# surly troll or ogre for 650b build



## charliej (Jul 23, 2014)

troll or ogre for 650b bike packing build


----------



## bikeny (Feb 26, 2004)

Need more info!


----------



## Rob_E (Nov 22, 2010)

I would say Troll. I'd be cautious about taking a 29er and putting smaller tires on it, even if only slightly smaller, and bringing everything that much closer to the ground. But I've run 26 and 700 on my Troll, and I know it handles both just fine.

On the other hand, it might depend on how fat you plan to go. If you're going to push the boundaries of what fits, you'll probably do a little better with an Ogre, and, with a fatter tire, you're really not changing the diameter of your tire that much from the standard 29er. If you're going for something a little narrower, say around or under 2", I'd stick with the Troll.


----------



## leeboh (Aug 5, 2011)

Umm, instigator and Karate monkey are 27.5s Troll is 26 and ogre is 29".


----------



## Rob_E (Nov 22, 2010)

leeboh said:


> Umm, instigator and Karate monkey are 27.5s Troll is 26 and ogre is 29".


Sure, but if you're building it yourself, you can put any wheels on it. May not work, but that's a different issue. When I got my Troll frame, I hadn't built up my 26" wheels yet, so I got it running by taking the 700c wheels off of my touring bike. Rode that bike as 700c bike for a few months, and, for a few weeks, with a 700c front and 26" rear wheel. Worked fine. The reason I recommend the Troll for this is that it can handle a variety of wheel sizes.


----------



## leeboh (Aug 5, 2011)

Sure it will work, but not ideal. OP, tire size/width planning on using? Look at trail, rake and bb drop for some issues.


----------



## Rob_E (Nov 22, 2010)

leeboh said:


> Sure it will work, but not ideal. OP, tire size/width planning on using? Look at trail, rake and bb drop for some issues.


Trail will be affected by different wheel sizes, maybe. Tire size/width is a big factor, so, yes, the OP needs to be thinking of that. In my case, the diameter of my 26" x 2.15" tire was almost exactly the same as my 700 x 40 tire. So, equally ideal from geometry standpoint, although I prefer the 26".

Rake is not affected by tire size.

Bottom Bracket Drop is not affected by tire size, but Bottom Bracket Height is. So it's certainly worth looking at, and it's the main reason I'd look at the Troll rather than the Ogre, because it seems like unless you're running very wide tires, you're going to put the bottom bracket a little lower on the Ogre.

But the fact that these values change with tire size, does not mean the bike will somehow be less than ideal if you use the "wrong" wheel size. What makes the bike ideal is a matter of preference, and, using the Troll as an example, it's made to fit some wide tires, up to 3", but you could run considerably narrower tires as well. If you consider the Troll range to be from about 26" x 1.5" to 26" x 3.0", then you could swap in a set of 650B tires from about 28mm wide to about 2.5" and still have the exact same measurements as what you could get on a 26" tire.

The only real issue is that you have to use disc brakes, because caliper brakes will likely not line up properly with the brake track on 650B rim if the frame was not designed for it.


----------

