Fargo-like geometry if you want drop bars on that bike.


----------



## Volsung (Nov 24, 2011)

The troll with a second wheelset. 26x3 and a 650b road plus setup.


----------



## Skorp (Jul 20, 2009)

Co-opski: I already own option 1, so the Ogre is out of the question. The Wednesday is an awesome bike, i would love to use it more than only in bad weather. It only sees the wettest autumn and spring days, or wintertime with new or wet snow on the ground. 

fotooutdoors: The Troll was built on a spare 26" wheelset and some parts i had in my shed. 26" wheels is awesome on the riding i do, lighter and stronger at the same time! 
I tried drop bars on the Troll with no sucess, i would need a silly tall/short stem to even be comfortable in the drops. The new Troll has proper MTB sizing..
As the majority of my trips will be on roads, i believe the geometry of the MidnightSpecial will be better than a Fargo or a All-City Gorilla Monsoon or something more gravel/trail oriented. Please correct me if im wrong! 

Volsung: Good idea! I can try out this for cheap aswell, the problem is as i wrote above, the Troll doesn't fit me with dropper bars so it might not work as well.


----------



## dh024 (Dec 11, 2010)

Do you have the Jones H Loop bar on your troll? If so, I say it would be the hands down winner. I find the loop bar to be as versatile as drops, so the troll will still be a lot of fun on the road. Your other options will NOT be fun on sandy trails (except the fatbike of course). 

Additionally, you can do a tire swap between trips - if your rims allow, put on a skinnier, faster tire on your troll for the road trip. It won't be ideal, but again, I guarantee you will still have fun on every trip with the troll.


----------



## Skorp (Jul 20, 2009)

I have not tried the Jones handlebar. I have a OddSheep handlebar. 730mm wide 18deg backsweep, then its a portion with 72deg backsweep total width 800mm.
It's a combination of a comfortable mtb handlebar, and a cruiser style bar. 

The Troll with 3.0 will work really well on the sandy trails. I broke my trailbike the last time i rode there, and rented a SantaCruz Chameleon with plus tires.


----------

